The Sloppiest of 500...Follow-Up

I guess I don't really have it that bad. I was reading a little blurb from the great Gary R. Gehlbach in the February ISBA Real Property Section Council Newsletter (password protected) about "The absent buyers."

The absent buyers

Hopefully this isn’t a growing trend, but twice in the last month I have appeared at a closing representing the seller, but neither the buyer nor anyone with power of attorney for the buyer was present or intended to be. In both cases the buyer’s money had been timely wired, and in both cases the real estate broker was there. Neither the buyers nor their representatives (in one of these cases, the buyer was using an attorney, but in Pennsylvania, not licensed to practice in Illinois) understood that either the buyer or a duly authorized agent would be required to sign the Settlement Statement and other documents. One of these closings was thus delayed over a weekend to allow the buyer to sign documents that were sent via overnight courier to him. The other closing was delayed for several hours.

In neither case, even though I have closed thousands and thousands of real estate transactions, did it occur to me to make sure that the buyer or an authorized agent was available to sign documents, or perhaps needed to do so in advance of the closing. I assumed that everyone knew this (I guess that’s what happens when one “assumes”).