On February 28th, I was given the opportunity to shadow Kim Steward and her team at CW Title Escrow Eastside for the shenanigans that go on during the last day of the month. It was a crazy hectic day filled with times of stress, frustration, laughter, and success, and I am so glad they allowed me to sit back, take notes and ask questions. They also fed me pizza :0)
Going in, I was really focused on observing Closing Day. Often brokers and buyers/sellers don’t know what needs to happen and in what order, for a property to actually close. Obviously cash transactions take away extra steps by eliminating lender communications, loan docs, lender wires, etc, but that aside there is also a delicate dance of managing the buyer’s closing funds and signing, as well as the seller’s signing appointment- especially when one of the parties is in a different time zone or country. We as brokers oversee the transaction as a whole and manage our clients, but can you imagine managing up to 10-20 people per transaction to make sure everything comes together on one particular day? It can get a little nutty.
That day, Kim’s team at CW Title Escrow Eastside closed about 7-8 million in real estate – a total of 12 transactions. All of which had caveats- pressing deadlines, upset clients, happy clients, snotty brokers, sweet brokers, helpful lenders, and less than helpful lenders with emotional highs and lows. With grace and a smile on their face, not only did Kim’s team come together to close all the transactions, but I was shocked to see everyone running around the office helping other teams out. The commotion and camaraderie made me appreciate what goes on during the last day of the month (or any day for that matter) in a title/escrow office and especially at CW Title Escrow Eastside.