Page 14 - Homeowners Manual - Sonoma County

TOP 10 THINGS CONSUMERS SHOULD KNOW ABOUT THE CLOSING PROCESS

1. Time is of the Essence
• To avoid delays or a postponement of your closing, be sure to respond to lender and escrow officer requests
immediately.
• Work closely with your lender, real estate agent and escrow officer to avoid delays.

2. You Have a Choice

• When it comes to service providers associated with your closing, you have a choice. This includes the
company that will close your transaction and most inspectors, just to name a few. In certain areas, the seller
will pay for some closing costs and thus will be entitled to select the vendor(s).
• Talk to your lender, real estate agent and escrow officer to obtain additional information about the various
service providers and fees.

3. Protecting your Information – Secured Emails
• As an additional security measure to protect your non-public personal information, you may receive secured
emails from your lender and escrow officer.
• You will need to follow the instructions for retrieving that information (which will likely require you to create
an account) and make sure that you return any information through the secured email system.

4. Loan Estimate (LE)

• The Loan Estimate (LE) will be sent to you within three days of your loan application. You may receive
multiple copies of the LE if there are any changes in circumstance(s).

• The terms provided on the LE will also appear on the Closing Disclosure (CD). Lenders are required to
explain any changes in fees on the CD.

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