Closing can be scary, you made it this far, now what?
Here are 16 things you should and should not do before and after closing.
1. First, you must remember nothing is final until you get the keys at closing.
2. Your agent is here to help you do not hesitate to ask for their advice.
3. Your lender will probably check your credit score again just before closing.
Do not do any of the following during the closing period
4. Change jobs unless it is within the same company; lenders want to see job security.
5. Allow any payments to be late, lenders hate late payments-especially close to closing.
6. Apply for any kind of credit, this will show up on your credit report and may cause the lender to panic.
7. Take out any loans for anything, no new appliances, no furniture, no cars, etc. This will change your debt ratio and may panic your lender. Do this after your closing.
8. If you have stated you have X amount of money in your bank account make sure it is still there because the lender may check this also.
We all love our lender but he or she will not be the one to make the final decision. Someone you will never meet in New York or somewhere else will make the final underwriting decision and they only look at the numbers.
So much for the don’ts here are some things you should do
9. Shop for insurance, insurance companies rate neighborhood areas differently.
10. Schedule your move, interview movers or start saving boxes and lining up help now.
11. Moving always involves lots of trash; find out ahead of time what your trash haulers rules are for large pickups.
12. Schedule to have your utilities shut off at your old home and turned on at the new home.
13. Arrange for any changes to be made to your new home such as carpet or painting after closing. So you are not left waiting 2 or 3 weeks to be fit into their schedule.
14. Change your locks and garage door operator codes. You don’t know how many other people may have had access to your new home before you bought it.
15. Meet your neighbors, they can tell you when trash pickup is, where the kids get on the bus and all kinds of things you will need to know and some you probably don’t.
16. Change your address at the post office and your driver’s license etc.
Now kick back and enjoy your new home.