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Post closing: What happens after settlement?

Closing is over, you have purchased your dream house and now you are done working with the title company. However, the title company is not done working for you. As much work goes into post-closing as pre-closing.

When the closing is completed, the file goes to the post closing department. The first step is to prepare the recording package and send it to the Land Records Office for recording. Most files are recorded without trouble, but occasionally recordings are rejected and need to be corrected and resubmitted.

Eventually, after the recording process is complete, the original Deed and Deed of Trust are returned to post closing, which in turn forwards the original Deed to the new homeowner and the original Deed of Trust to the lending bank. Depending on the jurisdiction, this could take up to six months. 

Post-closing is also responsible for paying off the existing mortgages and/or judgments on the property, obtaining releases for the liens associated with those mortgages and/or judgments and recording said releases in the Land Records Office.

Since the purchaser has obtained a title insurance policy, the purchase is protected whether or not those liens are properly released, but since the title company has issued the insurance and provided a commitment to the bank that those liens will be released, the title company is responsible for making sure that they are in fact released.

The post-closing team also handles obtaining and paying the final water bill. This is the title company’s responsibility since an unpaid water bill creates a lien on the property.

Also, any home owner’s association or condominium dues collected at settlement are submitted to the home owner’s association or condominium association along with a copy of the HUD-1 Settlement Statement.

Some other duties of post closing include: maintaining and disbursing repair escrows, maintaining and disbursing post settlement occupancy security deposits, returning signed original documents to the lender and answering and resolving all potential post closing issues or questions.

So, as you can see, post closing is still working for you long after you are moved in and enjoying your new property. Our post-closing manager is Dedra Roberts, and she will be happy to assist you with any post-closing questions or issues.

Deed Transfers, government, post closing, real estate

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