Closing Day Checklist

There are a number of matters home sellers need to attend to as part of the closing process to ensure a smooth hand off of the property to the new owners.

Ensuring the House Is Empty

Prior to closing, home sellers should double-check that all of their personal property and belongings are moved out, as well as any appliances they want to keep or that weren’t part of the sale. Some home sellers may plan on leaving things like washers, dryers or other appliances, but you may want to take some appliances with you to your new home.

Final Cleaning

While it’s not a strict requirement in most cases, many home sellers will do a deep cleaning of the home once all their furniture and belongings are moved out. This is more of a courtesy than a required step in the process.

Turn Over Keys and Necessary Codes

If there’s a coded garage door opener or a code for the gate in a gated community, you should make sure the buyer has that information as well as keys to the house. It’s important to hand over all the keys, even though most homebuyers will (and should) prioritize rekeying all the exterior doors on the property.

Sign All the Necessary Documents

There are a number of legal documents related to transferring the deed of ownership and settlement statements that must be signed for the sale to officially close. Although you may need to meet the seller in person, these types of things can often be done through an attorney, title company or even through electronic signing. 

Hand Over Relevant Warranties

There may be certain appliance warranties or service memberships you want to hand over to the new owner. For example, if a home has a solar panel lease that’s being transferred or a roof or window warranty that’s transferrable, the documentation should be handed over to the buyer. There may also be manuals for appliances (like HVAC systems or ovens) that the new owners would appreciate having.

Attend Closing Meetings If Necessary

Closing meetings aren’t a part of every home sale closing, but there may be some buyers and sellers who want to meet in person. Remote closings or pre-signing days prior to official closing are common in modern real estate transactions and preferred by many buyers and sellers.

Pay Outstanding Mortgages and Liens

The first thing that must be done with the proceeds of the home sale will be paying off outstanding liens and mortgages. As the home seller, you usually won’t need to worry about this or do anything to make it happen, as these tasks are typically the responsibility of the closing agent. They will use the money from the sale to pay off your mortgage before sending a check for the remainder (your equity) to you.

Change Address and Utilities

Many sellers do this in advance since they have already moved out of their old house by the time the sale is finalized and closed – but if you haven’t done it yet, doing so at the time of closing is important. This includes everything from filing change of address forms with the post office to updating cable, electricity and gas service and billing.

Final Walkthrough

As the seller, you may need to do a final walkthrough with the buyer or buyer’s agent to ensure any previously agreed upon repairs or modifications were made prior to finalizing closing, like if you agreed to fix a leaky faucet or roof repairs as a condition of the sale.

Home sellers might also want to do a final walkthrough for sentimental reasons – this will likely be your last opportunity to be in a place where you may have lived for years or decades, raised your children, celebrated holidays or experienced important life moments. Although you might be excited to move on, it can be a bittersweet moment.

Celebrate

Lastly, it’s important to appreciate and celebrate the closing of one chapter and the opening of a new one – especially if you got a healthy chunk of equity out of the sale!

Let 72SOLD Help You Maximize Your Home’s Sale Price

At 72SOLD, we utilize a proven home selling method that allows our agents to consistently get our clients higher offers than those received by other local home sellers in eight days or less. If you want to learn more about how we maximize your home sale price more quickly than other real estate agents, visit us at 72SOLD.com.