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When Is the Best Day of the Month to Close?

Written By: David Reed
Monday, December 28, 2020

Maybe youve heard this and maybe you havent, but when someone asks when the best time is to close on a contract its typically at or near the end of the month. Why? Because its how mortgage interest is accrued. When someone makes a mortgage payment on the first of the month, the payment doesnt apply to the month about to be lived in but instead its for the interest that accrued for the previous month. But at the settlement table when a purchase mortgage is taken out there are no previous occupied days, yet interest is still collected.

Its called prepaid interest and its an amount that includes interest on the first day of the new note up until the first of the following month. If a closing takes place on the 20th of the month, the lender will collect interest up to the first of the following month. In this example that would be 10 days. If on the last day of the month, there will only be one days worth of interest collected. 

Then, there would be no mortgage payment on the first of the following month because its already been paid. So, with a purchase transaction, it makes sense to close as close to the end of the month as possible. Some like to give a little breathing room and close on the next to last day of the month just in case something happens to cause a delay. 

The closing date on a purchase is clearly laid out on the first page of the contract. Closing must take place on or before that date. Any extension must be agreed to by both parties. Theres really no wiggle room about that. If the buyers cant close on the specified date, they run into the possibility of losing their earnest money deposit.

On the other hand, theres a bit of a difference as it >

When refinancing, there will be interest in arrears for the number of days for the old mortgage plus prepaid interest collected up to the first of the following month. Again, because the interest has been prepaid, there will be no mortgage payment on the first day of the next month because its already been paid.

During a purchase transaction the closing date is established upon execution of the contract. When refinancing, its completely up to the homeowners not just whether or not it makes sense to refinance but setting a closing date.





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