A home closing signals the end of the transaction, which is an exciting moment for buyers and sellers alike. At this point, appraisals have been finished, inspections have been done, and financing is in order. It’s time to close—but what does closing entail? And why should you wait until Wednesday to close?

At closing, the buyers, sellers, Realtors, representative or attorney, and lender will all meet. In some cases, people will sign documents at different times throughout the day—the seller comes by in the morning and the buyer comes later, for example. 

Sellers typically have fewer documents to sign; the buyer has to resign all of their loan documents, sign a number of disclosures, and more. The closing documents are then reviewed by both sides so that everything looks correct.

“If you set the closing date for Wednesday, you have a buffer of two business days on either side.”

After this, the attorney takes the documents to the clerk’s office and has the deed recorded, which ends the closing. Keys are exchanged at the closing table, and this is a great time for the buyer to ask the seller any final questions they have. 

Though people often want to close at arbitrary times to save on things like proration, I think it’s a much better option to simply shoot for Wednesdays. I had a client who wanted to close on Friday in order to start moving on Saturday, but here’s the problem—what if there’s a delay? 

The closing is an “on or about” date for both parties, so if you don’t close on that set date, the closing could shift to a few days before or after it. It’s done this way to avoid a pile of extra paperwork.

If you set the closing date for Wednesday, you have a buffer of two business days on either side. This gives you time to wrap up any last-minute tasks, and it also gives you the ability to push your closing back a couple of days if needed. Then, you won’t be in fear of missing out on the perfect Saturday moving day!

If you have any questions or would like more information, feel free to reach out to me. I look forward to hearing from you soon.