When you buy a Connecticut home, it likely represents one of the biggest investments you will ever make. It also likely involves a reasonably long process.
If this is your first home buying experience, you probably have many questions, especially with regard to your closing. Who attends? What happens? What all do you need to do in order to get prepared?
The closing process
Per the Home Buying Institute, your closing represents the time and place where you become the new legal owner of the home and land you purchased. In other words, it constitutes the last step of your home buying process. You will sign a number of legal documents when you close, and a number of other things will happen, too, including the following:
- You present a cashier’s check in the amount of your closing costs to the escrow agent.
- The mortgage company representative presents a check in the amount of your mortgage loan to the escrow agent.
- The escrow agent presents a check in the amount of the sale proceeds to the seller.
- The seller signs the warranty deed that gives you full legal title to your new home, plus gives you a set of keys to it if someone has not already given you a set.
- The representative from the title company takes possession of the new deed so (s)he can get it filed with the Recorder of Deeds’ office before its return to you.
Closing costs
Your closing costs represent the costs you incur between the day you make an offer to buy your home and the day you close on it. In general, closing costs run about 3% of your mortgage.
Early on, your mortgage company should give you a Good Faith Estimate of how much your closing costs will be. Then, a few days prior to your closing, they should give you a HUD-1 Settlement Statement setting forth a detailed list of your exact closing costs and their respective amounts. At that point, you will need to obtain a cashier’s check or certified check in the total amount of your closing costs so you can give it to your escrow agent when you close.
This is general educational information and not intended to provide legal advice.
