Step 23: Get your down payment ready

You won’t often know until the day before or even the day of your signing appointment the exact amount of money that you need to bring to closing. Before then you’ll have a very good estimate of the funds necessary that your lender or the escrow company will communicate to you, but it won’t be exact. Be prepared to have to go to a bank in that time period right before the signing to either get a cashier’s check or wire the funds over to the escrow company. The escrow officer must get the loan documents in order to accurately generate the settlement statement. Once this is done they’ll get in contact with you and we will get a copy of the estimated settlement statement for review as well.

IMPORTANT: If you are planning on wiring funds, please be VERY CAREFUL to only trust wiring instructions you’ve received from the escrow officer after YOU HAVE INITIATED the request at a contact number you know to be accurate. There has been a major increase in wire fraud over the last few years, particularly involving real estate transactions. Fraudsters have become very sophisticated at impersonating agents, escrow officers, and have become more brazen in their methods. We will have a Wire Fraud Disclosure form for you to sign and you’ll see similar disclosures in our We Notice packet & from the escrow company too.

Next: Secure your new home