Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Wisconsin

RE, What Happens at WI Residential Real Estate Closings

In WI, residential real estate deals are usually closed at an agreed time and location when all participants gather to sign and exchanged the required documents and receive their payments. Most of the work is actually done by the involved professionals well in advance of the closing, which means that the closing is merely an exchange of 20-30 different documents (previously produced) which are generally required. There are no formal procedures and every transaction is different in terms of what must be done. If the buyer is mortgaging the property which he is purchasing in order to fund the payments which he is obligated to give to the seller under the purchase contract, one major bit of business will be setting up his mortgage. This is typically done prior to the seller signing off on required deeds, real estate transfer tax returns and other documents after learning that the buyer's funding is approved and available. Anyone who is not already a real estate professional should be represented by an experienced real estate attorney at the closing. Since all the other professionals will be somehow profiting from the sale proceeds via commissions or profit margins built into their pricing, the attorney is often the only party who can furnish neutral advice which is not influenced by a need to get the deal closed before he can get paid. His or her advice is therefore that which is most likely to keep the client's out of trouble in the future. My comments are not intended as legal advice unless you subsequently retain me to re-examine your issues.