The Closing--Finally it is OUR home

This is the day you have been waiting and packing for--the closing on your new place!! Usually one hour before the closing we go to the house and do a final walk through to be sure that the sellers left the house clean and empty and that everything is the way it was the last time you looked at it, minus their "stuff". We make sure everything we bought in the contract is there--ie: the refrigerator, stove, chandelier in the dining room, etc. and that it all works--we run the dishwasher, check the burners on the stove, etc. There may be other things we wanted and we need to be sure they are there--curtains in the rooms, etc. If it is included in the contract we negotiated for it and it is to be there in the condition it was agreed on. If not we have a problem, usually it is a small problem and will be worked out at the closing (the brother-in-law was helping them move and did not know they had sold you the bar stools so he put them on the moving truck with the rest of their stuff). They will leave all the directions and warranties to the appliances in one of the drawers with any extra keys (hopefully they have gotten all the extra keys back from the neighbors, their mom and dad, the teenage son and anyone who stayed for the night 3 years ago) and the garage door openers. We will give you at least one key, and usually more, at the closing when we are done signing the papers. If there are things they were to have fixed, or cleaned (usually the furnace) we will check to be sure they work and are done, making sure at the closing that they have been paid for, if necessary.
Most closings take 1-2 hours--one hour is the norm for local lenders but sometimes there is a snag--someone forgot to send the money, there is one piece of paper that is missing, the title company needs one more piece of the closing puzzle that should be easy but the person at the other end (usually the lender) needs just "one more thing". When all is done, and the money has changed hands and the title company has paid out all the money everyone brought in, the buyer brought money for the down payment and some closing costs, the Realtor brought the escrow or earnest money and the lender brought the loan funds, then the home is yours!! (The deed still needs to be recorded and other things like that but you get to move in and call it yours--yours and the banks!!) This is now the time to celebrate and call the brother-in-law to help you move in your "stuff". And they lived happily ever after......