At first you may think that all the work involved in real estate investing is in generating leads and rehabbing houses. However, once you have done a few deals flipping houses you will realize a deal is never really done and your money never earned until you close the deal and the money is actually in your hands. In order to become really great and successful at flipping real estate, real estate short sales, and wholesaling foreclosures you must get good at managing the closing process.
You ought to create a system for yourself that kicks into action as soon as you get a property under contract. You cannot rely on all the parties involved in a real estate transaction to do they job on time every time. It would be nice, but that is the exception not the norm. If you want to realize big profits from real estate investing and flipping houses you must learn to stay on top of managing deals through to the closing table yourself. Or at least through the team you have put together.
You do not want to call and harass loan officers and appraisers on a hourly basis or they are never going to have time to actually get anything done and move your deal forward. Choose your battles wisely, but you should expect regularly updates and be in touch with everyone involved on a weekly basis. Many of the most common hold ups in closings arise from financing. Make sure there are no outstanding or new underwriting conditions that need to be satisfied or see how you can help resolve them. Always make sure you are working with the title company of your choice when you have the choice and more importantly know that you have a good title rep or attorney who is on your side doing the closing. There are many things that can scare a buyer or seller at the closing table from realizing how much money you are making on the deal to getting screwed by their mortgage company at the last minute and ending up with a rate 2% higher than they expected or thousands in extra fees. A great attorney or title agent is skilled at keeping the deal together even when it gets real ugly.
