Let's talk about "escrow". A neutral, third party (known as the escrow holder or the escrow agent) is used to assure your place closes on time and the process goes smoothly. Escrow holders hold money for "safe-keeping" in a deal between a buyer and seller. For example, in an Internet transaction, PayPal is the secure third party that holds the buyer's payment, and then disburses the money to the seller.
Settling the last details like obtaining funds, completing forms, getting the documents for loans and liens, and assuring you get a clean title to the house prior to your purchase gets finalized are all part of the job of the escrow company.
The pieces of paperwork the escrow company may obtain include:
- Title insurance policies
- Terms of sale and any seller-assisted financing
- Requests for payment for various services to be paid out of escrow funds
- Loan documents
- Tax statements
- Fire and other insurance policies
Closing on the house takes place when all of the procedures of the escrow are finished. At this time, all payments and dues for inspections, title insurance and real estate commissions are taken. The property's title gets handed over to you and title insurance is issued per the steps of your particular escrow process.
At the close of escrow, payments are submitted in an acceptable form to the escrow. I'll keep you updated on the procedure.