The agent did NOTHING at the Closing Table!

by John & Kasey Boles

A few years ago I was reading an article in our local paper.  I don't remember what the exact context of the article was, but I kept a quote from it which I thought was quite interesting...

“I recall the last time I went to a real estate closing, the Realtor was about as useful as the aquarium at the title company,” Darrel Richards wrote at www.idahobusiness.net. “The title company’s closing agent did everything and the Realtor tried to look knowledgeable/interested in what was going on.” Monday, February 26, 2007 by By Lora Volkert

I felt a little defensive when I read this, because sometimes I do feel like that agent who is about as useful as the aquarium.  HOWEVER, If the real estate agent has nothing to do at the closing table but sit and drink coffee and chit chat this is a good thing.

This actually means that the agent did their job (behind the scenes much of the time) to get the transaction to closing smoothly so that nothing surprising happens at closing that needs to be dealt with. There are a lot of players in a Real Estate transaction and in Boise, Idaho the Title Company and Escrow Officer are part of that team. One of the many jobs of the Escrow Officer in the process is to be a neutral third party and to do everything at closing from explaining the loan documents to notarizing signatures. 

The Real Estate agent in all actuality really doesn't even need to be there, as they don't have anything directly to do with the loan & closing papers. But, a good real estate agent will be there and is available if any questions from the contract or house come up. But again, if nothing comes up in closing and the agent doesn't have to do anything but sit there and "look knowledgeable/interested in what is going on," then that means there aren't problems to contend with. And that is a good thing, because the few days surrounding closing are often when the biggest and most detrimental problems in a transaction tend to rise to the surface.