Build the closing folder before you have a buyer
Collect payoff contacts, receipts, and a wire-check plan before you are under contract.
Start the folder before you have a buyer. Paper or digital, pick one home for it and do not split the documents across a counter and an inbox. Label each piece: payoff contact, association contact if you have one, warranty paperwork you plan to transfer, and receipts for repairs you are disclosing. A folder you can hand to someone is the point. A search through email is not a folder.
Keep the A form where you report what you know about the property. Your state decides which forms you sign. draft in that folder and update it when a repair is finished. The version you sign should match the house on signing day. When you replace a page, date it and pull the old page out so you do not sign the stale one. The repair invoices sit behind the draft. If a buyer asks what you fixed, you are holding the answer instead of promising to send it later.
Ask the closing company how they send wire instructions, and write that answer in the folder. Plan to confirm any wiring instructions by calling a phone number you look up yourself, not a number that arrived only in an email. Read the amount and the account name back. This is a phone call, not a courtesy. Do it before you send money, including an Money the buyer puts down to show the offer is serious. The contract says who holds it and when it is due. wire if that money is yours to send.
When you have a contract and a closing date, request the payoff and put the quote in the folder with the good-through date. A payoff that expires before closing needs a refresh. Set a reminder a few days ahead. The same folder should hold the inclusion list, the photo of the finished repairs, and the utility card once you make it. One home means that on closing morning you pick up one thing, not five.
What to do
- Give the folder one home and label the payoff contact, warranties, and repair receipts.
- Update the A form where you report what you know about the property. Your state decides which forms you sign. draft when a repair is finished and remove the stale page.
- Call a number you look up yourself to confirm wiring instructions before you send money.
- Request the payoff when you have a contract and a closing date, and note when the quote expires.