We have people that walk in often that say “I think I just sold my house.”
Right? What's funny is if you're a seller you could sell your house using a six-page purchase agreement, a 20 Page purchase agreement or a cocktail napkin.
Right? Doesn't really matter. You have to have some fundamental elements legally, but once a seller has sold their house the key is well, there's a few keys. One, you have to allow the buyer to perform the due diligence that they need to make sure the house is what they think it is. That could be a survey, that could be a home inspection. If you have a well and septic, that could be a well and septic inspection. It could be reaching out to the township to figure out use and you know, variance says whatever is out there on the property, but the idea is giving access and making sure that you're promptly responding to any buyer requests. And then when the title commitment is issued those requirements are typically sell or driven requirements to clear to prep it for close.
So, walk us through that…that's usually sometimes when the seller gets surprised.
Right? That's when they remember that they put the property in their trust. That's when they remember the mortgage to Grandma for the down payment or they needed the back five acres and they forgot about that.
Yes. I forgot that I did that lot that I just sold to the buyer to somebody else. So we've got this property. Now that's gonna be sold. There's all these requirements. Sometimes it's very simple. We need a payoff from your bank so we know how much to pay off your mortgage.
Right? And if you've ever called a bank lately, they don't just talk to anyone.
Right, so we've got to get documentation that gives the title company authorization to call your bank and get the payoff make sure everything's going right. Sometimes there's breaks in the chain of title. Sometimes we find out that there's still an old owner that might have some kind of interest. So those requirements are typically selling requirements on the title commitment. And those are the sellers’ obligations that we have to coordinate. So we're clearing issues to transfer the property. We're allowing the buyer to do due diligence or contacting the lender to remove any liens and they got to prepare to move. You’ve got to have a game plan that you're actually going to vacate this and you're going to go somewhere else after the closing.
