Welcome readers, to the first edition of Ask Cynthia! Send us your escrow questions and we will get them answered!
Question:
I have a client who is a US citizen or so I think, he used to live here in Southern California and owned a couple of homes here. He is working out of the country, but would like to invest into a rental here in our area.
He is an all cash buyer and his funds are here in US, but he is not. I have him set up in Listingbook and occasionally he finds a condo he wants to buy, but by the time we communicate back and forth, the condo is either sold or has 20 offers on it.
To speed the process, I need to know how I can do this. One concern is the deposit and the closing funds, if he is there and the funds are here. I’m assuming it should be as easy as him wiring funds directly to you, let me know if I am wrong or there is another procedure we need to follow.
I can take care of the offer and the purchase agreement, I just want to make sure the rest will come together for the fact that he is not physically here in the US.
Answer:
A cash buyer has very few restrictions in terms of a purchase from overseas.It is more complicated if the funds are overseas, because sometimes international banking regulations make it difficult and/or sometimes impossible to move large sums of money here to US, depending, of course, on the country of origin.
If his funds are overseas, he needs to check about the Foreign Government and US customs rules for funds from that part of the world. Escrow doesn’t have anything to do with this sort of thing, either the funds can be received by our bank, or not. The restrictions kick in at a government/banking level where things like customs rules and homeland security, etc. can restrict movement of funds.
If the funds are here in the US, then yes, you are correct. The buyer can wire funds freely from his US bank to escrow, as long as he has set up with his bank a way to do this (like online or by phone).
I can send documents electronically to the buyer, and most buyers do not have to worry about getting the signature notarized, so that is a good thing too.
I am sure you are aware that notarized signatures from foreign nations must be done at an American Consulate, and that can be a pain!!!!
Just make sure that your buyer has the ability to print documents that require his signature, as we don’t accept docu-signed or other type of electronic signatures on escrow documents.
Make sure he has made arrangements to be able to wire, from his location, because sometimes if a person has not made those arrangements in advance, the bank may require going to the bank to sign a wire authorization, and clearly that wouldn’t work.
Now, to find something for the guy!!! That, I can’t help you with!!!!
Cynthia Moller
661.362.0400
cmoller@glenoaksescrow.com
