Forms, Contracts and Other Tools

What forms are involved?

Although there may be additional documents involved, the primary items which are dealt with at the Closing are:

* The Settlement Statement - Page 1 and Page 2
* The Contract
* The Loan Papers
* Title Insurance
* Homeowners’ Insurance
* The Title or Deed
* The Down Payment and Closing Costs

The Closing is your final opportunity to make certain that everything related to the purchase of your home is correct. It is important, therefore, that you do adequate preparation prior to the day of Closing. Although your Agent will most likely review all of the items needed with you, it is a good idea to have the right information in case you need to handle it on your own.

A real estate contract is a contract for the purchase/sale, exchange, or other conveyance of real estate between parties. Real estate called leasehold estate is actually a rental of real property such as an apartment, and leases (rental contracts) cover such rentals since they typically do not result in recordable deeds. Freehold ("More permanent") conveyances of real estate are covered by real estate contracts, including conveying fee simple title, life estates, remainder estates, and freehold easements. Real estate contracts are typically bilateral contracts (i. e., agreed to by two parties) and should have the legal requirements specified by contract law in general and should also be in writing to be enforceable.

Multiple Listing Service (MLS) is a group of private databases which allows real estate brokers representing sellers under a listing contract to widely share information about properties with real estate brokers who may represent potential buyers or wish to cooperate with a seller's broker in finding a buyer for the property. There is no single authoritative "MLS", and no universal data format. The many local and private databases--some of which are controlled by single associations of realtors or groupings of associations (which represent all brokers within a given community or goegraphical area) or by real estate brokers--are collectively referred to as the MLS because of their reciprocal access agreements.