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You have accepted an offer on your house, you have
gone through the home inspections, and you signed the purchase and
sales agreement. Within the purchase and sales agreement there may
have been certain items that needed to be addressed besides the
standard contingencies, i.e., financing etc. As the Seller, you may
have agreed to fix or replace a few items that needed addressing
after the home inspection. You have upheld your side of the
agreement; now it is time to come to the closing table. Now what do
you do, what will happen next?
Assuming an even flowing transaction, the next
items that need to be taken care of by the seller are quite simple.
You should be contacting all utility companies, cable company, if
applicable, and any other service you may have been using while
living in the house. Let them know that you will no longer be the
owner of the property as of the day of the closing. Where there is
an oil tank in the house, the buyer will pay you fair market price
for the remaining oil
A municipal lien certificate will be needed from
the town you live in if you use town water. If you are selling a
condo, you will need what is called a 6D certificate. This is a
notice from the condominium complex that all your condo fees have
been paid in full and no money is owed to the management
company.
Regardless of whether you own a single family home,
a multi-family home or a condo, you will also be responsible for
obtaining, from your local fire department, a Smoke Certificate.
This certificate also covers having properly operation carbon
monoxide detectors. (In New Hampshire the certificate is not
mandatory, at this time.)
Prior to the closing you will have had an attorney
draft a new deed; deeding the property over to the buyer. This can
be accomplished by using your own attorney, assuming you have used
one during any part of the transaction, or you can have the bank's
attorney prepare the deed. The cost can vary between $125.00 to
$165.00. Of course discuss the costs involved with the attorney who
is preparing the deed.
On the day of the closing you will need to bring
picture identification with you. You will be given a H.U.D.
Settlement Statement which outlines all the debits and credits for
both you and the buyer. Either your attorney or the bank's attorney
will go over all the figures with you. Assuming everything is in
order you will not only sign and initial the H.U. D. statement, but
other documents, including the deed that this time.
As the Seller you do not necessarily have to be at
the closing. This sometimes is the case with a Seller who may have
already left the area. When this occurs your attorney or whomever
designate can sign the closing document for you, with the exception
of the deed. The deed must always be signed by the legal owner of
the property. If you should not be in the area your attorney, after
drafting the deed will forward it to you. Then it is up to you to
have your signature notarized and then get the notarized deed back
to your attorney before the closing date.
After everything has been signed by all parties
involved in the transaction, the bank attorney will then get the
documents to the Registry of Deeds so that the transaction can go
on "Record". Once this has been done the proceeds due you will then
be dispersed.
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