close of escrow date (mortgage, mortgage, contract, deposit)

[dku943]

I have a question in regarding close of escrow date.
I was told that it's better to close of escrow at the beginning of the month so that I don't need to pay a lot at closing because of reserved mortgage payment.
So I put COE to be Nov.2, which is more than 45 days from now. My question is:
If the lender is ready to fund, say escrow receives loan doc. on Oct. 20. will I be forced to COE before Nov. 2? Or, even I deposit closing fund, and sign the loan papers, I can still demand COE to be on Nov. 2, as written on the purchase agreement. I notice escrow instruction read: COE be on or before Nov. 2.
Can anyone answer my questions? Thanks a lot!!

[FalconheadWest]

I, personally, think closing at the beginning of the month is a horrible idea. Many reasons... one being you close on the house and then have to turn around and immediately make a mortgage payment 3 weeks later. You don't get your "free" month. Plus, if the seller has an FHA loan, he just paid an entire month of interest, but only owned the home for 2 days. That could be hundreds of dollars the seller could have saved by closing at the end of a month (not with conventional loans).

To answer your question, you need to close before your rate lock expires. Lenders don't always look at or care about contract closing dates. Your lender might have locked you into a 30 day rate without paying attention.

Also, if your loan program's criteria changes, you might not qualify anymore, so you might scramble last minute to get a new loan. It's best to close as soon as the loan is approved so they can't yank the funds from you. It's happened, and it will continue to happen as criteria changes daily.