Cutting the check(s)

Uuuuuuh. Your attorney will do this for you. The money flows out, boy.

Your lawyer will do all of the math, you cut one check only and he/she makes all disbursements.

Actually, there is a ridiculous number of checks in some cases because of other transaction costs. It doesn't matter. As said above, prior to the closing, your attorney gives you a list of exactly what you need down to the penny. Getting one bank check is not really easier than getting 6. Given what is at stake, an extra 15 minutes at the bank can hardly matter. I think coordinating the necessary parties to be in the same place for the closing is a bigger pain in the ass.

I bought a new construction condo and it was my first real estate purchase. Not only did I not have a precise amount known the morning of the closing (since Citibank screwed up so many things with the mortgage we doubted closing would actually occur that day- but it did), but in the end, the sponsor's attorney's would not accept bank checks. Apparently, despite the supposed purpose behind bank checks, my attorney said they were concerned about fraudulent bank checks. Ultimately, I gave the bank checks to my attorney, plus personal checks and my attorney wrote a check from his escrow account ( I could be mistaken on the precise account type though). Between the various bank checks and personal checks- I think I had issued about 10 separate notes.

Just follow the lead from your attorney- they will guide you...and bring your checkbook with you just in case.

Kylewest is right: The day before closing, your attorney will tell you what bank checks to bring, and then you will bring your personal checkbook and write more.

Basically, the buyer has already made a good faith escrow payment, so unless you're paying cash, to bring the balance of what you owe to the table, you have to get a mortgage.

You have transaction costs involved with that -- your down payment on the mortgage, the bank's attorney. You write those checks.

Then your money -- the mortgage and the down payment check and the escrow check -- go to the seller, who pays off their mortgage (which you have to sit through), and transfers title to you. As all this happens, random taxes are paid, and the brokers get paid (firms, not agents).

If you are buying a co-op, you end up with a share certificate and a proprietary lease on a particular unit and a set of keys. If you are buying a condo, you end up with the deed to a particular unit and a set of keys.

If you took out a mortgage, the nice bank that lent you all that money will probably take your documents for safekeeping until your mortgage is paid off.

In addition, if you took out a mortgage, you will have signed about four copies of your mortgage note, and you or your attorney will get one.

All the money movement is tracked on one reconciliation form, called a HUD-1. Make sure you get a copy of it -- probably through your attorney -- because your accountant will need it come tax time.

The whole process takes about two hours -- it's faster if the seller doesn't have a mortgage that they have to pay off.

ali r.
{downtown broker}