Making a Catch — or a Closing “Save” — Look Easy
“Paul Blair never made a great catch because he never had to; he was always standing under the ball when it came down.”
–Earl Weaver, Baltimore Orioles manager; “Paul Blair, Center for Champions, Dies at 69.” The New York Times (12/27/2013).
How are great closers and great fielders alike?
They both make it look easy.
Operating well behind the scenes, real estate closers — who work for a title company (and ultimately, the home Buyer and Seller) — are the ones who clear the way for title to transfer at closing, anticipating (& fixing) technical, last-minute hurdles.
Issues like, what to do about a home equity line of credit (“HELOC”) on the home, with no evidence that the line of credit has been repaid and closed out.
Hard – Harder – Hardest Cases
In order of difficulty, here are the all-too-real scenarios:
Hard: There’s a HELOC-related lien, but the Seller has the loan number, bank contact, and evidence that the account has been closed and any balance satisfied.
Harder: The Seller has all above the above save the bank contact.
Hardest: The Seller is an estate with no info on the HELOC; the Bank is defunct, and the bank that bought the defunct bank’s assets has itself been acquired through a merger.
Amazingly, Lauren Stockert, an Edina Title closer who has closed dozens of deals for me, somehow managed to navigate that last situation — plus some additional hurdles — and close smoothly and on time for clients of mine last year.
Plan B
What happens when the closer can’t get the lien removed before closing?
Usually, the closing happens anyways, but the title company must escrow a multiple of the HELOC until the proper documentation can be produced — or recreated.
So, if the HELOC was for $75k, the Seller would have to wait to receive $150k or even $225k of the sale proceeds.
See also, “Can’t Get No (Mortgage) Satisfaction“; “June 29, 2012: ‘Be Nice to Your Closer’ Day.”
