The closing, translated.
Between the accepted offer and the keys, your attorney and the title company speak a language nobody teaches you. Here is every term you will hear on a Long Island closing, in plain words, so an email like "waiting on the tax contin" reads as good news instead of a mystery.
Fully executed contract
Both sides have signed and the signed copies have been delivered. On Long Island the contract is prepared by the seller's attorney and reviewed by yours before anyone signs, so executed is the moment the deal legally exists and every clock starts.
Mortgage contingency
A window written into the contract for the buyer to get a loan commitment. If the lender says no inside that window, the buyer can walk away with the deposit. It protects the buyer; sellers read it as the main reason a deal can unwind.
Title report
The title company's search of the public record: who owns the property, what mortgages and liens sit on it, judgments against the owners, and where the taxes stand. Your attorney reads it and makes the seller clear anything that does not belong.
Municipal searches and the CO
Searches of the town's own records. The certificate of occupancy, the CO, is the town saying a structure was built with permits and signed off. Open permits and missing COs surface here, and resolving them is a normal piece of Long Island deals with older homes.
Survey
A map of the property lines with every structure drawn on it. It answers whether the fence, the shed, and the addition actually sit inside the lines. An old survey can often be reused if nothing changed; anything new usually means ordering a fresh one.
Tax continuation
The title report was run weeks ago, so right before closing the title company continues the tax search up to the present day: what has been paid, what is due, anything open. The adjustments at the table and the title company's final invoice wait on it. Seeing tax contin in an email means closing is near, not that something is wrong.
Title continuation
The same refresh for the rest of the search, run close to closing to catch anything filed since the report: a new lien, a new judgment. Clean continuation, straight to the table.
Payoff letter
The seller's lender states, in writing, the exact amount that clears the mortgage on the closing date, including interest counted per day. The title company collects it at closing and the lien comes off.
Apportionments
The who owes who math at the table, also called adjustments. Property taxes, fuel oil in the tank, and common charges get prorated to the closing date, so the seller is paid back for anything prepaid past closing and the buyer is credited for anything unpaid before it.
Clear to close
The lender's signal that every condition on the loan is satisfied and the closing can be scheduled. Between contract and this moment lives most of the waiting.
The walkthrough
The buyer's final look at the house, usually shortly before closing. It confirms the condition, that agreed repairs happened, and that everything included in the sale is still there.
Recording
After closing, the deed and the new mortgage are filed with the county clerk. The deal is done at the table; the public record catches up later, typically about seven weeks in Suffolk, and a quarter take more than three months. That lag is why a fresh sale does not show in county records right away.
Transfer taxes
New York State charges the seller two dollars per five hundred of the price, and a buyer pays the one percent mansion tax at one million dollars and up. The exact math for a sale lives on the Suffolk and Nassau transfer tax calculators on this site.
Mid deal and something reads wrong?
Forward the email to a person who reads these every week. No charge for the translation.
Ask about your closing Transfer tax calculator Contact Muds
Plain explanations for orientation, not legal advice. Your attorney runs your closing; this page makes their emails easier to read. Mohammed Mudassir, licensed real estate salesperson, OverSouth Real Estate.