A cashier's check is from the bank to the payee. It doesn't matter where the bank withdrawing the money from.

Your name might be somewhere on the check, but it's inconsequential. The payer is the bank.

Congratulations on your home! Hope it all goes well for you. Agree with above. A Cashier's check will be fine.

lascatx, I should make this clear to avoid the confusion, but the money is my husband's and mine, not mine alone. I don't want to get into why, but it's just that the funds are tied up and may or may not be released in time for the closing (as they want to close on september 28th). Since they are eager to sell the house, and we don't want to miss the opportunity (great house, amazing price), we are just going with their closing date. Mom is transferring enough cash in the joint account I have with her to cover the sale should our funds in my mine and my husband's joint account not be available by closing (it's a roll of the dice right now, but it will be available in as soon as a week or as much as 4... which would cause hassle with closing). And we are obviously immediately replacing what my mom will lend us when the funds go through if that's what it comes down to.

Besides which, part of our marriage prenup (married in his country, and you can't marry there without a prenup, so everyone has to choose one of 3 financial prenuptials in order to get married there) was that everything obtained after marriage is split 50/50 in the event of divorce. So even if it ever came to that, it wouldn't make a difference. Though hopefully is never does. We've already been married 10 years, have a 6 year old together and been through multiple miscarriages, cancer, accidents, moving across countries, and just a lot of trying times. I appreciate the advice though :)

And thank you all. It eases my mind. This is a foreclosure at an amazing price, and a once in a lifetime opportunity to get such a good house without a mortgage. So you can imagine the stress I am under trying to make sure this goes quickly and smoothly.

Will you take title jointly? If each of you has a trust, your trusts could take title 50/50. Might save you capital gains taxes when you sell, as well as establishing a clear line now.

You don't have to defend anything to me -- just wanted to point out a potential concern. Sounds like it has been addressed (how civilized to have everything decided in advance - at least you know what to expect). Sounds like you've been through a lot together and I too hope you never have to worry about the what-ifs. Just my nature and training to look at them. Hope the house is all you hope it will be.

Thank you :) I get the concern. I feel like a prenup should be obligatory in this country too, but I'm glad they don't give you a choice in his country. The options were to split everything from before and after marriage 50/50, to split only what was obtained after marriage 50/50 (and to each his own on what was obtained prior to marriage), or everything goes to whoever it is in the name of, and split 50/50 if it was in both names. And yes, particularly this last year. I was only declared in remission a couple of weeks ago, and it left me with chronic issues, so this house stuff is... fun, lol. So much to pack still. We also have concerns about vandalism because just down the block a house was broken into and all of the copper and radiators busted out (destroyed piping down into the floor)... so we want this to go fast and move in asap.

It is probably better for your mother to write a check to you and then you write a check for the house. There are a few issues that could arise but they would be exceedingly rare, and although you could overcome them, you eliminate the effort if the funds from your mother are clearly marked to you then funds are reissued from the bank. You can also write a promissory note to your mother to help avoid the problems.

Have you talked to the title company? They will know the answer. I can't believe they will even take a cashier's check anyway - around here they will only take bank wires because of the fraud. And they won't take real cash either! (yes, this has happened). Be sure you ask them!

chisue, I just now saw your comment. The title will be joint. I know this will sound ignorant, but I don't understand what you mean by the rest.

bry911, my mother actually works at the bank, so she will make sure the bases are covered.

Anxiously waiting for my agent to call and say he got the signed papers back. I hope they don't push back the closing any.

What C9 says... anything over $10,000 has to be in a wire form to close. No Bank checks allowed anymore.

Really? The contract said both cashier's check or wire transfer were both ok for the final cash payment. They said payment will be made in full on the day of closing. I will have my agent double check when he calls to let me know they signed.

Le Anne,

Not going to presume to give advice, but in some cases the bank will require assurance that monies received from a third party within x days of a closing indeed was a gift, as opposed to a loan. Your case does not quite fit my experience, as you and your husband have the money but it is a question of availability at closure.

I suggest that you be candid with the bank so as not to suggest a possible erroneous conclusion re the money from your mother.

Best of luck. I only closed once with a wire transfer - always was with Cashier's Check or a Guaranteed Check from a CU.

YMMV

Really. In the past two to three years we've seen all the title companies switch to wire only for anything over a few thousand dollars. I'm surprised that it specifies in the contract at all, but most likely that it hasn't been updated yet.

And now that we can't use personal checks (not guaranteed funds) or bank checks (fraud), real cash is frowned upon (money laundering and extra reporting required to do this), this past week we Realtors have gotten warnings about the latest scam involving hackers sending erroneous wiring instructions to buyers. Sigh.

SaltiDawg, the only thing the bank knows is that I am paying cash. I haven't had any personal contact or communication as it's going through my agent and then through theirs before it gets to them. But they required proof of funds in order to even consider our offer. It's from a settlement with an insurance company, and as we didn't have the check yet, we sent them the signed agreement and court papers, and they were ok with that (I was nervous that they wouldn't be, but they did accept it as proof of funds).

Le Anne,

I understand and thus I mentioned that your case does not fit my experience exactly. I understand that the Bank is satisfied with your proof of funds. However, you will be bringing some one else's money to the closing - in a sense seemingly a bridge loan to cover whatever funds you have not received.

My only suggestion was and is to be candid with the bank.

Best of luck with your new home.

An attorney can explain the advantages of trusts better than I can. Even your real estate attorney should be able to spell this out.

I've been married for 50 years. Regardless, my DH and I each have individual trusts, and each trust holds a half interest in our home. Our trusts are written so that each of us is beneficiary to the other's trust. The purpose here is to avoid probate, designate beneficiaries into the future, and to possibly avoid estate taxes should the capital gains exclusion become lower in the future.

You can take title jointly, then later change title to individual trusts if you think it will benefit your situation. I only thought of this because it would provide greater clarity bout the RE from the beginning.

Really interesting thread. Who knew about wire transfers being *required*! (Actually, though, your RE attorney should know this. You do have one, right?)

I was curious enough to try to discover what countries require a prenup before marriage. I didn't find any. I did find that Turkey offers three set types of prenup from which a couple can choose, but cannot alter in any way. None is *required*. (Of course, this is just via Google, so who knows?)

Generally, the buyer's bank is concerned with where buyer funds come from, the seller's bank doesn't care. To the seller, using your parent's money is no different than using the bank's, their only concern might be that you have legal right to the funds. There is really no need to be candid with the seller, and though rare, it could cause problems.

Edit: just to preemptively prevent a big discussion on this. Banks generally don't care about the origination of funds, rather they care about the origination of down payment. The idea is that they want to assign proper default risk to your loan and ensure your debt to equity is sufficient for the mortgage you have requested. Additionally, off book financing can cause lots of problems for a mortgage holder. None of these problems exist without a mortgage, so banks generally don't care. However, if you tell them the money isn't yours, the bank may become concerned about fraud. Remember that banks are bureaucracies and the enemy of bureaucracy is anything that is atypical, so even well documented rational explanations may cause significant delays.

Le Anne,

I do apologize. I completely misread your post and thought you were obtaining a mortgage and your discussion centered on the monies you were putting down.

I suspect, as others have said, the banks cares about your having the cash - not where it comes from.

Sorry about my gibberish.

chisue, your comments are starting to make me feel like I have to prove my innocence here. Well, if you can read spanish or have a semi decent translating site, have at it. http://www.deguate.com/artman/publish/comunidad_tramites/requisitos-para-matrimonio-civil-en-Guatemala.shtml

"Celebrar capitulaciones matrimoniales con
notario guatemalteco, sólo en el caso de que el contrayente sea
extranjero y la contrayente, guatemalteca."

Le Anne -- It's not YOUR integrity I'm concerned about. There has been a lot of hanky-panky in RE -- evidenced by some of the Realtors who have posted in this thread on just the funds transfer side of things.

What kind of hanky panky regarding this thread's subject are you referring to?

Also, what misinformation have C9 and I posted here regarding the type of funds needed at closing?

I think that chisue is referring to the fact that "fraud" is mentioned as a reason that cashier's checks are often not accepted anymore. I will add that fraud is only one of the reasons that as a policy cashier's checks are no longer accepted. The fact of the matter is, cashier's checks were never really that great for closings, but they were the best we had. While fraud is the most often cited reason for wire transfers, it really is one of the issues with cashier's checks and a fairly minor one in real estate. The bigger (and less publicized) problem is that many states have pretty strict rules about disbursement of closing funds. Most of those states allow wire transferred funds to be disbursed immediately while requiring other fund transfers to be completed. In other words, in many states, when you take a cashier's check to the closing they must deposit the funds and wait until those funds are available prior to closing. I believe some states even require a waiting period of 24 hours beyond any check funds being available before they can be distributed.

I think there is probably less "hanky-panky" in real estate today than there has traditionally been. I think it may be more publicized today than it was in previous times, and that is more a symptom of information distribution than a picture of real estate. Not to say that a bit skepticism is a bad thing either, but I think realtors do a much better job protecting buyers than they did many years ago, and that has significantly changed buying and selling a house altogether, even people who choose to sell their own homes are protected today by the standards that realtors have helped into the market.

Note: See Nc - I am really not anti-realtor.

While cashiers checks are still accepted at closing in my area most title companies prefer wires...even with a cashiers check at closing I still get paid immediately. I actually prefer a cashiers check because a wire just gives the lender one more item to drag their feet on completing and nothing like sitting at the closing company waiting for a wire so possession/funding can be completed. :(

This is from the California code that governs title companies...

No title insurance company, controlled escrow company, or underwritten title company shall disburse funds from an escrow account until the day established by the following:

(a) Except for funds deposited by cash or by electronic payment, deposits accorded next day availability pursuant to Part 229 of Title 12 of the Code of Federal Regulations may not be disbursed until the business day following the business day of deposit.

(b) Except for drafts, deposits not accorded next day availability pursuant to Part 229 of Title 12 of the Code of Federal Regulations shall not be disbursed until the day on which these funds must be made available to depositors under the federal regulation specified in this subdivision.

(c) Funds deposited by cash or by electronic payment may be disbursed following deposit on the same business day as the business day of deposit.

While there is more, the relevant parts are above. Essentially, while the rules governing disbursement are different everywhere, many states are going to stricter rules for escrow disbursement. Additionally, as banks widen their service area I expect the norm to become wire transfers nationwide before too long.

I don't live in California and know how to Google/paste also.

I don't live in California and know how to Google/paste also. - ???

First, I didn't reply to you or address you in any way. Second, I am simply giving the code as support for, "while the rules governing disbursement are different everywhere, many states are going to stricter rules for escrow disbursement. Additionally, as banks widen their service area I expect the norm to become wire transfers nationwide before too long."

Which was a continuation of my earlier post discussing why there may be reasons other than fraud for title companies to prefer wire transfers over cashier's checks. If you read my two posts together, you can clearly see the continuation of my thought, and nothing at all to do with you. Which you might have gathered since nothing I said had anything to do with what you said...

Finally, I should have thought of the whole Google thing myself. That might have been faster than looking through http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes.xhtml.

The statement of "I expect the norm to become wire transfers nationwide before too long" is flawed and I can attest to that from real life experience and not from reading on the internet.

Sigh...I just can't seem to get away from these silly arguments...

The statement of "I expect the norm to become wire transfers nationwide before too long" is flawed - I just gave my opinion, since I am in the best position to know my opinion, I am going to stand by that one as actually being my opinion.

I can attest to that from real life experience and not from reading on the internet. - I did some work with Capital Assets, so I have been in on one or two real estate deals. Nothing compared to the tens of thousands you have done I am sure...

Edit: To support my opinion I can only say that 15 states which account for 36% of the U.S. population now have laws similar to California that govern the availability of disbursed funds. Most of them have come about in the last 20 years. Some other states have significant restrictions which make wire transfers preferable. While I might turn out to be wrong, there is significant evidence to support my position of wire transfers eventually being adopted as the norm. For example, C9pilot is a realtor in Florida, which has not enacted any laws about disbursement of closing funds and yet C9pilot notes that wire transfers have largely become required in Florida over the past two years.

I can only tell you the reasons that many RE attorneys have told me why they no longer accept cashiers checks. Not one ever mentioned the above reasons.

@ ncrealestateguy - Your guys could be right. I personally don't see much value in changing the numbers on cashier's checks (the most common type of fraud involving cashier's checks) on real estate. They kind of know where you live...

I really am not trying to argue, but the trend started with the 1994 collapse of a small but still substantial mortgage lender, remember this was right on the tail end of the S & L collapse and the country was still dealing with that. When they entered bankruptcy they had funded hundreds of mortgages with checks that bounced, this left many people with a mortgage on a home that they had sold and others with both a first and a refinanced mortgage as the funds to pay off the old mortgage never went through. Some of the loans had closed quite a time before the funds were finally denied. Initially this caused several states to enact wet funding laws. This happened again to a lesser extent in the 2008 mortgage collapse, we were actually surprising pro-active in stopping this from becoming a real serious problem but the threat was still there. Over time, as wire transfers have become more mainstream, wet funding laws have morphed in many states to good funds laws.

It is possible that the attorneys are calling the collapse of these mortgage brokers, and their issuing NSF checks to fund loans, a fraud, and certainly, their actions were highly suspect. I would call it bankruptcy rather than fraud, but I can see their side.

The banking system as far as money transfer is concerned here in the US is archaic and drives me nuts: "wire" transfers (note, it's actually an electronic transfer, no wires involved) have been the standard for decades in other countries.

To illustrate, my tenant and I bank at the same bank. Tenant has set up "automatic deposit" for the rent. What this actually means is the bank debits her account, issues a paper check to me, which is then mailed by snail mail to me. I take the paper check to my bank and deposit it into my account. Ridiculous.

Imagine how many people are involved in this whole transaction, physically dealing with this check. I wonder how many checks get lost this way.

nococcermom - have you asked your tenant if they attempted make the transfer using your account number and not address. This works for my bank, I've electronically received payments from tenants who use my bank and other banks, nothing in the mail to deal with.

I guess I am the only one here concerned that our OP not get scammed. She's telling us she doesn't know beans about buying a house. She hasn't responded that she has legal counsel. From the answers -- or non-answers -- she reported getting from the Realtor involved, I began to fear that she was being set up with a fraudulent RE transaction -- along with her family.

I'm not 'calling out' any Realtor posting here. That is NOT my concern. (For heaven's sake, my late mother was a RE broker.)

Does nobody else reading here think our OP needs an attorney?

I just don't see any warning signals at all for a scam. I am not sure many Americans are experienced with buying bank owned property but it certainly sounds like she has a realtor and a family that has some familiarity with home pitfalls.

Dealing with a bank owned property is simply an odd situation. The realtor may not know the answers because the answers may follow no real pattern. She has toured the house several times and inspected the property that she is buying as is. Which is a far greater concern to me than a real estate attorney in a $35k transaction.

While I will always advise someone to get an attorney, the time to get an attorney involved is before making the offer. At this point she is bound by the terms of the offer and the attorney isn't going to add significantly more value than a proper inspection and title insurance will (and will probably add less).

Admittedly, I am not familiar with all real estate scams but setting up a title company, getting a realtor involved, forging documents to make yourself look like Bank of America and all the other things that need to happen for this kind of fraud, seem a little much for a $35k scam.

cmarlin, yes, I had a long discussion with my branch manager about how to do a simple account-to-account transfer because I couldn't believe it. Can't be done. However, they wanted to show me how I can scan a paper check with my smartphone and upload it online.

The only advice I would give is to try to find out whether there really was a recent sale for 100K and a subsequent foreclosure, and if yes, why? (Honestly, I don' think so. More likely, the property was transferred to trustees, then followed attempts to sell it at auction, and it reverted back to the bank.)

I could envision a scenario where someone bought the place for 100K, got a renovation loan, altogether a loan of 150K, and then discovered something horribly wrong with the place, so defaulted. That's why the bank basically sells the place for the value of the lot.

Several months ago I bought a foreclosed property with cash. The title company handled the paperwork and suggested me to wire transfer money to them a couple days early to ensure they receive it before closing date. Due to large amount my credit union required me to manually fill out a form and told me it could take longer to process and suggested cashiers check. Although the title company preferred wire transfer they were ok with cashiers check. 15 minutes later I gave the title company cashiers check and there was no problem with closing.

OK, I've 'said my piece'. While $35K isn't a lot of money for a house, if it is (apparently) all the money you have...

I helped a friend buy a house earlier this year. He borrowed funds from a private lender, which I facilitated, but the closing paperwork was all done as a cash sale. He brought a $40,000 cashier's check to the closing that was drawn on my bank account (lender sent me funds, I passed them on), and everything closed fine. No one cared whose account the check came from.

YMMV.

NoSoccerMom,

You need to bank at another place. Most banks allow one to set up auto payments to anyone via an electronic withdrawl and deposit. At least my bank does.

No, it's not most banks. You can set up automatic payment to credit card companies, utilities, large companies, but not to/from individuals. BTW, this is Capital One.

I have 4 closings in the next 10 days and instructions from the closer on each one are that a Cashiers Check is acceptable for all 4....3 closing at title company and 1 at attorneys office. Two of the closings are local lenders and they very rarely wire funds when closing locally...one of the lenders actually is the bank that has the escrow account for the title company so it would be kind of silly for the bank to wire the closing funds to an account in it's own bank.

The general public should not assume that only a wire of funds is acceptable just because it is the norm in some areas.

summersatthelake, could you put your location in your screen name line so we even know what state you are in? Lake to me means one of the great ones or many of the Minnesota lakes. Which is it? Erie?

The general public should not assume that only a wire of funds is acceptable just because it is the norm in some areas. -

The only two people to assume this were Realtors...

Edit: If you read my post, you will clearly see that I was simply explaining why areas are starting to require it. My area doesn't, nor have I ever used anything other than a cashier's check. I just happen to know why areas started.