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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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