Beth:
Hi, I’m Beth with TB Properties buys land. Today, we’re going to continue on with the theme of the closing process. What exactly are the steps when it comes to closing on the sale of your rural vacant land? If you’ve got 10 plus acres of vacant land here in the United States, and you’re ready to sell that, we would love to check out your property and make you an offer. But what does that mean? Let’s say that we have that conversation, whether you speak with me or you speak with Tim or you first call in and talk to Pat first. We have that conversation and we agree on a price. After that the very next step is for us to get you a contract. We call that the purchase and sale agreement. If you’ve bought or sold a home, you’re used to signing realtor paperwork that’s maybe 14 or 22 pages, something like that.
Our purchase and sale agreement is very simple. Within it we call out exactly what the property is, the legal description, and the parcel number. We have the buyer and the seller’s names on there, the closing date… And we specifically say that we, as TB Properties Buys Land, we’re going to cover all of your closing fees and we spell that out specifically. In this manner you know exactly that we’re going to cover the buyer and the seller escrow fees, which are the fees that go to the title company. We state that we will cover the recording fees that go to the county and that we will pay for any excise tax or transfer taxes if those exist and finally that we’re going to cover the title insurance. We have a closing date and it’s really pretty much that simple. So once that is signed and you have options for signing that, you can e-sign it conveniently from your phone, tablet, or computer. You can print it and sign it. You can scan it, or you can take a picture of it and email it back to us, or you can mail it snail mail to the title company directly.
In any case, once it’s signed, the next step in the process is to get that to the title company. We send it to the title company and they open up escrow there. They will typically send a file number for you to reference. If they don’t send you an email directly, we like to make sure that we forward their email to you so that you have their reference number in case you want to call the title company or email them directly and say, “Hey, I’ve got a question about closing. I want to come in instead of closing remotely.” Or, “I would like to make sure that my funds are wired instead of cashier’s check mailed to me.” Or you might even want to simply ask, “what’s the update on the transaction? Will we be closing on time?”
What is important to us is that you have direct line of communication with the title company. It should be important to you, but it’s important that we allow you to have that. The next step in the process, once title company has opened up a file, and expect this to take a couple weeks, is they’re going to put together what’s called a title commitment. This is the information on your property. The Title Company will do a chain of title search, and they’re going to see if there are any issues in the chain of title. They’re going to see if there are any reservations or easements or anything that’s been recorded through the county that affects your property.
Once they do that, they send that out to us for review, and they’ll send a copy to you as well. This is important for both parties. For us, it’s important to check, to see if there’s any red flags regarding your property. For you, if there is a cloud in the chain of title, this is going to tell you what you need to do in order to clean it up so that you can convey the property. Whether you’re closing and selling your property to us or anybody else, if there are issues with the property’s title, you won’t be able to sell it until the title is cleared. One example might be, “Hey, this was probated property. We just need a copy of the probated will.” Or, “This is inherited property. We need an affidavit of heirship completed in order to move forward,” or even, “we need a copy of your parents’ death certificates to file in the county.” Or it just might have something really similar like that.
Once the title commitment’s out, if there’s nothing to clean up, then all we do is say, “Okay, we’re ready to close,” and the title company sends out closing paperwork for both of us to sign. If there are issues with the chain of title that need to be cleared up, then title talks to you and we discuss what needs to be done and how it needs to happen in order to move forward. Let’s just say that everything’s ready to go forward. Title sends out the closing documents and you have a couple options: they might email it to you and you print it out and sign it in front of a notary. They may overnight you the documents and you, again, sign in front of a notary and then overnight them back. Or, if you are local, you may choose to show to the title company and sign in person. As you can see, you have different options, all of which are available depending on your comfort level and your convenience. As for us, we’re always going to close remotely. Most of the time, the property’s not near where we are physically located. This means title will email our paperwork and we will print it and sometimes it’s required that we notarize paperwork although some title companies don’t require notarization. Either way, we’ll sign our paperwork, notarize it if it’s necessary, and then we will wire the funds to the title company. It is important to note that no Title company will accept a personal check from us or any buyer. Title will only accept certified funds, specifically a wire from the bank or a cashiers / bank check. In this manner, there is no threat that a check will bounce or that funds will not clear.
Once the funds are safely in the Title Company’s escrow account, and once they have received all of the paperwork back from you and from us, then will they convey the property, having it recorded with the County and then funding you as the seller. If you’ve asked for the funds to be wired, they’ll wire the money right away, as soon as it been recorded. If it’s cashier’s check that you’ve asked for, they will send it out that same afternoon and oftentimes you’ll have it the very next morning. Hopefully this has been a detailed account of the closing process. If you have additional questions, please feel free to reach out to us. We want to make sure that whoever’s working with us feels that they’re safe and secure in the transaction. That’s always important. We look forward to hearing from you and we look forward to working with you soon. Thanks again.