This week one of my mentoring Clients and I were reviewing the three closings he has coming up over the next couple of weeks. We wanted to make sure each goes off as smooth as silk with no delays.
Nothing is more frustrating than working vigorously on a deal only to have it crash and burn just before closing.
If you ask the Buyer he’ll tell you everything is going great.
If you ask the Realtor they tell you everything is going as planned.
If you ask the Mortgage Broker they’ll tell you it’s all peachy.
If you ask the Closing Agent they’ll tell you there’s no problem.
Then suddenly – usually the day of or the day before closing – it all crashes.
I remind my mentoring clients: even though everyone is telling you that everything is going fine – you need to follow-through yourself.
Don’t misunderstand – these people are not attempting to mislead you – they just assume all is great since they have not heard anything to the contrary. It’s up to you to dig and find out exactly what has been completed and what is still an open task.
Should you have to do all this follow-through – especially as a wholesaler? Aren’t the other parties professionals and able to ensure closing occurs without a hitch?
Of course that’s right. The truth in practice though, is that everyone is busy, not everyone takes a bird’s eye view of the entire process – they focus only on their small piece of the pie; and frankly, the closing is never as important to anyone else as it is to you.
You can either stand your ground that all the follow-through is someone else’s responsibility or you can verify completion yourself. My thought is that there is too much profit on the table to risk anyone else dropping the ball – however unintentional that may be.
Initially you want to remember to file your Affidavit at the court house to protect your deal. You want to make sure that you received earnest money and proof of funds. As the deal progresses whether you are the buyer, the seller, or the wholesaler, you want to follow-through on the loan.
Is a survey required? Is an appraisal required? Have they been ordered? Did they come back satisfactory?
Were all the loan documents submitted to the lender? Has the loan gone to underwriting? Was it approved or were there any conditions?
Has a closing agent (attorney or title company) been selected? Do they have all the necessary documents? Has a closing day/time been scheduled?
As you can see, there are a lot of questions, and even more I didn’t cover here. It’s easy even for me to forget something. That’s why years ago I created a Closing Checklist to help me remember everything required and to help me track closing status.
I thought this could help you as well.
>>Just Click Here Now For a Free Copy
No, there is no catch. I am not secretly signing you up for anything. You won’t even need to pull out your credit card for anything. In fact, the link will take you directly to the form.
My only motivation is to help you improve your closing rate which I hope in turn helps you remember where you got this information so you’ll turn to me when you are looking for a mentor.
This Checklist has been instrumental to me over the years to ensure closings occur as planned. I am still amazed at the number of times where I detect that someone in the process has dropped the ball. Not only does that delay your closing – your payday – but it often results in the deal falling apart at last minute.
Don’t let that happen to you. Follow-through on all your closings.
Expect abundance,
Lou Castillo
