KGCI: Real Estate on Air - Are You Ready for Closing Final Steps to Take Before the Big Day (Buyer Process Pt. 5)

Episode Date: February 13, 2025

Welcome back to the Agent Goldmine. And today we are continuing fire part five, I think. Is this number five, Allie? It sure is. It's five, baby. Yes. Got it. Okay, cool. So in case you missed it, we have other parts before this. And the last one that we did was finishing up where we went under contract. And then it's like what's next after contract? And we did, we talked about inspections. We talked about the repair request, all the things you need to. know to get that pieces those pieces all friggin locked in and so today friends what we're doing is we are prepping for closing and after closing we're talking about what you should do right after closing to have all of your shit squared away make sure you're doing all the things that will set you up long term for your business and for that specific client and of course we have none other than the Ali Garstead in the house today to continue this buyer series. Allie, welcome. And the crowd goes wild.

Yeah, I feel like Simone Biles right now. So this episode, I'm going to shut, I'm going to shut this conversation off before you should because I'm about the word vomit everywhere, all about gymnastics for the next 45 minutes, but yeah, you're right. Let's turn that fucking lever off. So today's episode is going to be the before closing checklist. And I send this out. This, of course, is accompanied with an email that I use superhuman. So this is going to cover what to do, what on your side and exactly what to tell your

buyers to do the week-ish before closing. I have this on my CRM and my checklist to send out a week. week before closing, but also sometimes it differs depending on timelines, you know, when the buyer is actually going to physically arrive, et cetera, being that I work with a lot of VA, out of state, a lot of out of country buyers. So of course, my checklist may differ slightly from yours, but we are giving these checklists away. So text the word checklist to either one of us, 911, 3184-918-7-0-4-0-4-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-9-9-4-3-3-3-3-3.

too. Yes. You almost. So, okay, let's take it from the top. I'm sharing my screen again. And if you want to take a look at this, the best way to see what I'm going through is on YouTube. So the before closing checklist, bullet point number one is email the clients, the before closing checklist. I'm about to show you exactly what that email says. This in mine is buyer email number five.

And pretty much I say, it's been a pleasure working with you because we're already pretty much downhill. All the contingencies at this point have been removed. It's pretty much almost a done deal, but of course you can never consider anything a done deal until you get your commission. So don't ever rely on any payment. And at this point, with EXP, we have the ex-P, what is it called, the concierge that already will be talking to the buyer and the seller clients, whoever we're representing. So in this case, the buyer client, they have already called them an email them, and it's a free service to them that will help them switch over utilities. So depending on how big your area is, you may just have one internet provider, one water, one electric, etc., but you may

also have a few. So this free service to the agent and free service to the clients will help them, let them know, hey, you're in this part of town. This is going to be your water servicer. This is going to be your electric. So in case what I do is I send them to them anyway, um, because sometimes they see an email from something that says, you know, Tucson Concierge and XP and they're like, who is this? Uh, so just to make sure it's super clear, um, I, I'm, I do a lot of redundancies in case you couldn't already tell. Uh, so at this point, I'm going to share what exactly email number five is. Uh, before I go there, Shelby, do you have anything For just the concierge, just real quick.

So that is, and I'm confirming because I've never actually used them because I don't know if it was an existence back. It probably was and I just didn't realize it. But it's one of the things that I'm implementing now, but I've never personally used it. So within EXP, it is like a third party service that you connect your client with. And they essentially will turn on or switch over all the utilities for them. Is that correct? Yes, that's 100% correct. And it's crazy because it's free to it's a service that EXP pays for.

So it's free for the client and it's free for the agent. Because at first I was like, there's got to be the, yeah, it was like what catch? Yeah. Yeah. And so it doesn't actually turn on the service for them because that third party would then need that person's social security and like all this information that that third party doesn't have. But it tells them exactly who their servicer is and it makes that connection a lot easier. Gotcha.

Yeah, because I used to have fucking nightmares, not really, but like almost with all of the utilities associated with all of my rentals. And it's annoying with primary residents too. And this is, so I'm just saying that like utilities can be really, really, really painful. So this sounds like a really good service to take some of that pain off of their shoulders. So now I'm sharing my screen of my email, buyer email number five week before closing checklist. and I love our freaking checklist. And of course, what's the first thing?

Once again, it's a bomb bomb that I pay extra for. I pay 30 bucks a month for bomb bomb, B-O-M-B-O-M-B-O-M-B-O-MB-O-MB-com. And this video covers exactly what the rest of, I'm not going to play the video because it covers everything of what is already in this email. Again, it's just to make it easier for the client because sometimes they don't want to read. Sometimes my videos are very lengthy, so I make it easier for them, and I pretty much read for them. Okay, so in this email, I have next steps for you, again, because I assign all these clients'

homework. Number one is to transfer all the utilities to your personal name, credit card, or check-in account, starting on your closing date. This may be different depending on state. In Arizona, the owner, the buyer is responsible for day one, the day that they close. And so then the solar lease, if applicable, the information there, Tucson, water, sewer, trash, you know, all of the electric, the different types of electric, the gas, this is a template. So as I'm pulling up this template or the snippet is what superhuman calls it, if I know that

they're buying in a certain specific area, then I'm going to delete the other electric companies that do not apply. So that way I just have everything available. And even if I forget to delete the specific part, they know where they're buying. So, and in case they forget what city or area of town they're buying, Tucson concierge will help them through that. So I have this as a redundancy. Number two is to schedule a locksmith to change the locks on the property after recording. So again, that may be Arizona specific.

Do you ask your broker in case you don't know? But I always like to make sure that the buyer does it immediately after because I have a horror story. And I don't know, Shelby, if you want to go into that. Dude, let's do a story. I'm down for it. You want to do a story? Dude. Yeah, I went quite a close.

It was my second transaction ever, ever, ever. I was working with clients that were in their early 20s, like 23, maybe 22. Maybe first-time homebuyers moving PCSing from Alaska to Davis Monthan in Tucson. And they arrived physically in the state about two or three days after. recording, transferred the keys, and they were there for about two or three nights when on the third night, in the middle of the night, I'm talking midnight, one o'clock in the morning, they receive bangs on the door. Somebody is banging on the front door and they were, they didn't have their household goods yet. So they didn't have their weapons. They had freaking nothing. They had like one, a couple

of military book bags and like they were sleeping on the floor they didn't have anything they didn't have a knife so in the middle of the night somebody's banging on the door and they're scared of shit so they call the cops as they call the cops the banging on the front door they ended up opening the door three days after these buyers have it's the buyer's house now so they're calling me, they're calling the cops, they're calling everybody and guess where I am. I'm in Belize on Team Trip with five pillars. Yeah. So I'm literally with you down in Belize and the rest of the crew and I have no idea what's going on. So as they're calling the cops, the cops are saying the cops ended up coming out there, but it took a while, right? Because it's Tucson. It

freaking took like 20, 30 minutes for the cops to get down there. Freak, can you imagine that home invasion and take 30 minutes? Dude, I'd be so terrified. Like that's how two. Tucson is, it's scary. So they're hiding in their kitchen or sorry, they're hiding in their closet with nothing to defend themselves, both like the husband and wife young, like 22 year old couple with their cat. And they hear people inside their living room walking through their kitchen, walking through

their bathroom and they're saying, come out, you don't own this house. No. Yeah, like straight up, they're saying come the fuck out. You don't own this house. You guys are squatters. We need to remove you. And because it was at the height of the market, they didn't, they weren't going fast enough to where their own system wasn't updated. This is five days after closing and they thought they still owned it.

They had the cameras inside the property that were still on recording my clients in their day to day activity, like 100% illegal. My clients are scared. They have no idea what's going on. They're calling the cops. The cops come and the cops are like, hey, you need to show us the deep. And they're like, what's a deed? How do we show you that? And so they're calling title.

They're calling me at one in the morning. We were awake. I was awake. And then the cop is like, well, who is your real estate agent? Maybe this whole thing was a scam. And they're like, well, this is our real estate agent. And the cop is like, where can you get your realtor to come out here? And they go, no, she went on vacation to Belize.

And the cop was like, do you, don't you, don't you realize you were scam, this is a scam. No. And they were like, no, I think we owe this property. It was like 100% fucked. And I tried to get them like legal counsel and nobody wanted to pick up the case, not one person, not one attorney. We called like 14 different attorneys.

So what? Did they drop it? So the, a couple of business days after that tried to collect their cameras back and my clients being so nice, they were like, okay, yeah, you can come get it. I was like, no, do not give them their cameras back. anything abandoned in the property is now yours. Like take it, destroy it, use it, do whatever you want to do. But that shit is now your property. It's not your fault that wasn't up to speed with their own home buying process and home selling process. So they were like terrified. They were petrified.

They were scared to live there in their own house for like a couple of months after that. You know, like any any noise that they heard in the middle of the night after that, they were like, oh my God, someone's going to break in. They had PTSD. Welcome to real estate to Allie. second close like ever second yep into you know the fucking death pit yes wild it was wild lesson freaking learn like changing your locks is needed it's so it's required um and if for some reason you're not going to be in town um you either can have a someone that you trust a family member a friend be there during the change of locks uh if they're going to do that you just have to make sure that you're available on FaceTime or anything like that. So you can talk to the locksmith because good locksmiths

will not just go to our property and say, oh, you want to change this lock? Let me do it. Because at that point, anybody could break in anywhere. So a good locksmith won't do that. Just make sure you're like available somehow to talk to the locksmith directly. Well, perfect. I'm glad that we all heard that story. It was it needed to be told. It was scary. Man, I like will forever feel for them. But they since then sold that house. So schedule Step number three in this email is to schedule internet and cable. And those are like the ones that I suggest scheduling earlier because internet cable usually take the longest in my experience.

And if you want to schedule any other services like pool company, if you're buying a house with a pool or pest or weeds or termites, anything like that, those typically end up, those are fine if you end up starting that contract. closer to the day of closing. So that's where I had that here. Following on with this email, then I say it's been great working with you. I loved helping you through this home purchasing journey. Can I ask you for a favor? Do you know if anyone else looking to buy or sell? This could be in any state, not just Arizona. Because typically, unless you don't say that, people will only think, oh, sorry, I don't know of anyone else moving to Tucson. And because they don't understand that

you get paid off referrals. So you have to train your clients, train your friends, train your friends, train your family to do that. And if they do, my next blurb in the email is, can you start a group chat and introduce me to them? I would love to connect them to a realtor that would be able to provide them the best service possible, my business runs on referrals, connecting me to someone who you know that is looking to sell their property, we mean the world to me. That's how I make a living.

Again, even if they're not in Arizona, things in advance. I have a question. Yes. the group chat when you're like, can you start a group chat and introduce me to whoever this referral is? What is your process? Like you do that obviously. So it's like, hey, this is a real person. You know, they're going to hype you up. Like we love Allie so much. And then from there, do you immediately take it out of the group chat? Like, what is your response and then follow on actions for that? So the group chat starts. I then send a video, uh, video message.

of me to the group chat so that way the referer knows that I'm not dropping the ball and I want to thank them if I can't for some reason do a video chat I'll just do a text sometimes I'll do an audio like message too so I'll say something like Shelby thank you so much for connecting me to Aaron I'm so so excited to meet Aaron Aaron let me know where when a good time is best for me to call you and like start the process I'm also going to text you on the side too so that way I don't we don't bother Shelby And then so that way, that's one, I've said, pretty much said, thank you to Shelby. Then I call them or, you know, schedule a call with them. I text them back immediately, me directly to them.

And then I get the appointment scheduled. If the appointment is not scheduled within that day or the next day, I go back to the group chat. So in that way, that referee, the agent, that new client feels a little bit more pressure to respond because Shelby is their friend and they're going to look like a dick if they don't respond. So then the conversation goes back to the group chat. When you go back to the group chat and you add that pressure, what is your go-to-that? Are you texting? Are you doing another video being like, hey, you fucking dick. You didn't reply to me.

I'm still here. Like what does it look like? Usually it's just like a quick, just normal text. So I'll be like, hey, Aaron, sorry, we missed each other. I thought that we had scheduled for one o'clock yesterday, but totally fine. I'm available all day today or I'm available X, Y, Z today. I'm looking forward to talking to you. Yeah.

Okay. Very cute. Yeah. And like if they still don't follow up, then I'll go directly to Shelby. And I'll say, Shelby, what's up? Like I thought Aaron was ready to go. Are they not? I don't want to pressure them. I don't want to bother them. I just want to be of assistance just like I was of help to you. So. Okay. I love it. Very good amount of pressure because that is something that I know that people don't always feel comfortable doing. There's a lot of in,

in the head talk that goes on where it's like, am I bothering them? How much is too much? I don't want to be annoying. I don't want to be salesy, but then I don't want to miss the opportunity. I don't want to, you know, so like, that is a really good breakdown of how to apply pressure and still not, I don't think you're annoying.

Okay, now we're back on the checklist. And bullet point number two is to ask the client to review on all platforms. I, as of right now, I just do Zillow and Google. And my number one is Google. If they're to write one, just one testimonial on one platform, I would suggest Google. Same. Yeah.

And for a second one, if they want to just copy and paste, which is what I asked them to do, like don't have to think about it again. It doesn't have to be a different review. Copy and paste it to this link and this link and this link. I found that, you know, once in the beginning, I was sending like freaking four links. They're not going to do that. There is an easier way, though. there is an app or a website that my lender uses.

And it's called Experience. So I know that because I recently wrote a review on his website, Matt LeBesetta Guild Mortgage on his website, and it automatically pulled exactly what I wrote to his Google page. It's brilliant. I personally am not signed up yet, but I think I will be. So look into experience. And I think the actual website is while Shelby is looking for the actual website.

So I'm going to continue with this checklist. So I ask for them to review me on Google. I tell them exactly that. Like Google helps me so much to be able to be placed in front of other opportunities to help other clients. So if you're going to put one review only, please do Google. And then also just copy and paste that into. realtor Redfinzillo, whatever other websites you use, your website, etc. So it is.

It looks like it really is experience.com, like www.w.experience.com. I'm looking now for the price. But it, I mean, it looks really cool and it has a lot of integrations. So just like Ali was saying, it's like, you know, they collect the single review and it just looks like it spits it everywhere and also connects to your CRM. Like there's a bunch of different CRMs listed on this. So you could probably make it really seamless. Yeah, looks cool.

I found out about this just a couple of days ago. So that's why it's not on the checklist yet. But I'm going to look into this and see how easy it is to implement to everything. Because if you can do everything, realtor Redfin, Zillow, Google, like your website, it's a no-brainer. Well, depending on the costs. So check out the present. Okay. So I want to mention the reason I'm asking for reviews before we have even closed, before we have recorded is because all the contingencies are removed.

And it's because the clients typically have even started the moving process. Once you have closed, once you've recorded, that client, first of all, is no longer a client, but that client is so busy. They're moving. So for you to at that point ask and ask and ask for review for review while they're driving across the country while they're waiting their household goods, while they don't even like have a fork and knife, you know, to eat. Like they're busy or defend their house.

while they're having people break into their property when it's rightfully theirs for six days. Like they're busy. So that's why I start asking them at this point. And after toward the end of this, I'm going to show that that email that specifically goes over how to get a five-star review every single time. So the next step is complete the final walkthrough with the buyer or send them the waiver if they're out of town to waive the final walkthrough. This is going to be brokerage dependent, MLS dependent, state dependent. In Arizona, if the buyer or buyers are not physically there for the walkthrough, they have to technically waive it. Even if the agent is there, even if their mom is there, even if some non-buying party is there, technically they have to waive the walkthrough.

Doesn't mean they can't go into the property. So we still schedule a walkthrough. In that walkthrough, again, MLS dependent, brokerage dependent. we have a form that says either yay or nay. Is the property in the same condition as it was when you went under contract or is it not? And I think so many agents, so many younger agents, millennial and younger. I'm calling us millennials young baby. So many agents are afraid to send the form of the final walkthrough saying, no, the property

is not in the condition of when we went. under contract. And you need to be comfortable doing this. So I'm sure like every brokerage is different forms are different. But in our state, it literally says, nope. When we went under contract, the fence was upright. When we went under contract, you had three fridges and that's what we negotiated on that. All three fringes were going to stay. So that's when you want to pull up the original contract. What exactly did you ask for? Pull up the photos of when you or your buyer, agent viewed the property, sent videos and photos. Does it look the same? Are there any crazy cracks after people have, you know, taken off their TVs and taken off their paintings off

the walls? It does, is anything, do you see mold now? You know, like anything can happen. And this is the, I don't want to say the most important, but this is very freaking important, you know, as soon as people take the rugs out and especially if you were, if you went under contract on a house where the buyer the owners still live there or there was furniture hiding some stuff you want to make sure that there's no crazy there's nothing crazy and I've seen this time and time again where buyers will buyers agents will say yes saying it's okay like I trust that the listing agent will tell their seller to put the pool fence back up or to do just this minor or bring the fridge

back bring this by Z back do not rely on that. Do not be afraid to say, to tell your TC to send the final walkthrough as failed. Like this is not the property in the condition in the condition that we went under contract with. Fix it or we are not closing. So yeah, big rant on that. Dude, they don't have those in North Carolina at least back in the day. I literally just wrote down for Kentucky. Is there a yay or nay form? That's crazy. There are. I mean, there are. I mean, you do a final walkthrough of course and then I would have like all of the repair requests and any the contract with me and like make sure everything was done but if something wasn't done you'd

just go back to the listing agent be like yo bitch or sir um this shit's not done and then you just like negotiate but there wasn't like a form so I don't know it's scarier for being on like a selling side a little more dramatic 100% because can you imagine as a listing agent saying yo why did you take that fridge. Like you have to put the microwave back. You have to put the whatever back. We cannot close. You're not going to get your funds until you bring it back. Yeah. So yeah, Arizona just makes it very formal. Like they will not record until the final walkthrough is signed. It's good. By all. I think it's good. Yeah. Yeah, definitely. And then the next bullet point. When you're at the final walkthrough, take the keys out of the super box. Of course, with listing agents

permission, talk to them first. You're not the owner. Neither are your clients yet. So we With their permission, you can take the keys out of the super box and put them into a general contractor lockbox, either theirs, preferably your own. Of course, don't give the code out yet. This is going to be, make sure that your broker approves of this and etc. Because it could be within an hour after that that they record and your buyers are not, you're not going to be able to meet your buyers at the exact moment that they're going to arrive. So you want to make sure that your buyers can get in as soon as they are owners.

So instead of you holding out to the physical key, you can leave it in a secured lockbox where no one else knows the code except for the person who is supposed to know the code. So therefore, once it records, you can immediately give them the code and say you can go on in and I'll meet you there in like two hours or whatever it is that you want to do. Then schedule the locksmith again, redundancy. And if you're the agent that orders closing gifts, so of course, this is still the before closing checklist. the closing gift after all the contingencies are removed. Tell me how I know. I have sent

several gifts where we didn't even end up closing. I no longer send gifts because I, that's not the value that I provide. Gifts are not my love language. You do not want to give from me. So, yeah, just want to make sure that you send the gifts after all the contingencies are removed and you're actually going to close. And then confirm that the clients and the spouses have reviewed me or you on all five, six, seven, whatever platforms. Carry on. Next page is the day of closing. If the buyers are in town, coordinate with them and go to their closing.

If you can be there during their signing, be there during their signing. I am not because usually they're signing from across the country, across the world. Bring any sort of props that are, I don't want to say corny, but that like they would want to take a photo with, you know, don't make them feel like they're just like being sold. So bring something, some sort of prop, take social media photos, bring champagne, bring fruit, whatever it is that you do for your clients. And if they are out of town, then call them and congratulate them. Oops, I have call sellers.

I obviously mean call the buyers and congratulate them. Then after that, I have, if the buyers have access to on base, again, my clients are mainly VA and military, either active duty or veterans. If they have access to on base, they don't have to pay a notary. They can do it on base. That does require a lot more coordination on your end. But it can save $200. So that's pretty cool.

If the legal office on that base has availability, they usually have availability like once a week to do any notary. So if it matches, that'd be great for them. Sometimes the buyers are like, nope, too much effort for me to go on base. I'd rather just do it at home when they come to me. So whatever it is that they want to do. Of course, the title company has to approve of that. And the title company will most likely ask for the DA, the commission disbursement.

When your TC puts it in SkySlope, the DA is automatically sent to whoever the title rep is, but you just want to make sure the amounts are correct, that the final closing credits are correct, that your commission is correct, the closing date is correct, everything is still matching because people are human, a title are people. And they will make mistakes. Sometimes they will forget that last form where you negotiate another $6,000, $7,000 or where they switched the interest rate. You want to make sure that your clients are getting exactly what you negotiated for. And I have a quick, I think this might have been my second closing ever of all time, possibly. And I was so excited, you know, they got the house, negotiated this fucking amazing allowance.

It was like an $11,000 paint allowance for, and I'm not sure if it was allowance or if it was written directly out to, supposed to be written out to the contractor, probably depending on concessions. Does not matter. Whatever. It was like $11,000. And we went to closing. We signed. The seller signed. You know, everything record. We were fucking stoked. And then my buyers looked at me and they're like, well, where do I get my? my 11,000. Like, how do I get that money? And I was like, oh, the shit was not on the CD. Like it was supposed to be. It was just not fucking there. And I was like, oh my God, I'm going to have to pay $11,000. Like, obviously, you know, if it's my mistake, I'm going to pay for it.

But I was like, no, no, I can do this. I can solve this. And I just like, you know, call the listing agent all smooth being like, hey, like, the clients would love if you could just write that check out to them. And I can swing by later this afternoon and pick it up if that works for you. And he was like, I'm surprised they didn't do that at closing. But sure. no problem like we'll have i was like wow and he got his seller to like write the check and and away we went so i was saved by that but in many cases i would have been royally fucked and my clients also in that moment but i would have you know front of the money for it but anyway don't be like me yeah no and it happens i mean it happened to me uh about oh two weeks ago well i didn't have to pay and anything

anything of that but we had we had negotiated so much that my VA buyer of course they the VA buyers cannot physically get any money at closing um but they can bring absolutely nothing down um so we negotiated so much that there was an extra like four thousand dollars floating around that we could not use and title company i reached out the title and i was like hey where how come you know like they the numbers don't seem to add up and they're like oh yeah we couldn't use the extra $4,000 because there's nothing else to apply it to. I'm like whoa, whoa, whoa, we can apply it to my bitch. We were at something we can apply it to any personal debt credit card debt like he just can't

leave with cash in hand, but you can put that into anything. So always always bring up all the addendums or the amendments, whatever you guys call it and make sure that the numbers work out because yeah, that just happens all the time all the time. And sometimes if you don't have a good relationship with title title won't tell you like I do so title was like, yo, what are we doing this section 4k? So. And I think also maybe the second you guys if you're if you haven't closed to yet, watch out for your second closing because that one's a bitch. It's coming for you.

Maybe that is. Yeah. That's a trend. I mean, I need to pull the rest of five pillars. I wonder if they're number two is also. This is all number two. Yeah. And then of course the last two bullets of this before closing checklist is to make sure all

the forms are updated. Ask me how I know this one about the lead base disclosure. Do not get fined. Luckily, I mean, I didn't like we caught it last minute. But oops, we forgot the lead base disclosure. shit. And the bullet right before that is to ask for referrals. Again, before they start getting panicky and stressed about moving and packing, unpacking all of that, ask for the referral, ask for the review. In the next episode, part six of the buyer checklist, which is going to be

the last part. I'm going to be showing you the exact email to send that covers everything of what you need to get an outstanding five-star referral from a buyer client every single time. Stay tuned. Reach out to us, be a bro, and share this show.