A colleague who recently purchased a home passed along the following:
When I purchased my home this summer, I contacted my mortgage consultant about one month in advance and told her that I wanted to see all my loan documents prior to closing so that I could read them over. [ . . . S]he told Edina title that I was an attorney and wanted to review the paper work prior to closing. Edina Title in turn, contacted my soon-to-be mortgager, who complied. They were able to get me the documents about one week prior to closing. I’m glad I did request and receive the information. Interest rates were incorrect, my name, etc. It was quite the topic of conversation at closing. The women representing Edina Title indicated that no one ever requests to read the documents prior to closing, and no reads the documents at closing.
Along with my other best advice for homebuyers (hire an attorney), this is an excellent practice. Demand to see the closing documents so that you can make sure they are accurate and make any necessary changes before the closing. If you do not understand what you are looking at, spend a few hundred dollars to hire an attorney to make sure that your home purchase, probably the most expensive transaction you have ever taken part in, goes smoothly.
(Think about this, you can hire an attorney to review documents and accompany you to closing for anywhere from a few hundred dollars to about one thousand dollars for a more expensive attorney. You pay your realtor anywhere up to 6% of the purchase price–$6,000 on a home purchased for $100,000–but the realtor is not paid to look after your best interests. An attorney is.)
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We read the paperwork at our closing. That’s when we noticed that the survey was done for the wrong house. We caught it and had them re-do the survey correctly. I don’t know what problems would have been caused if we hadn’t done that.