The investment house is “officially” ours. I say officially because the contract is out of the attorney review period (3 business days in New Jersey). Since we are purchasing the house in “as is” condition, we will not be having a home inspection, although I did have our contractor look at the house prior to the end of the attorney review period so that we could get out of the contract should something been terrifically wrong.
I have sent the contract to the title company. The first thing they will do is a search to make sure that there is clear title to the property. That means no one that owned the house in the past, or a relative, has a claim of ownership against the house. They will also run a search against the Buyers and Sellers to make sure that there are no liens against them that would need to be paid with the proceeds from the purchase. New Jersey has become very strict about back alimony and child support. I think it’s a good thing.
The title company will also pro-rate the taxes to the day of settlement and in this case the water and sewer bill. Because we are paying for the house with cash, we will not be required to show proof of insurance. Insurance is usually required by your mortgage company because they want to know if something happens to the house, that you will be able to re-build and keep up with your mortgage payments. We will get insurance even though it is not required because my husband will kill me if we don’t have it. We will not be required to have flood insurance. That is also a requirement of your mortgage company, not the title company.
By paying cash, we will significantly lower some of our immediate out of pocket costs. There is no mortgage application fee, appraisal fee, credit check fee, flood zone check fee, flood insurance required or hazard insurance. (Although we are planning to get insurance on the house.) Also, the mortgage company usually requires a Buyer to pay 1 full year of hazard insurance and then they escrow three additional months of payments. They will also escrow three months worth of taxes. It does add up to the cost of buying a house.
We will have to pay, title insurance, to record the deed, pro-rated taxes, water and sewer. Also there is usually a charge for holding the settlement and the cost of the settlement officer to notarize all documents.
As I said, it is almost ours…..