Important Home Closing Steps

The period leading up to the closing of your house sale is going to be a busy time for you. Part of your house closing steps will obviously be getting packed up in order to move. There are however some things that you need to add to those house closing steps to get the house ready for the buyer when they move in.

Here are some important things to remember in your house closing steps to ensure that the closing isn’t held up and goes as smoothly as possible.

Important Documents In The House Closing Timeline

When the buyer came through your house initially, they were very excited to find just what they were looking for. After the closing however they will be viewing the house with homeowner eyes and not the initial starry, house-hunter eyes.

assorted keys and tags There on the kitchen counter sits a couple of keys and a garage door opener. They’ll have some relief and assume one of the keys is for the house and the other is for their mailbox at the kiosk they saw down the street.

But, which one? It’ll take several back-and-forth phone calls, over the course of about a week, to finally determine that her mailbox was number 5. And the mail has stacked up considerably during that time.

So, the moral of the story, as you check off the items on your house closing steps list, is to yes, leave them the mailbox key but leave a note describing which mailbox the key fits. This also applies to any of the other keys that you may have, outdoor sheds, garage, front and back doors etc.

Other items to remember in your house closing steps that need to be left for the buyer include:

Garage door openers
Landscape irrigation system instructions
Pool/spa operating manual
Security system instructions
Appliance operation manuals

Buyer’s Requests As Part Of Your Steps In Closing On A Home

If any non-fixtures or personal items were included in the sale, make it part of your house closing steps to set them aside so that you don’t accidentally pack them up for your move. Sometimes it is even better, as you roll through the house closing steps, to put a note on the item or items. That way the movers or family members will understand and remember that the items are to remain in the home or garage.

Often, buyers have requested as part of the negotiations that you remove certain items from the home. This may include things you have stored on the side of the house, an above-ground pool, swing sets or maybe appliances. Add these things to your house closing steps to have them removed in plenty of time for you to be able to do a thorough cleaning. The buyer will need to do the final walk through of the home prior to closing and it is best if all those items are gone at that time.

The Steps To Closing On A House Say It’s Time To Clean

lady with mop and cleaning solution bottle Buyers expect the home to be in the same condition as when they first saw it. As part of your house closing steps, make sure that you’ve gotten the house all neatened up just like you did when you had it open for showings when you first listed it for sale.

At minimum, you should:

Wipe down the insides of cupboards
Clean the oven
Clean the refrigerator
Sweep and wash the floors
Vacuum carpets
Remove trash from the property (even if this means making a dump run)

Finally, a very important part of the house closing steps is to plan on leaving the utilities in your name until the sale is finalized, this is also part of the Offer to Purchase and Contract. The buyer will perform a final walk-though of the home just before closing and will want to ensure that the major systems are working.

Do you want to know what happens after you have accepted the buyers offer? Check out this video for more tips.