How long does closing take?

[pipeguy]

I closed on a house/property as seller a couple of days ago, it took less than an hour. I've bought and sold a bunch of properties as had the buyer, it's pretty easy to skim the documents and HUD statement of closing since it's pretty standard - we could have done it in 15 minutes, but we were talking and visting a bunch. This was a bank financed deal with NO mortgage or liens on the property - pretty straight forward. 

[Anonymous]

I'm curious about reading every page as well.  As someone who got burned by not reading a cell phone contract thoroughly, and the SO of a former military member, we're both concerned about signing contracts blindly.  LOL

Are the documents just final versions of what you've already signed?  Is one hour with basic reading speeds and comprehension?

[Wovenyarn]

We were just under 90 minutes.

[Anonymous]

I've purchased two homes and about to purchase my third. Absolutely if you are a new home buyer you should understand the contact you're signing. However, most of what you will sign is very tediously required by the federal or state government to protect the buyer - so most language is in the buyer's interest anyway. But honestly a lot of it is convuluted legalese that could say the same thing in half the time. Anything about the loan terms you will have seen before in the GFE and HUD statement. You will already likely be familiar. Then there are copies of the appraisal and inspection in various formats that you will have seen before. Then a VAST amount will be these required disclosures - I once signed one where I had to acknowledge I was moving to a property where within a ten mile radius were marshes with protected frogs. Pages and pages of things like that. If you have a good escrow person, they will explain what each page is about so you can decide which page is important to read thoroughly or which one is about indigenous frogs.

[mynameainttracy]

We took about an hour. Half of that was probably for just the HOA orientation. 90% of the documents that we had to sign at closing we had already seen or signed at least once through the process. I read them the first time I saw them and I wasn't going to re-read them at closing to see if they had slipped a word in somewhere. I guess that's the optimist in me.

[StartingOver10]

Did you know you can request a copy of the documents the day before to read at your leisure? It is rarely done, but possible to do.

Naturally you want to read the documents before you sign, but as pointed out above many of them are disclosures and duplicates of disclosures.

The documents you want to pay very close attention to are the following:

1) Settlement statement (HUD1) - this is a complete summary of the entire purchase and contains a breakdown of all of your closing costs and pre-paid expenses

2) The Note - this is the most important document in the entire package other than the Warranty Deed (or other type of deed).  The note has all of your repayment terms specified for the funds you are borrowing. Make sure the interest rate, the term and the amount you are borrowing is correct.

3) The Mortgage - this is the document that is published in the public records and is the vehicle used to lien your home for the amount you borrow

4) The Deed - this transfers the property to you. Make sure the legal description is correct

Naturally title insurance is important and its terms.

The disclosures are to protect you and to protect the lender and there are a bunch of them (and duplicates of them).

The amount of time it takes to close can vary. Most of the time if you allocate an hour that is plenty of time, sometimes it can take longer depending upon the skill of the closer and their process. 

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

We're closing next Wednesday and are trying to plan ahead for childcare and such.  About how long does the actual closing process take?  I've read on here everything from 45 minutes to an all day event.  Is there an average meeting length we should be expecting?

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It took me less than 30 minutes to sign all my papers.  The notary explained everything to me that wasn't my first time seeing.  Many of the papers you sign are things that you have already seen before.