I've been a buyer and a seller in a few transactions, but I have never had cause to see what happens in a settlement.
Last Friday a place I sold in Port Macquarie was due to settle. I got a call from my conveyancer at noon saying St George bank (my mortgage holder) had put the breaks on the settlement because the funds being handed over were $6,337 short on the total discharge amount of the mortgage. (That was despite the bank being notified the previous day of exactly what cheques were being handed over and despite the fact that I have various bank accounts at that bank with accessible balances.)
I asked where the settlement was taking place and whether I could get some cash and take it there - there are some great advantages to working in the CBD.
The building where settlements happen for about 20 banks was a ten minute walk away. I was told to go to the seventh floor and call out for Cathy - their settlement person.
It's a huge room with a big counter running along one wall. The room is filled with about 30 chest high tables with stools. It's sort of like one of those huge western suburbs beer barns from the 1980s except without the beer and without Cold Chisel playing Khe Sanh on a jukebox.
Cathy spotted me as I walked in - I would have been looking lost. She was standing at a table with the buyer's rep and a knucklehead from the bank, to whom I gave a few pointers.
I put the cash on the table, they passed some more paperwork between eachother and that was it.
Last Friday a place I sold in Port Macquarie was due to settle. I got a call from my conveyancer at noon saying St George bank (my mortgage holder) had put the breaks on the settlement because the funds being handed over were $6,337 short on the total discharge amount of the mortgage. (That was despite the bank being notified the previous day of exactly what cheques were being handed over and despite the fact that I have various bank accounts at that bank with accessible balances.)
I asked where the settlement was taking place and whether I could get some cash and take it there - there are some great advantages to working in the CBD.
The building where settlements happen for about 20 banks was a ten minute walk away. I was told to go to the seventh floor and call out for Cathy - their settlement person.
It's a huge room with a big counter running along one wall. The room is filled with about 30 chest high tables with stools. It's sort of like one of those huge western suburbs beer barns from the 1980s except without the beer and without Cold Chisel playing Khe Sanh on a jukebox.
Cathy spotted me as I walked in - I would have been looking lost. She was standing at a table with the buyer's rep and a knucklehead from the bank, to whom I gave a few pointers.
I put the cash on the table, they passed some more paperwork between eachother and that was it.
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