Closing Day Checklist For Buyers and Sellers
Do you like having a checklist for essential tasks? Whether you are buying or selling a home, having a closing checklist can be helpful.
Over the years, many buyers and sellers have asked me, “what do I need to do before closing on my home?”
The time frame to close on a house can sneak up on you quickly, so it is vital to be prepared.
Closing on a house is exciting, but it’s also easy for things to fall through the cracks.
You don’t need a house closing checklist before closing the home – but you should.
Buyers and sellers juggle a thousand things at once and under considerable stress.
It is much easier to check off the tasks on a list than to try and remember everything you need to do before heading to your closing.
Once your home has gone under contract, you’ll want to start preparing for your closing. Things can easily fall through the cracks if you are not careful.
There are obligations for buyers and sellers to complete. Some of your closing responsibilities can vary depending on the state in which you are located.
These tips will come in handy if you sell a home for the first time. The same can be said if you’re a first-time home buyer.
Let’s examine everything to know about a checklist for closing.
What is a Closing Checklist?
A checklist for closing is a memorandum of tasks that need to be completed. Both buyers and sellers can benefit from having a closing checklist.
It will allow for easy reference, so essential things to be completed do not fall through the cracks.
With so many things to do before closing, it’s wise to have a reminder so the process goes smoothly.
Checklists for closing can be found online, like the one here, and in writing. Real estate agents often provide closing checklists to their buyer and seller clients.
Pre-Closing Walk-Through Checklist
Before heading to the closing, it is customary for buyers to do a final walk-through of the house.
The walk-through ensures the property is in the same condition as when your offer was accepted.
You don’t want to purchase a home where a problem may have surfaced.
Let’s examine the critical things to have in your pre-closing walk-through checklist.
Negotiated Home Inspection Repairs
If you negotiated repairs from the home inspection, verify that they have been completed to your satisfaction. Pull out your home inspection checklist to trigger your memory.
You should also ensure that the seller leaves any receipts and warranties. If anything agreed to be completed was not done, ask your attorney for an escrow holdback. It will ensure completion.
Ensure Negotiated Items Have Been Left
It is not unusual for buyers and sellers to negotiate items to be included in the sale. For example, you may have requested that the seller leave the pool table in the finished basement.
Other standard items negotiated as part of the agreement are window treatments and appliances like a washer and dryer.
Check The Heating and Cooling Systems
Depending on the season you’re closing in, check the HVAC to ensure it’s working correctly.
Verify The Plumbing if Working Correctly
One of the essential things to do as part of your pre-closing walk-through checklist is to ensure the plumbing is working. Make sure you run the water at all of the sinks. Turn on all the showers and flush the toilets.
Look for leaks at all of these locations.
Ensure the Appliances Are Working
Make sure each of the appliances is functioning correctly. Turn on the stove and run the dishwasher through a short cycle.
Check That Windows and Doors Are Operational
Having security is essential before closing on a house. You need to know that all the doors and windows can be locked properly. Also, check to make sure all of the window screens are present.
Verify The Power is Operational
Ensure you have power coming into the home. You should also check a few outlets in each room to ensure their working.
Look For Any Pest Infestations
Doing one last look to ensure you don’t have pest problems is essential. If the home has been vacant for a long time, it could increase your odds of finding a problem.
Do a final sweep to make sure everything is in place. Once completing your walk-through checklist, you’ll be on to your closing.
What to Bring to Closing?
Now that your walk-through is out of the way, it will be critical to know what should be brought to closing.
Let’s do a deep dive into the closing day checklist.
Checklist For Closing For Buyers
Home buyers’ closing day tasks will center around what to bring to closing.
Bring a Cashier’s Check to Closing
A cashier’s check is one of the critical things you need to bring to closing. There will be a balance that is due on your cash to close. Buyers have closing costs such as property taxes and prepaid mortgage interest that need to be covered.
It is not possible to bring a personal check to cover these expenses. You can expect your lender to provide you with the balance needed for closing.
Mortgage lenders require a cashier’s check to ensure that the funds are there to cover the check amount.
You should get your cashier’s check for closing a few days in advance.
The cashier’s check should be made out to the closing attorney or title company handling the closing.
Bring a Photo ID to Closing
The mortgage lender will require you to have a valid ID for any house closing. The ID will be photocopied and put on file.
Lenders will allow a U.S. driver’s license, U.S. ID card, or foreign passport. All parties on the mortgage will be required to have an ID brought to closing.
Bring The Disclosure Statement to Closing
There are few more vital documents to bring to closing than the closing disclosure. This is the document that shows the final costs of getting the mortgage. Lenders must give you the disclosure no later than three business days before the closing.
The disclosure provides your loan amount, interest rate, and periodic installment, including an itemized breakdown of how much goes towards the principal and accrued interest, plus private mortgage insurance (PMI), property taxes, and homeowners insurance.
Each of these components contributes to the total cost. The disclosure statement also provides a breakdown of the closing costs needed to pay.
You need to bring the closing disclosure to the closing to ensure that what you’re signing is the same as what’s on your documentation.
If there is a discrepancy, you’ll need to get it rectified.
Bring Proof of Homeowner’s Insurance to The Closing
When getting a loan, there is a requirement to have your home insured. The lender needs to protect their interests in the asset.
Homeowner’s insurance protects you if your home is damaged or a lawsuit is filed by someone visiting the property.
Utilize your policies declarations page as proof that your insurance is accepted. This page features the particulars of you and your home – from name to address, along with an explanation regarding how much it will cost for coverage under that policy.
Expect Your Real Estate Attorney and Realtor to be at The Closing
It is customary for your buyer’s agent and lawyer to attend the closing. It is essential to have representation if any crucial questions need answers.
Real Estate agents do many things for buyers and sellers. One is educating you on what to bring to closing and being there.
When your real estate attorney cannot attend the closing, they will likely send another lawyer from the firm to cover for them.
Checklist For Closing For Sellers
Let’s examine some of the many tasks sellers should prepare for before closing day. Sellers have different responsibilities based on their state. Some of these may or may not apply to where you live.
Check with your real estate agent to be sure.
Provide Buyer With a Smoke/Carbon Monoxide Detector Certificate
State law requires the seller must have their smoke detectors inspected before closing. Part of the inspection will also include working carbon monoxide detectors. Look at the reference to understand how to make your home compliant. Some states require the certificate; others do not.
A Septic System Inspection
In many states, a seller will be required to test to ensure their septic system is functioning correctly.
The buyer will be provided a report saying that the septic is functioning correctly. This is what’s known as a Title V certification. Many sellers will jump on this even before listing their homes for sale. It’s a significant relief to pass!
Speak to the listing agent for your home to know if a septic inspection is required.
Pass The Well Inspection
A sound test may or may not be required in your state. Quite often, it is the buyer’s responsibility to test the well. There are, however, some locations where the seller will be required to test their well and provide the buyer with passing results.
These are three significant inspections. You should consult your real estate agent to see if they are required in your state. You’ll also need to determine if they are your responsibility or the buyers’. If these items are your responsibility, jump on them as soon as practical.
Keep reading for the best closing checklist for sellers!
Know your closing responsibilities when selling a home!Click To Tweet1. Gather Your Closing Documents.
Hopefully, your closing agent or escrow officer will keep all your documents in one place and give them to you, but that may not happen. You want to make sure you have all your records accessible and safe should you need them later – you probably won’t, but if you do, you will be thankful you have them.
The closing statement, seller disclosures, purchase contract, and other documents should all be kept. You will be ready if you wind up in a situation where you need the documents, like if a bill is not paid or if the buyer has an attorney requesting them.
Quite often, in real estate sales, there might be an agreement between the buyer and seller about repairs discovered during a home inspection. You will want to provide documentation to the buyer that these repairs were completed.
Quite often, the lender will also want a record of the repairs. Keep this at the top of your closing checklist.
2. Notify Everyone You Are Moving.
One of the most important things to put on your closing checklist is who to notify of your address change.
When changing addresses, there are countless people and businesses that you should notify of your impending move.
Your life can become stressful when essential bills and documents are not getting to your new address.
Ensure you take care of your address change with the post office as soon as you’re confident the sale will go through. Forwarding mail should always be a top priority when buying or selling a home.
The worst part of selling your home is more than likely packing up the house and the actual move itself.
3. Cancel Your Insurance.
There is no reason to keep paying for insurance you do not need.
Wait until the title has been transferred or the deed has been recorded because until then, you may be financially liable for problems.
But once you are sure ownership has officially changed hands, contact your insurance agent and cancel the policy on the home. If you prepaid your premium, you could expect a refund for the unused portion.
If purchasing another home in a different state, look at who handles your car insurance.
One of the best home insurance savings tips is to combine your home and car insurance with the same carrier. Doing so can help save quite a bit of money.
4. Cancel Utilities.
One of the more essential things for home sellers to add to their closing checklist is canceling utilities. Unless you let the utility companies know that you have moved out, they will keep charging you even after the buyer moves in.
The easiest way to take care of all your house-specific bills is to gather all the phone numbers or websites into one place, like on your checklist, so you can go through them one after the other and cancel them.
Here are some tips for canceling utilities.
Many companies will let you cancel online now, sometimes even setting a cancellation date ahead of time, so check online before you wait on hold.
Be prepared to give the utility company the buyer’s name and the closing date. These are two pieces of information they will almost always ask for.
4. Clean Thoroughly Before Closing.
Here is another tip worth following for good karma – one you can hope the seller you buy from will also follow. Once all your stuff is out of the house, give it a good cleaning.
You can also hire a cleaning service if you do not have the time to clean or don’t want to.
However it gets clean, the buyer will greatly appreciate being able to move right in without wiping up soap scum, cleaning mirrors, sweeping, mopping, etc.
Most standard purchase agreements say the home needs to be transferred in “broom clean” condition.
Over the thirty-seven years of selling real estate, I have noticed most sellers will go above and beyond this standard.
5. Put All The Keys, Remotes, Etc, in One Place.
Yes, the buyer will probably change the home’s locks. But until the locks are changed, they will need the keys. They will also need remotes, like the ceiling fan or garage door opener, to get full use out of the house.
You can collect all the keys and controllers and put them in a drawer where the buyer will find them.
Over the years, many sellers have forgotten to leave all the keys and remote controls with the new owners. If they had followed a closing checklist, this might not have happened.
6. Collect All The Manuals, Warranties, and Receipts For Appliances.
When buyers purchase your home, they usually purchase most of your appliances. You can make it easier on them by gathering all the manuals, warranties, and receipts for those appliances in one location – maybe even a large envelope – so the buyer can easily access them.
The buyer will appreciate this gesture.
7. Shut Off Valves.
A leak can quickly become a flooded home if not discovered. Since you want to deliver the house in good condition, shutting off all the valves to prevent flooding is prudent.
If you know where the main water valve is, you can shut it off, go to each sink, toilet, etc., and shut off their valves. You can even do both.
Just make sure you let the buyer know by leaving a note of what you have done, so they don’t think something is wrong with the home.
8. Possibly Walk-Through With The Buyer.
You know your home better than anyone, so it makes sense to walk through with the buyer and give them tips and pointers only you can provide.
After all, you would hope the seller of the house you’re purchasing would do the same for you.
Tell them about quirks like reversed light switches, hard-to-light burners, etc. You can also tell them about any home improvements you wanted to make to get more out of the property.
While this is not mandatory by any means, lots of buyers appreciate it.
9. Look Over Everything One Last Time.
You don’t want to leave anything behind when you leave the home for the final time, so it is advisable to do a once-over.
Even if your spouse or friend has looked over everything, it is still worthwhile for you to look over everything personally.
Search all the drawers, cupboards, storage spaces, and anywhere else to ensure you don’t leave anything behind.
One of the biggest hold-ups to the closing as planned is the seller leaving personal property behind that the new owner does not want.
Keep in mind the difference between personal property and real property. As crazy as it sounds, there will be buyers who do not want your leftover paint, gardening tools, and cleaning products.
If you consider leaving behind any personal property, make sure you first clear it with your real estate agent. Also, ensure you do not take things that should be conveyed with the home!
Over the years, sellers have taken things like a favorite light that was not excluded from the sale. You cannot take fixtures.
10. Close Everything Up.
Once you have everything out of the home, have adequately cleaned, and have left the buyer what you can to ease the move-in process, go ahead and close up the house.
Go through and shut off all the lights, pull the curtains closed, unplug anything plugged in, and lock the windows and the doors.
All these steps will deter break-ins and avoid accidents while no one is home. That way, when they arrive, the buyer will find precisely what they want – a clean, functional home ready to be occupied.
11. What Sellers Need to Bring to The Closing.
Now that you are out the door and heading to closing make sure you have the following with you:
- Your license – anyone on the purchase and sale agreement must have a valid driver’s license. Lenders do this to help prevent fraudulent conveyances.
- The deed to your home if you own it (no mortgage).
- Any unanswered questions regarding the HUD settlement statement.
- Your key to the home to give to the closing attorney or your real estate agent to hold until the house is on record.
- Any final utility bills to be paid or collected. For example, if you have public water, you will need to provide a final paid receipt. If you have oil heating, it’s customary to provide a final oil reading. You will get reimbursed by the buyer for the oil left in the tank.
12. Things to Do After The Closing.
You have just completed the whirlwind tour of selling your home, and it feels great. The closing went off without a hitch, and the new buyers are great people.
While the closing checklist for your home sale is done, you are not out of the woods yet. There are things to do after selling your house that should be tackled immediately.
Look at the comprehensive list of items you want to finalize in the helpful reference above. Even though your home closing checklist is complete, things should be finished after closing.
Final Thoughts on Checklist For Closing
Closing on a house from start to finish can often be stressful. If you have never done it before, it will probably be one of those times in your life you’ll wish you don’t have to do it again for a while.
You can expect the closing to take around an hour to complete.
Hopefully, the closing checklist provided has been some help in preparation.
Additional Helpful Home Selling References
- Using checklists in real estate – many people enjoy using lists to keep them on track without forgetting important tasks. Real Estate is no different.
- Checklist for finding your next home – get some valuable tips on quickly finding your next home with all the amenities you want.
- Checklist of what a real estate agent will do for you – learn all the vital things a real estate agent will do for you when buying or selling a house.
Use these additional references to make sound financial decisions when selling a home!
About the author: The above Real Estate information on the checklist for closing for buyers and sellers was provided by Bill Gassett, a Nationally recognized leader in his field. Bill can be reached via email at billgassett@remaxexec.com or by phone at 508-625-0191. Bill has helped people move in and out of many Metrowest towns for the last 37+ Years.
Are you thinking of selling your home? I am passionate about real estate and love sharing my marketing expertise!
I service Real Estate Sales in the following Metrowest MA towns: Ashland, Bellingham, Douglas, Framingham, Franklin, Grafton, Holliston, Hopkinton, Hopedale, Medway, Mendon, Milford, Millbury, Millville, Northborough, Northbridge, Shrewsbury, Southborough, Sutton, Wayland, Westborough, Whitinsville, Worcester, Upton, and Uxbridge MA.
