Check your name against your ID
Read the name on the deed papers and make sure it matches the identification you will bring.
Read the name on the deed papers and compare it with the identification you will bring. A missing middle initial, an old last name, or a shortened first name can stall a signing. Look at the early pages, not only the signature line. The name has to match the identification, and it has to match the way you have been named in the contract if the contract named you. Write down every version you find.
If the names differ, tell the closing office as soon as you notice. Do not wait for the appointment to see if anyone mentions it. Ask what they need in order to sign. If you have a document that connects the two names, such as a court paper or a prior recorded deed, ask whether to bring it. Bring what they ask for, and bring the identification itself, not a photo of it, unless they have told you a copy is enough.
Put that identification with the envelope of keys and the closing folder so it is not still in a drawer on closing morning. If two people are signing, each person checks their own name and packs their own identification. One person being ready does not clear the other. Read both names even if only one of you has been on the phone with the closing office.
Check the statement and the deed against each other once the statement arrives. A name corrected on one document and not the other is still a mismatch. If you have recently changed how you sign, practice is not the issue. The printed name is the issue. Arrive with the papers, the identification, and the note of what the office told you to bring. A stall at the table is a poor time to learn the requirement.
What to do
- Read the name on the deed papers and on the contract.
- Compare it with the identification you will bring.
- Tell the closing office if the names differ, and bring what they ask for.
- Pack that identification with the closing folder, for each person who will sign.