As I was representing the seller, yesterday should have been a pretty quick closing. This turned out to be the worst closing in my loong real estate career (1 year).

Problem 1) buyer strolls in 15 minutes late. Just because

Problem 2) This was a notary closing with no attorney

Problem 3) This notary had NEVER closed a home loan before

Problem 4) The other agent/title company did not go over the mortgage info or HUD with the seller prior to closing

So Closing starts 15 minutes late. Naturally, the notary had the buyer sign before the seller. When going over the loan docs, the buyer's first payment is Oct. 1st. He thought his payment was going to be due on Nov 1st. Buyer's agent then leaves the closing to go work with another client... Buyer then decides not to buy the house due to the payment due date.

As seller's agent (actually the only agent in the room) I let the buyer know that buy/sell agreements are real and he needs to talk to a lawyer before leaving.

Notary walks out of the room. I follow her and call my broker. Notary begins CRYING in the Lobby!!!
After appox. one hour the buyer decides to sign the papers. Closing is then complete, or so I thought!
That evening I get a frantic call from the other agent. It seems the Notary did not have the parties sign the right way!! The settlement table ended up being the seller's coffee table at 830 last night.
This is why agents earn their commission!!!

The worst I had luckily had no Drama, just a buyer who insisted on reading every page of the mortgage. A speed reader he was not. A legal expert he was not. He would stop ask questions and the closer, and I as his agent, would have to tell him "We can't answer that", he would then call his lender at one point his brother (who is no attorney).

It took over 3 hours to get through the paper signing. Luckily we scheduled it late in the day. The selling agent had to leave, the lender had to leave. After 2 hours we suggested he reschedule and he bring back an Attorney but he insisted he wanted it closed.

Thats why I never spend a commission check until it clears the bank!

I once had a Closing where I was representing the Sellers, an estranged couple whose divorce was not quite finalized . . . . just getting to a Closing was a piece of work in itself. But at the Closing, the soon to be Ex-Wife threw one of those hissy fits because she was being refunded for the Propane being left in the tank at a rate about 12¢ less per gallon than what she remembered paying for it. Oh boo hoo hoo !

At a 12¢ differential, that amounted to about a whole $24.00; but she would have killed the deal right there over those few dollars. And the Ex-Husband (also, soon-to-be) says "I'm finished paying Her Bills" so we were sitting there at an impasse. I bought myself $24.00 worth of Propane that day, and gave it to the Buyers.

With the resolution of that Fuel Adjustment, the Closing continued but the Atmosphere was somewhat frigid, even for Vermont. At least no one came packing a side-arm.

Good riddens! Too bad Everyone just can't be as nice as we are !

It wasn't mine, but a friend had one in Florida about 15 years ago that stretched over a day and a half. It was all about repairs, the quality of repairs and who would pay for what repairs. One agent sent out for lunch on day one and the other on day two. I actually worked with the buyer agent (who told me the story) and also with the seller agent, who 5 years later had dropped out of real estate (due to family illness, she was a very successful agent) and worked as a rep for my preferred title company.

"As I was representing the seller, yesterday should have been a pretty quick closing"

"The other agent/title company did not go over the mortgage info or HUD with the seller prior to closing"

If you represent the seller, why would anyone else go over the HUD Settlement Statement with the Seller but you?

This is why I love in GA that we use a closing attorney and keys are given at closing.

The closing attorneys are masters at being mitigators and getting them closed.The attorney goes over in detail all the forms before signing.

It sounds scary there where you have a bunch of incompetent people guiding buyers and sellers through closing.

I must have mis typed... No one went over the Hud/Mortgage with the buyers. I represented the sellers.