Project Flipadelphia: The Close

August 12, 2015

I'm on track for the closing. I have my lawyer and the funds ready. It's my first closing and I wasn't sure what to expect. It should be a quick closing... 40 minutes to 1 hour of paperwork as I didn't take out any financing. 

In the seller's attorney's office, I sat with an assistant, a title insurance representative, and my lawyer (who was 30 minutes late.) Then the closing began. The cycle worked like this: the assistant started the flow, she would hand a document to me, I would hand it to my lawyer to ask him to explain it to me, I would sign it, I hand it back to the assistant, the assistant makes 3 copies - one for everyone, then the cycle began all over again. It was a paperwork storm. I was furiously signing my name. It ran almost 2 hours. I was being charged in fees up the wazoo. NY State transfer tax... Land Service fee... freeport tax.... sales tax... "printing fees"....In addition to that, I purchased market-value title insurance for $520. All in all, I paid approximately an additional $1K in fees alone which I wasn't expecting to pay walking into the closing. 

Buyers be warned!! 

Some title insurance companies do not pay their representatives. The reps are sort of like independent contractors. That means the reps depend on your gratuity. Common courtesy is $150!! Did it seem fair to me? No. Why do I tip the person who pushed papers? I had already purchased the insurance. Did he feed me? Did he serve my entree?  I even pulled my lawyer aside and asked if it is normal practice. In his experience and all his history of closings, it's never happened before. I begrudgingly wrote a check for $50. 

And the deed was done!