We’re moving to Chicago from Maine sometime this year, and I’m wondering about the closing. We’ve driven there once to house hunt already, but didn’t buy anything, which means we’ll have to go back when our current house sells to look some more. Once we find one, do we have to go back a third time to close? Or can that part be done through the mail? What’s the dope?
You can close from afar by sending a representative with a power of attorney. I was attending a conference in Chicago when I closed on my home in Minneapolis. I signed some paperwork before I left on the trip, including the power of attorney, and my realtor attended the closing for me.
My wife and I bought a condo in Vermont and closed on it by proxy. (I never even saw the place till weeks after that.)
I never met the couple who owned my house previously. They were somewhere in the midwest, and the listing agent managed everything using a lot of overnight letters from PA.
When we purchased our home, the owner had long since moved to Arizona. Their agent had power of attorney and signed everything for her.
Ditto to the above with the Twist : I had Power of Attorney for my wife who could not make closing and I signed a bunch of stuff on her behalf as well as my own
Hire a local attorney with experience in residential real estate closings (a good idea even you can attend the closing).
I did this with a house in Texas while here in Illinois.
I didn’t give anyone Power of Attorney.
It was a huge pain though. Lots of documents faxed back and forth initially. Then the final contracts had to be fedexed back and forth and I had to go to my bank multiple times to get all my signature locations notarized.
I do have family in the area, which helped out a lot. They could go in and take care of a lot of the paperwork that would later get sent to me to get signed.
We closed on our house last May. We were their at the closing with my attorney and real estate agent. The other party only sent their lawyer. They weren’t even out of state, they just didn’t feel like showing up. Everything went fine. I wouldn’t attempt it without a lawyer you trust. With a decent real estate lawyer there shouldn’t be a problem.
Slight hijack. There is a limited Power of Attorney which only allows the person with it to use it for a specific purpose (or purposes).
That does still require a good amount of trust, so I am in no way challenging Folly’s post or opinions.
Thanks all for the replies and the good advice. Looks like cost won’t be much of a factor here - either pay for the driving or flying, or pay for someone to handle things on that end.
That’s true. I actually looked into giving my father POA limited to real estate transactions.
The real estate agent talked us out of it. He thought there would be some problem with granting POA in Texas using an Illinois notary.
He probably didn’t know what he was talking about, but I just went ahead and did it through FedEx.
Or as someone already said, sign things at your end and pay for FedEx and notary public fees and for a lawyer where you are now to read the documents.
Initially my husband was going to be gone on a military trip when we closed on our house (the one we were leaving), which is three hours from where we live now. The real estate agent said my power of attorney would be fine. My real estate agent here told me to check the state laws though, as there is usually a little bit of work involved. Turns out he was right. I would have driven 3 hours alone when I was 32 weeks pregnant to find out I hadn’t done everything needed. So we moved the closing to the next week.
Then I went into premature labor. So in the end we did a limited power of attorney to the real estate agent. The only thing we had to do that way was sign & fax that paperwork and do a wire transfer of the closing fees.
Check the state laws. If you have a real estate agent they should have access to a lawyer to help.
I sold a house in Colorado when I was here in Michigan…never even met my realtor. I gave her POA to handle the transaction. I signed and notarized whatever they needed, FedExed it to her office, and the deal was done.
I’ll second that. Be sure it is someone you are comfortable/confident about to be present and see that everything is in order and copesthetic. Can save a lot of legal problems down the road if the real estate folks foul up.