Mar. 13, 2018.
Being asked to sit at the closing table for an hour and a half (or longer) can feel like torture when you’re waiting to get your keys. That’s why we knew that introducing our new LoanFly Express Closing was bound to get our borrowers excited. Taking a 90-minute process and reducing it to just about 15-minutes lets buyers enjoy closing day for what it should be: a relaxed, stress-free pitstop on the way to homeownership.*
Want to get home faster? You can only close with the new LoanFly Express Closing at Cornerstone Home Lending.
How fast can you close on your mortgage?
The biggest issue borrowers face at the closing table is piles of paperwork. Paperwork can be time-consuming. Even with the help of technology and digital document access, title companies estimate that it can take an hour at the minimum to complete the typical signing of closing day documents. Many borrowers experience a signing process of 90 minutes or longer – without the help of LoanFly Express Closing.
“We’ve taken our closing process and made it better for the borrowers by reducing the documents they have to sign at the title company,” Kristy Holstein of Cornerstone Home Lending, says.
How is this possible? As a buyer using LoanFly Express Closing, you’ll get to e-sign a portion of your closing disclosures before your title company appointment, Holstein explains. Reducing closing day paperwork by up to 40 percent can help you get your keys faster since you’ll reduce time spent at the title office on your closing day.
We introduced our new LoanFly Express Closing in 2018 as one more way to provide additional value to our borrowers and business partners. “Nothing is more valuable than time,” Jason Peifer of Group Mortgage says.
Peifer, one of the loan officers who helped to develop LoanFly Express Closing and pioneer its streamlined process, explains, “This is why the Express Close was created. We decided to embrace fairly recent changes to the TRID disclosure process that required an additional step in the approval and receipt of the closing figures.” Integrating that step, Peifer says, creates added efficiency that cuts the numbers of documents and time at closing in more than half.
With LoanFly Express Closing, closing becomes faster and less stressful. Less closing day stress means you leave a happy homebuyer.
There are several reasons you may appreciate LoanFly Express Closing if you want to speed up the process:
- LoanFly Express Closing makes your closing efficient, relaxed, and easy.
- It cuts home loan closing docs by up to 40 percent.
- LoanFly Express Closing works with a wide range of mortgages. (Including FHA, USDA, VA, and Conventional Conforming for the purchase of owner-occupied homes.)
- It knocks out most of the closing paperwork before your closing day.
- It significantly reduces the number of closing table signatures needed.
- LoanFly Express Closing helps you sail through closing day in as little as 15 minutes.*
Again, how is this possible? In order to reduce closing day paperwork by up to 40 percent and keep closing time at about 15 minutes, Holstein says, “We’ve taken our standard closing package, and we’ve created two packages. We took disclosures out of the closing package. And we now allow borrowers to e-sign those disclosures in the comfort of their own home.”
With LoanFly Express Closing, the only documents you’ll need to sign on closing day are the ones that need to be notarized and witnessed.
How long will closing day take?
Every mortgage and every borrower are different, and closing timelines and potential delays may vary.
But some of the big benefits of using LoanFly Express Closing on eligible loans and in eligible states are that:**
- You’ll sign a much smaller closing package, reducing your closing day mortgage documents by up to 40 percent.
- You’ll take care of all the pesky details in advance, e-signing as much as possible before closing day.
- You won’t have to worry about time waste caused by document duplication.
- You won’t have to wait around all day for loan funding.
- You’ll get into your new home faster than ever.
When you’re ready to buy a house but don’t know where to begin, take the first step first. Getting prequalified for a mortgage will tell you how much you can afford before you start house hunting.
What does it mean when your home loan is “clear to close”?
A CTC (clear to close) is a preliminary step that puts closing day in motion.
Receiving a “clear to close” on your mortgage indicates that:
- Underwriters approved all the required documents from your title company, used to draw up your Closing Disclosure and schedule your closing day.
- Your mortgage closing still isn’t fully guaranteed. Some conditions must be met at the closing table, in most cases, before a mortgage lender will send funds to your closing agent to finalize your home’s purchase.
- You’ll still need a second credit check. This is something a mortgage lender is required to do leading up to closing. New debts and/or financial changes may impact your CTC.
- You won’t close on the same day you receive a CTC on your mortgage.
What do you need to bring to the closing table?
LoanFly Express Closing keeps your closing time to a minimum, but it helps to bring all necessary items to the title company with you to prevent any delays. Take your:
- Valid government-issued photo I.D. (i.e., a driver’s license), for each signing borrower.
- Certified or cashier’s check for closing costs owed, with payment written out to the closing or title company. (Your loan officer will give you instructions leading up to closing day.)
- Any other required disclosures or documents. Remember, with LoanFly Express Closing, you’ll get most of this out of the way first by signing as many documents as possible up front to shorten time spent at the closing table.
Check in with your loan officer or title company rep to confirm which items may be required at closing.
What can you expect on closing day?
Use LoanFly Express Closing to reduce your typical closing time by more than half, and here’s what your closing day might look like:
- On closing day, you’ll complete the last step to officially buying, financing, and owning your home: your home loan closing.
- You and all other involved parties will sign the required closing day paperwork.
- Thanks to LoanFly Express Closing, you can close in the fast lane — condensing what was once a more than 90-minute document signing process to as little as 15 minutes.*
- Depending on where you live, you may sign your closing documents with all involved parties, or parties could sign separately. These participating parties might consist of you, your mortgage lender and realtor, the seller and their realtor, the closing agent, the title representative, and more.
- The closing document signing appointment usually takes place at the office of the title agent you selected.
A handful of signatures later, and it’s the moment you’ve been waiting for. Using LoanFly Express Closing, you’re officially a homeowner, and you’ve completed closing in about 15 minutes!
There’s a better way to mortgage (when you have a friendly, local loan officer in your corner).
After you’ve officially closed, here’s what you can expect:
- Your mortgage will be funded, and homeownership will be transferred at closing.
- Your move-in details (time and date) may depend on what you and the seller agreed upon.
- Many buyers move in right after leaving the closing table.
- Sometimes, after closing a seller requests extra time to complete their other home purchase.
- You can find the closing and move-in date you agreed upon in your contract.
- LoanFly Express Closing will get you home up to 40 percent faster.
Super-short closing times are welcomed by buyers who’ve come to expect mortgage closing delays to be an unpleasant but necessary part of the homebuying process. Industry-wide mortgage loan closing times may be on the increase, but individual lenders like Cornerstone are integrating new technologies that cut closing table time and make closing day faster and easier.
The proof, according to Peifer, is in the borrower experience. Even among early test groups, LoanFly Express Closing received high praises. “Clients and business partners are thrilled they’re able to simplify the closing process and get to move in sooner,” Peifer explains. “Now buyers can complete the whole process in as little as 15 minutes and start enjoying their new home.”
Mortgage closing should be the highlight of the homebuying process, Peifer says. LoanFly Express Closing makes sitting around signing a stack of papers a thing of the past.
*During normal business hours.
***LoanFly® Express Closing is currently available in all states where Cornerstone Home Lending is licensed.
For educational purposes only. Please contact a qualified professional for specific guidance.
Sources are deemed reliable but not guaranteed.