Buyer’s Agent Pre-Closing Freakout, or
“The 30 Minute Home Warranty Policy”

What do you do as a Buyer’s agent (OK, me) when — proofing the closing worksheet just before closing** — you catch that the Purchase Agreement includes a Seller-paid home warranty from HSA . . . and you can’t confirm that one’s been ordered?

panicGet on the horn with HSA, and order a new one.  Pronto.

Thankfully, an HSA sales rep expeditiously took the info over the phone, and created a new policy in less than 15 minutes.

False Alarm

Scarcely 30 minutes later, I discovered what had happened:  the listing agent had ordered a home warranty, but from another insurer, “HMS.”

I called back HSA, who was very gracious about canceling their 30 minute-old policy.

P.S.:  flip a coin, guys, and one of you change your initials.

**No, that’s not due to procrastination.  The closing worksheet — now known as the Alta — often isn’t finalized until just before closing.

About the author

Ross Kaplan has 19+ years experience selling real estate all over the Twin Cities. He is also a 12-time consecutive "Super Real Estate Agent," as determined by Mpls. - St. Paul Magazine and Twin Cities Business Magazine. Prior to becoming a Realtor, Ross was an attorney (corporate law), CPA, and entrepreneur. He holds an economics degree from Stanford.

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