At Peak Title Professionals, every transaction begins with information sheets. The information contained in these sheets helps determine the kinds of actions the processing team needs to take, as well as the timelines. It is important that you fill out your information sheet quickly and accurately so that we can get started.
In this article, we’re going to go through the elements of the Buyer Closing Information Sheet, why the data you provide is important, and how we typically use this information.
The first section of the buyer’s info sheet is the buyer’s information. This section asks for typical personal information, such as name, phone number, and email address. If the buyer is an entity, it will ask for the name of the entity, the authorized signatory, or signatories, for the entity, and the entity’s address.
This section also contains a few more pieces of more sensitive, but very important to the process, information. These include social security numbers (SSNs). In the case of entities, you will be asked for the employer identification numbers (EINs). We use these numbers to correctly identify you during the process.
This helps to ensure we’re looking at the right records, pulling the right financial information, and vesting the title in the right person or entity. Title vesting is the idea of how title to the property is held by one person or multiple people. We store this information in a secure, encrypted database to ensure that your privacy is protected. For more details, check out our privacy policy.
Second, for individuals, we ask whether you are a United States citizen. Whether you are a U.S. citizen or not will affect certain regulatory requirements.
Finally, for individuals, we ask about your marital status. This information is very important for title vesting. In certain states, if the buyer is married, title is required to vest in the names of both spouses. Knowing this status helps us streamline the deed process because we will know who needs to be considered for ownership after closing.
The next section asks about the property being purchased, including the address of the property. There are two important questions here.
The first question is whether the property will be used as a primary residence. How the property will be used affects certain requirements, including financial requirements, of closing. Knowing this information up front will help make settlement and closing more straightforward. If the property is not used as a primary residence, you will need to provide the address of your primary residence.
The second question is whether there will be any tenants on the property. This question is important if you plan to lease the property to an existing tenant. If so, we know that we will not need to go through the process of terminating the lease at closing.
This section is necessary if you are financing the purchase of the property. We will need to coordinate with your lender on the closing settlement. Having their information allows us to begin that process as early as possible, which better ensures a smooth closing.
This section gives us the information we need to know who the title will vest with and how that vesting will occur. If only one person or entity is purchasing the property, the title will vest in a single owner.
If multiple people or entities, including spouses, will be owners of the property, we will need to know how you would prefer the title to vest. Joint ownership takes a few different forms, including joint tenancy, tenancy in common, or tenancy by the entirety (only for spouses). We walk through each of these in this article.
You may also choose to have the title vest in a trust, in which case, we would need additional trust information. If uncertain how you want title to vest, we recommend you consult with an attorney to assist you in making the decision.
Certain states may require a survey to be completed before closing. For transactions where a survey is not required by law or by your lender, you may have the option of ordering a survey of the property. This section gives you the opportunity to make that choice at the very beginning of the process, allowing us to order the survey.
Where allowed, Peak Title Professionals, uses mobile notary services to allow you to close. If this is available for your transaction, you will simply need to provide a convenient address. We will then send a mobile notary to you on the closing day.
If you will not personally attend closing, we may need a power of attorney so that someone has the authority to sign on your behalf. Powers of attorney must be reviewed and verified prior to closing so it is important you alert us at the beginning of the transaction if a power of attorney will be used, otherwise your closing could be delayed.
The information sheet may also ask you to upload relevant documentation. Depending on the transaction, this may include your driver’s license or other government issued identification, entity documentation, powers of attorney, purchase agreement, refinance agreement, or any other relevant documentation. We suggest that you gather all relevant documents prior to beginning your information sheet.
In this section, you are agreeing that all the information you have provided is true and correct. This is important because we are going to use the information you provide to conduct closing. If the information is not accurate, we could run into problems closing your transaction.
Before you sign this section, please carefully review your answers. Make sure everything is spelled correctly and you have not omitted any important information.
If you are using financing for your purchase, we will need to interact with, obtain information from, and share information with your lender. This document authorizes us to communicate and pass data back and forth to your lender in order to close your transaction. Without this authorization, we will not be able to accomplish all the tasks necessary to close your transaction.
The contents contained within this information sheet will set the tone for how your closing will progress. If you provide us with accurate, complete information, we will have a much easier time processing your transaction. If we have incomplete information, certain tasks may take longer or require your engagement to accomplish.
If you have any questions about the information we are asking for, please feel free to reach out to us here.
The information provided in Peak Title Professionals, does not, and is not intended to, constitute legal advice. All content is for general informational purposes only and is not intended to provide a complete description of the subject matter. Specific processes will vary based on applicable law. The title and closing process will be handled by a third-party attorney to the extent required by law. Product offerings vary by jurisdiction and are not available or solicited in any state where we are not licensed.
