Update: Title company will not take original check printed based on original final disclosures because it is for more than they need. They are sending us back to our bank to try and have a new check for 20% of down payment plus closing fees made today. Hopefully, our bank will make that happen (I assume they will).
Context:
We were set to close on our home this morning at 10AM promptly after doing final walkthru at 930AM with our realtor. We have a conventional loan with no contingencies. Mortgage lender said they were done with underwriting about 2 weeks ago and appraisal was forwarded to us that same weekend after we signed the final disclosures.
Today:
We are at the house doing final walkthru and the lender sends us the "hybrid" docs to start signing. We are working through these (the portion we e-sign online before we go to the title company) and the realtor starts handing us keys and garage door openers, shed keys, mailbox code, home security code, all kinds of things.
Then, the title company calls him and asks if it would be alright if they delayed our closing to another day this week. We were like… no, because the moving company is going to start delivering things (a heavy piano already in their truck, a refrigerator we had them load up from our old house to go in the garage at the new place, etc.). We had already paid them to do this and they were supposed to make another stop then come straight on to our new house to bring that stuff in.
The title company told the realtor "oh, well we had a delay. We did not balance and had to order new clear to close paperwork from lender. We have lots of other appointments today, but we could squeeze them in after lunch…" Next, they called back an hour ago before we were supposed to go to the rescheduled closing and said "nope, we had something else in that slot, you have to wait until after 3PM."
Naturally, we are furious with the title company. The lender says they had everything ready for them except an appraisal review but that this should not have impacted them in any way since it still got done before the closing date and would have just been something to ask for if they didn't have it for some reason. The loan officer was actually waiting at the title company this AM for us and them and was one of the last to know that it all blew up.
Lastly, now the amount we were to bring to close is wrong because title company is finally done "balancing" (ON THE DAY OF, hours after we were supposed to be there completing the transaction). Luckily, the amount is lower than the cashiers check we initially had printed, so the lender and realtor both think they will take it and just write us a check back for the overpayment. If not, we intend to ask to be compensated by this title company for delaying our transaction for no good reason. Whether that would work, who knows, but it seems silly to us that we'd have gotten this far along with no obvious problems and have the title company themselves trip on their faces and blow everything up the same day. Our sellers are in a really bad spot because now they cannot buy their next home since this one has not closed yet.
Posted by FinTecGeek
6 Comments
Why would you do a final walkthrough without a clear to close? That should have been your huge red flag.
I don’t know what state you are in. In ours title does not care about the appraisal. That’s a lender thing. We also don’t review appraisals or check with the lender to see if they have reviewed.
Are you sure it was title who is the only one at fault for delayed closing? It almost sounds as if the lender did not have documents ready in time.
I do think title should have told you yesterday if they had not received documents so you were aware.
Also, if they are still balancing, then that could mean one side (lender or title) was dragging their feet and being slow, or maybe title or the lender noticed an error last minute and needed new documents.
The title company is not going to compensate you for anything.
These sort of things are fairly common and I kept reading trying to find the disaster. It’s not there.
I’d be livid. I’m sorry that happened! I hope it gets fixed asap though!
This is rough, no doubt. But this doesn’t read like a dead deal. It reads like a title mess.
Underwriting being done and disclosures signed usually means the loan wasn’t the issue. If the loan was a problem, you wouldn’t be this far in.
The appraisal review thing sounds like noise. That kind of stuff doesn’t usually blow up a closing by itself, especially day of.
Keys getting handed over early always makes this feel worse. Until it records, nothing is final, even when everyone is acting like it is.
The cashier’s check part is annoying, but yeah, that happens. They cut refund checks all the time.
This feels like bad timing and poor coordination on title’s side, not the deal falling apart. Brutal day, but not a collapse.
But it will close, yes? And today? That is not good. They should have a procedure to deal with this (probably do, but couldn’t find it!). Dang