Paperwork You Will Sign
– Part 2

Local laws will determine whether or not other documents will be used in your closing process. Some contain information that by law you are required to receive. These documents may require your signature to verify that you have received, read, and understood the document. Below are some of the more common documents used.

Loan Application - Confirmation that information, such as your employment and marital status that was given when you first applied for the loan has not changed.

Escrow Analysis - Lender provides a detailed itemization of the escrow account used in servicing your loan.

Tax Authorization - Gives permission to your local real estate taxing authority to send tax bills directly to your loan servicer so that payments may be made from loan's escrow account.


Post-Closing

After the closing, the majority of your work is over. Following are some post-closing matters that occur for many homebuyers.

Servicing Transfer Statement - Once you begin making your monthly mortgage payments you may receive a Servicing Transfer Statement from your lender. The lender that sold your mortgage loan may not necessarily be the lender that will be servicing your loan. This Servicing Transfer Statement will indicate that your loan has been sold. This simply means that your lender has sold your mortgage loan to another lender. This has no impact on your mortgage except that you will be paying your monthly mortgage payments to another lender.

Mortgage Payment Adjustments - Periodically your loan servicer will send you a new statement showing the payment due for each billing cycle. This amount may go up or down depending on several factors. For example, if the local property tax rate has been raised the payments may be increased to maintain sufficient funds in the escrow account.

Homeowner's Association Fees - If the property you purchased is part of a Homeowner's Association (HOA) you will need to inform them that you are the new owner of the property. Most Homeowner's Associations require you to pay a fee. The fee is usually collected monthly or quarterly and usually covers trash pickup, snow removal, maintenance of common areas, and use of community facilities.