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Why (as in yaverbaum)
closings with bank checks made payable to themselves, rather than to the seller (for ease of redeposit if something went wrong). When every- thing was in place, they would endorse the checks to the seller (here, Nadel), and everyone would be happy—everyone in this case, that is, but Peter. His friend and apparently not-so-sophisticated counsel left the closing proudly carrying an unendorsed, and therefore worthless, six-figure check intended for Peter. Fortunately, the buyer’s more sophisticated counsel saved the day after one extremely chastened counsel (that would be me) made a panicked and very embarrassed phone call.
What residential transactions did have in common with commercial transactions were, among other things, (1) forming a contract through negotiation and exchange of draft (temporary, proposed) documents, with the intention of thereafter having a closing that follows the script that it lays out, (2) looking blankly at a survey (a two-dimensional pic- ture of the property that shows such stuff as boundaries, the location of fences and hedges that are usually not precisely on boundaries, and “easements” that let neighbors disregard boundaries, (3) reading a “description” that describes the boundaries with numbers, abbreviations for directions, and the repeated use of the word THENCE and making sure that it matches up with the survey, (4) finding out that the picture, the numbers, and the description did not match and then struggling to make them do so, (5) trying to read a title report (an unreadable docu- ment that is replete with “exceptions” that are designed to mention every conceivable technical problem associated with the property in question and thereby to absolve the title insurance company that issued it from any liability), (6) tipping the “title closer,” a title company rep- resentative, often an attorney, who appears at the closing, draws lines through and then initials some of those exceptions, and signs the docu- ment, thereby turning it into a “title policy” and thereby earning his tip (much as a waiter would), (7) signing a “commitment,” the document pursuant to which the lender agrees to fund the loan, provided that the lender still wants to do so when the time comes, the commitment’s con- ditions to actually funding the loan usually being (intentionally)
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