[WSBARP] New wrinkle on closings

Kary Krismer Krismer at comcast.net
Wed Nov 4 07:57:55 PST 2020


Possession is defined as on-closing in the vast majority of residential 
transactions, so it would affect possession on most transactions.  The 
very purpose of these amendments is to allow possession on schedule, 
although in a multiple closing transaction it could also be to allow 
funds for the second closing.

And allowing possession pre or post-closing is now rather risky with the 
Covid issues.

The first time I came across this issue was about three years ago on a 
closing which should have been the Friday before the 4th of July.  The 
title company offered to treat it as closed.  Neither the buyer nor 
seller wanted that--the buyer wasn't planning on moving into the 
property until the next week and representing the buyer I didn't want 
the risk of a fire from fireworks with an insurance company denying 
coverage.

Kary L. Krismer
206 723-2148

On 11/3/2020 5:22 PM, David Daniel wrote:
> Possession would not be affected. It would be delivered as per the 
> contract, either upon closing or at some other specified time. This 
> addendum solely changes the contractual point of closing from being 
> the time of recording to the time of submission for recording 
> (assuming the other conditions are met, i.e. the funds are made 
> available to Seller).
>
> Oh, and as to the point raised earlier regarding lender consent, 
> nothing there would be changed either. Lender consent would (as 
> always) be required for the parties to close, and the lender would 
> have a copy of this addendum together with the contract before 
> approving the release of the funds.
>
> Appreciating the feedback and thoughts! Thank you.
>
> *
> *
>
> *David C. Daniel*, Attorney
>
> _^____________________________________ _
> * DEMCO LAW FIRM, P.S.*
> _^____________________________________
> _*Office |* (206) 203-6000
> *Email |* _ddaniel at demcolaw.com <mailto:ddaniel at demcolaw.com>_
>
> 5224 Wilson Ave. S., Suite 200
>
> Seattle, WA 98118
>
>
>
> On Tue, Nov 3, 2020 at 5:09 PM Tom Ashton <Tashton at tomashtonlaw.com 
> <mailto:Tashton at tomashtonlaw.com>> wrote:
>
>     Possession?
>
>     Get Outlook for Android <https://aka.ms/ghei36>
>
>     ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>     *From:* wsbarp-bounces at lists.wsbarppt.com
>     <mailto:wsbarp-bounces at lists.wsbarppt.com>
>     <wsbarp-bounces at lists.wsbarppt.com
>     <mailto:wsbarp-bounces at lists.wsbarppt.com>> on behalf of David
>     Daniel <ddaniel at demcolaw.com <mailto:ddaniel at demcolaw.com>>
>     *Sent:* Tuesday, November 3, 2020 4:39:59 PM
>     *To:* WSBA Real Property Listserv <wsbarp at lists.wsbarppt.com
>     <mailto:wsbarp at lists.wsbarppt.com>>
>     *Subject:* Re: [WSBARP] New wrinkle on closings
>     This addendum language came out of our office. It came about in
>     response to a recent notice from King County (a number of weeks
>     back) that recordings may be delayed by several days or more. We
>     had word that other counties were experiencing similar issues as
>     well. Given our understanding that title and casualty insurers are
>     generally willing to insure the gap period, we came up with this
>     addendum to address the concern of the parties becoming out of
>     contract if the transaction did not "close" on time.
>
>     I appreciate the thoughtful commentary offered by Craig and Kary.
>     Here would be my thoughts in response:
>
>     What if the county rejects the recording and requires one of the
>     parties to re-sign something and that party now refuses?
>     I don't think either party would have a basis to refuse, and both
>     parties would be bound by the duty of good faith and fair dealing
>     to complete the act of recording. As between Buyer and Seller, the
>     transaction would be closed as of the "Submission Date" (which is
>     defined earlier in form to be the date on which the closing docs
>     are submitted to the county for recording, regardless of whether
>     they are actually recorded that day). As such the parties would
>     not be out of contract or free to walk away, but rather would be
>     closed as between the two of them, but with the surviving
>     need/obligation to record the documents, which essentially would
>     be a ministerial act at that point, but not one which either party
>     would be entitled to avoid. I suppose if the seller just
>     disappeared then a court could be petitioned for an order to
>     complete the recording.
>
>     I am concerned about an insurable interest in the event of a
>     casualty.
>     The Buyer would have an insurable interest due to the change in
>     definition of "closing", and as paragraph 3 says, both parties
>     should ensure that they have adequate coverage from the point of
>     closing to the point of recording.
>
>     I believe (but do not know for sure) that NWMLS will be addressing
>     this issue in an upcoming round of forms revisions.
>
>     *
>     *
>
>     *David C. Daniel*, Attorney
>
>     _^____________________________________ _
>     * DEMCO LAW FIRM, P.S.*
>     _^____________________________________
>     _*Office |* (206) 203-6000
>     *Email |* _ddaniel at demcolaw.com <mailto:ddaniel at demcolaw.com>_
>
>     5224 Wilson Ave. S., Suite 200
>
>     Seattle, WA 98118
>
>
>
>     On Tue, Nov 3, 2020 at 3:13 PM Kary Krismer <Krismer at comcast.net
>     <mailto:Krismer at comcast.net>> wrote:
>
>         The state-wide forms people are apparently working on this
>         issue and apparently finding a number of different issues
>         necessary to resolve. So caution is probably indicated.
>
>         I've heard they've discounted the casualty insurance issue,
>         which I consider to be the major issue.  I think paragraph 3
>         should probably provide that both parties should maintain
>         insurance until recorded if you're willing to take the risk on
>         that issue.  But with that paragraph 1 language changing the
>         definition of closing seemingly the buyer would have an
>         insurable interest, unlike the standard state-wide forms.
>
>         I'd not have thought too much about the county rejecting
>         documents prepared by a professional escrow in a normal
>         purchase-sale transaction. Has anyone seen that?  There is
>         typically limited power of attorney language to correct
>         mistakes as part of the escrow instructions, so maybe that
>         would deal with it where the document didn't need to be
>         completely redrawn.  But what about a valuation issue holding
>         things up?
>
>         Kary L. Krismer
>         206 723-2148
>
>         On 11/3/2020 3:02 PM, Craig Gourley wrote:
>>
>>         Listmates,  I just received an addendum on a Purchase and
>>         Sale we are closing and it has my antenna’s up.
>>
>>         I have seen gap insurance in limited cases when something
>>         unusual happens and title will insure as of a specific date
>>         even though a deed has not recorded but it is typically with
>>         the consent of the lender. Given the propensity of the County
>>         recording office to play Jr lawyer and reject recordings for
>>         any number of stupid reasons I am reluctant to follow this
>>         addendum. What if the county rejects the recording and
>>         requires one of the parties to re-sign something and that
>>         party now refuses?  I am concerned about an insurable
>>         interest in the event of a casualty.  I am sure given a
>>         minute I can come up with additional participants in the
>>         potential parade of horrors.   Thoughts? Comments? Am I being
>>         overly concerned about nothing? The addendum is below.
>>
>>         *Gourley Law Group*
>>
>>         *Snohomish Escrow*
>>
>>         *The Exchange Connection*
>>
>>         **
>>
>>         1002 10^th Street / PO Box 1091
>>
>>         Snohomish, WA 98291
>>
>>         360.568.5065
>>
>>         360.568.8092  fax
>>
>>         _Craig at glgmail.com <mailto:Craig at glgmail.com>_
>>
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