Experiences closing remotely in GA - POA or overnight mailing documents? (agent, mortgage)
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I am selling a house in GA and unable to attend the closing in person. I'd much prefer to sign the documents myself and overnight them back to the lawyer before closing. The lawyer's office will technically allow me to do this, but they are pressuring me to use a Power of Attorney (either someone I know, or hire someone through them). They say they rarely receive lender's closing documents within three days of the closing date, and that it's likely there won't be time for them to get the closing documents for me to sign and overnight back to them, on or before closing date. They say it's likely closing will wind up being delayed.
I've overnighted documents before with a different closing attorney, but they didn't give me any trouble for it. That was also a cash sale, though - no lender involved.
We bought our first house (in Texas) using powers of attorney. We appointed a friend of ours as agent and the POA was narrowly tailored to apply only to that particular real estate transaction. It went absolutely fine. We did have a very high level of confidence in our POA agent, our buyers' agent, and our mortgage broker - and in fact when there was a last-minute glitch with the loan, the mortgage broker really came through for us and got the deal done.
We sold that house years later using the overnight method and my recollection of that dark evening, running around in a snowstorm to find a notary, seems like a bad dream. Yuck. We DID eventually find a notary and get the documents signed and overnighted but it was not good.
We bought our next house in person, signing our own documents in real time.
Of the three experiences, I liked the POA one best.
Your agent should be able to help you in the right direction. Maybe it's a $0 POA (can sign a single document) and they just sign the CD for you. Then your money can get wired or deposited for you.
Some lenders or attorneys seem to insist on either your physical presence or a good POA instead.
We have bought a house while living in another state and sold a home while living in another state. Both times the closing company sent a notary with all the paperwork to our home. Easy peasy. We are doing that again when the house we are selling closes in August.
You can also have your title agent hire a remote signer (notary or mobile notary); they come to you, notarize and they then are responsible for the documents.
It usually costs around $150 but worth the hassle.
I'm in Florida (mortgage broker) and run into this often. In Florida, the seller can also sign earlier.
You can also have your title agent hire a remote signer (notary or mobile notary); they come to you, notarize and they then are responsible for the documents.
It usually costs around $150 but worth the hassle.
I'm in Florida (mortgage broker) and run into this often. In Florida, the seller can also sign earlier.
Georgia is an attorney state. It has a few more quirks than most other attorney states as well. It is really its own beast. I hate working on Georgia loans. Fortunately, I don't have to do it often.
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Another idea...
