Engineering a successful loan closing and funding may be the final opportunity to solidify a long-term relationship with a client. Clients are often forgiving to mishaps if the orignal financing goal has still been met. However, if closing blunders and funding delays arise you are most certain to get bad press forevermore. Your pre-closing and post-closing procedure should be just as thorough as the intial application process. Here are five smart ways to eliminate signing and funding delays:

1. Make certain that you have received and READ the Final Approval. Confirm that the terms meet your borrowers expectations. Significant changes should be discussed with your borrower in advance of closing. A surprise payment or interest rate could cause the deal to blow up. Determine if there are other conditions at signing/closing. If so, call to remind the borrower.

2. Prepare or review the completed fee sheet/document request before the lender draws documents for signing. Dont assume that someone sent it in or that it was done right. It is far more difficult to change things after the form has been returned to the lender. Know your lenders turn around time for drawing documents to make sure they will arrive in advance of the scheduled signing/closing.

3. Make sure that your interest rate lock is good through the day of funding. Make sure you know how the rescission period is calculated (i.e., are Saturdays included, is there a holiday during the rescission period).

4. Insist on having a copy of the settlement statement/HUD before the signing/closing. Often times charges will still show for an appraisal that was C.O.D. or the title policy discount was not applied or the broker premium may be inadvertently omitted. Get the corrections done early so that your client is reviewing accurate figures at signing.

5. Request a copy of the lenders closing instructions and review them. This can be obtained from the lender after docs are drawn or from the title company when docs are received. This will tell you exactly what the lender is requiring to fund your loan. Make sure these things are being done. Dont assume that the Title Company or other office personnel is on top of it. Very often problems go unnoticed until the wire isnt posted as expected.