BiggerPockets

What Is A Double Closing?

A double closing or simultaneous closing as it is sometimes called is when you (the buyer) actually take title to the property just before you sell it. This means that your name or the name of your company will go on the chain of title whether you sell the property the same day (which is typical for a double closing) or 30-60 days or more down the road. The main advantage to doing this type of closing is that you do not need to bring any of your own funds to the closing.

How Does A Double Closing Work?

The first part of the transaction which is typically called the A to B transaction is between you and your seller. The second transaction where you sell the property to your end buyer is called the B to C transaction. As a wholesaler, I am almost always funding the A to B transaction (my original purchase) with the funds from the B to C transaction. Simply put, my end buyer is bringing all of the money to the closing for both transactions.

There are two settlement statements created for the closing. One settlement statement or HUD-1 is between you and the seller which reflects the amount that you paid for the property. The second settlement statement is the transaction between you and your end buyer and reflects the amount you sold the property for.

What If I Am Not Working With A Cash Buyer?

Now this whole process probably seems very strange to folks that unfamiliar with double closings. However, I can assure you that they are quite common. This process works because the majority of the time I am selling my properties to other investors that are cash buyers. On the occasions when I am not working with a cash buyer, they will be using some type of financing such as hard money, a private lender or an investor friendly bank. If my buyer happens to be a rehabber, then it is quite common to get a "construction" type of loan from one of the local banks which will cover not only the purchase of the property but some if not all of the repairs. In all of these instances, the lender is familiar with simultaneous closings and you will find that they don't have a problem with doing them.

How Does This All Work?

The key point to remember is that the certified funds are already in the hands of the attorney at the time of the closing for the B to C transaction, so there is a certainty that the first transaction (the A to B transaction) will close. As soon as the sale to the end buyer is completed, the A to B transaction takes place. The funds that I just "made" on sale of my property are actually used for my original purchase (the A to B transaction). I just love this process!

What Are the Negatives of A Double Closing?

In my part of the country, there just really aren't any. We use closing attorneys rather than title companies for all of our closings. It only costs me about $300.00 - $350.00 on average for each closing. That comes to about $600.00 - $700.00 for both closings which I think is pretty cheap. Folks in my area are pretty much evenly split on whether or not they buy title insurance on the property. In most cases, I only own the property for about 5 - 10 minutes so I rarely buy title insurance when I am wholesaling properties.

Be sure to familiarize yourself with how things are done in your area. I have heard that some title companies won't do double closings.

Can You Use A Traditional Lender?

If you are wholesaling a house and your buyer wants to use a traditional bank, you will most likely run into a seasoning issue. Seasoning is a term to describe how long a person has owned the house. The majority of banks will not fund the deal unless the title has been held by one person for at least 90 days. Some banks require you to own the property even longer. These rules were put into effect to protect homeowners from that small percentage of unscrupulous investors who were out to take advantage of folks.

Why Not Just Assign the Contract?

How you close your deals is a personal decision. I personally don't like doing assignments unless my assignment fee is small. In my opinion the probability of the deal blowing up increases when you assign the contract. Your seller and your buyer see exactly how much you are making just for being a "transaction coordinator". And in most cases, they are not going to be happy with what they see. The larger your assignment fee, the higher the probability this will happen.

I always tell my seller from the very beginning, that I am not sure what I will be doing with the property. I let them know that at times I pass on properties to other investors, and they are always clear on the fact that my intention is to make money from this transaction. However, knowing this "intellectually" does not really alleviate the problem when they see just how much you made right there on the HUD-1.

So What's the Answer?

For me, I almost always do double closings. I have only assigned the contract a few times in my real estate career. The advantages of doing simultaneous closings far out weigh the fact that I have to pay a little more in closing costs. Pick what works best for you, and you have made the right decision.

Thanks for taking the time to write that down

When you're using the funds of the C buyer isn't that a simultaneous close?

Yes, Johnny, the process that Sharon is decribing is actually a simultaneous close. Your end buyer's money is used to fund the A-B transaction, so that you don't have to bring any money to the closing table. The one disadvantage to this strategy is that you won't find too many title companies these days that will still do this (as Bill noted). There are a couple where I live that will do them. And Sharon has found a closing attorney in her area that will still do them. But in many other areas, a simo close may not be an option at all. So when working directly with homeowners, you will assign your contract, unless you choose to double close.

With a double closing, you will have to bring money to the closing table to fund the A-B transaction (whether it be transactional funding or your own money). When working with a bank (be it an REO or short sale), unless you can find a title company to do a simo close, you will have to double close, since banks will not allow assignments.

Yes it is also called a simultaneous close. It works best when the end buyer is a cash buyer. We don't have any problems in our area doing these, but I understand title companies often won't do them. This strategy doesn't work in all situations but it is one more tool that we can use in our area.

The buyer buys title insurance if he chooses. There are some cash buyers that choose not to buy it though.

There are those folks that choose not to buy it for whatever reason.

Well done Sharon!

Bill, since the title exam for the title policy is accomplished and a title committment is given, you are assured of a clean title even if you don't purchase the policy. The policy simply indemnifies you for any loss arising out of title issues that have not been excluded (Section BII is where I go first).
I have never had a problem, knock on wood, by not obtaining a policy when doing a double closing. The end buyer is being insured, that tells me it's a pretty safe bet.

CAn something go wrong? Absolutely! If a title issue arises and my buyer makes a claim, I'm in the chain of title. So they can look to me for a cure, however the time I held the title was only for a few minutes and my defense is that they indicated clear title, so I would suspect the title company would just jump over my title period and look for the party that caused the problem. It's a chain of subrogation.

If I am going to hold a property where any issue might arise during my holding period (or buy from a contractor) I always obtain title insurance. But I feel safe in the double closing transaction to opt out.

Technically, you can't use your buyer's money IMO (even though in the past I have) since your purchase must be closed prior to your sale, if it isn't closed you don't have clear title. Using the buyer's money is obtaing funds from the sale of property you don't own. For years this was common practice but I'm sure some title attorney pointed that out.

Bill,
I'm not talking about the "B" investor. I'm talking about the end buyer who is closing in some attorney's office. I am not aware that attorneys have access to title insurance and therefore do not have the option to review the Schedule B of the commitment. We are back to an "Attorneys Opinion". If the end buyer is not paying cash for the property the lender will require title insurance.

Of course, when we are doing our back to backs, the first thing we look at when we order preliminary title is Schedule B. The main difference that I can see is that we do not use the end buyers funds to close our end of the back to back. We use our own funds and this it why we can use a title company and do two normal closings. As I have said, we are working short sale deals and not wholesaling. I guess my question still stands.
Bill

My closings are always within 5-10 minutes of each other, with the same attorney (at the same location or course). Title insurance is always offered for both closings. Hope this helps.

Bill -

In my area the buyer purchases the title insurance if they want it - the seller doesn't provide it. I think that is where the confusion is. That is just what is customary here.

With that being said, if the seller wanted title insurance provided as a condition of the sale, I would most likely provide it just to get the deal done.

Sharon