As the pandemic continues to spread across Massachusetts, it’s more important than ever to take precautions. Our team continues to hold closings in our office but with implemented changes to keep everyone safer. Here’s more about our COVID precautions for real estate closings.
Document Review
We think it’s important for home buyers to have an opportunity to view and understand the paperwork they are signing. Normally, you would review these at closing with an attorney. Those communications can be difficult with masks and social distancing. To solve this problem, we are emailing documents to buyers ahead of time. We schedule a phone or zoom calls to discuss them and answer any questions. This way, everyone is able to speak and hear clearly without masks and from the safety of their homes.
Signing Process
Physical signing is still taking place within our office after the phone review of documents. We have a large conference room and welcome one party at a time. One of our staff will deliver the documents to the room and leave you to sign privately, without additional contact or exposure to others. Borrowers are asked to bring their own pens, as an added precaution. Use of hand sanitizer and cleaning of high-touch surfaces are another key component of our COVID precautions for real estate closings.
Separate Signing for Buyers and Sellers
Buyers and sellers often look forward to meeting at the closing table. Unfortunately, this is no longer an option during a pandemic. Parties now sign separately and sometimes at different locations altogether. If you have important information to discuss with the another party, we encourage you to do so before the scheduled closing. Just as we are using phone calls and Zoom sessions, you can do so too!
More on COVID Precautions for Real Estate Closings
With a vaccine rollout, we hope that infection rates will start to fall. Although we look forward to conducting normal closings again some day, we expect that COVID precautions for real estate closings will remain in place for many more months. Although the process is different, we still work to ensure that our clients understand what they are signing and can sign documents safely with little contact or exposure.
