First, a little about "escrow". To close the sale of a home, a neutral, third party (the escrow agent) is employed to assure the process will close perfectly and on time. When funds are held by a third party in a transaction between a buyer and a seller, it's in escrow. An everyday way to understand what an escrow company does is to compare it to PayPal for Internet purchases.
The escrow holder makes sure that the terms and conditions of the agreement between the sellers and the buyers are performed prior to the sale being finalized.
The documents the escrow agent may obtain include:
- Loan documents
- Tax statements
- Fire and other insurance policies
- Title insurance policies
- Terms of sale and any seller-assisted financing
- Requests for payment for various services to be paid out of escrow funds
Upon completion of all instructions of the escrow, closing can take place. At this time, all payments and dues for inspections, title insurance and real estate commissions are paid out. You'll then secure the title to the property and the title insurance gets dispersed as outlined in the escrow instructions.
At the close of escrow, payments of funds are made in an acceptable form to the escrow. I'll keep you up-to-date on what comes next.