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What is Escrow and why do I need Inspections?

Here’s a general overview of what to expect after we have an accepted offer. It’s good to have an understanding of this but don’t worry, we’ll guide you through the process.

Why Escrow?

The purpose of the escrow company is to act as a neutral third party between the buyer and seller and to make sure all the required steps toward closing are completed correctly and on time.

For example, you wouldn’t want to just give your earnest money check to the sellers – what guarantee would you have that they wouldn’t steal it from you and refuse to sell you the house? Escrow companies prevent scenarios like this from occurring.

The escrow company will handle all of the money that must change hands between you and the seller. There is also paperwork involved with each step taken while the home is in escrow and the escrow company collects all of this documentation and makes sure all the documents required to complete the deal are completed correctly and on time.

During this process you will also a Home owner Insurance quote to be implemented at closing.

The order of the steps will vary somewhat with each transaction, but the basic steps are almost always the same.

Steps of the Escrow Process

Appraisal

The lender will appraise the home. You may have to write a check for this up front rather than waiting until closing to pay the fee. This is because the appraisal will occur no matter what, but not all transactions make it to the closing table. The appraisal protects the lender from lending you more money than the home is worth (in case they end up repossessing the property because you stop paying your mortgage and have to resell it to get back their loan money).

If the value the appraiser gives to the home is lower than the purchase price, the seller will have to agree to adjust the price downward or you will have to pay cash for the difference. Otherwise, the transaction will fall through. Even though the appraisal protects the lender, you’ll still have to pay for it, because you’re the one who is buying the home. The appraisal can also help you, though, by letting you know if you might be overpaying.

If the appraisal comes in higher than the accepted contract price, you win! The contract stays the same.

Secure Your Financing

If you have secured your financing with a lender before you enter a contract, you are ahead of the curve. Still, the lender may ask you for more paperwork while you’re in escrow if the underwriter requests it.

Obviously, you don’t want to release your financing contingency until you’re 99.9% sure your loan will fund. Otherwise you could lose your earnest money deposit (typically 1% of the purchase price) and possibly be subject to other damages, depending on the terms of the purchase agreement.

Pest Inspection

This one is often required by the bank for the bank’s benefit, the idea being that if you buy a home and later discover that it’s termite ridden, you might just walk away if you can’t afford to pay for the repairs. If the house has suffered significant structural damage from the termites or wood rot, the bank will have trouble finding a new buyer. Pest inspections are worth the small investment (often under $125) and protect you, too – you don’t want to buy a home with an active infestation of wood-destroying organisms, do you?

Home Inspection

This inspection is technically optional (meaning that the lender doesn’t require you to get one, and you can choose your own inspector), but you should consider it a requirement because it’s so important.

A home inspector will examine the readily visible components of your home (and that covers quite a lot of ground) looking for problems that your untrained, first-time-home buyer’s eye probably would never catch. Did you know that the wall attaching the garage to your house is supposed to have a certain fire rating? Do you know how to tell if the roof is likely to leak? Do you know how to test the home’s water pressure to check for possible problems with the plumbing?

A home inspection can protect you against nasty, expensive surprises later on and sometimes give you some bargaining power to get the seller to lower the price if anything major needs to be fixed. In some cases, the inspection might reveal that you’re better off getting the seller to make the repairs or even walking away from the home than dealing with all of its problems. In other cases, a home inspection will give you the peace of mind of knowing that you’re purchasing a sound structure that won’t be a major headache or money pit.

Secondary Inspections

If the home inspection reveals any potential major problems, you may decide to have some secondary inspections done. While home inspectors are extremely helpful in diagnosing any problems, they are often generalists, not specialists. And even if they do have expertise on one area, like plumbing, they won’t have it in every area that matters (like plumbing, electrical, roofing, and so on). If the home inspector identifies a possible problem, they might recommend that you have a more specialized professional examine the item further before proceeding with the transaction. Expect to pay a few hundred dollars for each inspection (but remember that major problems can cost thousands of dollars to fix).

Natural Hazards Disclosure (NHD)

This document will be acquired on your behalf (you don’t have to do anything) and it will tell you things like whether your home is in an airport noise zone, a flood zone, or anything else that could present a significant danger or nuisance to you as a homeowner in that location. If the home is in any hazard areas, the lender may require that you purchase additional insurance (flood insurance is a common one).

Review the Seller’s Disclosures

The seller and his or her agent are legally required to disclose any known problems with the home. They are required to fill out a detailed Sellers Property Questionnaire (SPQ) and a Real Estate Transfer Disclosure (TDS) asking them to specifically comment on the condition of various components of the home. However, if the owner is the bank, it will be able to get out of this part of the deal because it can’t be expected to have any prior knowledge of the home’s condition.

Avoid Title Trouble

Your escrow office will get a title search and title insurance. A title search checks to make sure there are no claims to the property other than the current owner’s, such as a tax lien. You want to own the property free and clear, and a title report will make sure that can happen. If there are any clouds on the title, they can (and must) be resolved while you’re under the protection of the escrow process in order for the transaction to go through. Title insurance protects both you and the lender against any future false claims to the property, such as someone pretending to be an heir of one of the property’s previous owners.

Conduct a Final Walk-Through

Within 5 days prior to closing, you and your agent will revisit the home to make sure no damage has occurred while the home has been in escrow. If it has, you’ll want to make sure it’s fixed before you take possession.

Questions about some of the terms used above? See Real Estate Terms.