If you close real estate in more than one state, you learn quickly that the closing table looks different depending on where the property sits. Some states let a licensed title agent run the entire transaction. Others require an attorney. Of the four states we close in, two are attorney states: Georgia and North Carolina.
In an attorney closing state, conducting a real estate closing, or in some states performing the title examination behind it, is treated as the practice of law. A licensed attorney in that state has to do it, or supervise it. A title company still does the title search, the underwriting, the figures, the escrow and the coordination, but the closing itself is conducted under an attorney's responsibility.
This is not a formality that happens off to the side. It changes who signs the documents on the company's behalf, how the title opinion is produced and, in practice, how early your file needs to be ready.
Georgia requires a licensed Georgia attorney to conduct the closing. Georgia also uses a security deed rather than a mortgage, and the closing attorney's role covers the documents that transfer and secure the interest.
Georgia has also not adopted Remote Online Notarization, so Georgia signings take place in person. For an out of state party that means either a mail away package, properly notarized where the signer is located, or a mobile closer who travels to them. We do both regularly.
North Carolina requires a North Carolina licensed attorney to supervise the title work and the closing. The title insurance policy is issued on the strength of the attorney's title opinion, which ties the two together more tightly than in a title agent state.
North Carolina also follows the Good Funds Settlement Act: the deed is recorded and the title updated before funds are disbursed. It is a stricter sequence than many states use, and it protects both sides from a lien filed at the eleventh hour.
Florida and Tennessee are title agent states. A licensed title agent can conduct the closing from start to finish, and parties may still bring in an attorney if they want one. Both states permit remote online notarization, subject to the lender and the document types, which is why more of our Florida and Tennessee closings happen at a kitchen table, an office or a laptop than in a conference room.
In Georgia and North Carolina, expect an attorney to be part of your closing and expect signing to be an in person event in Georgia. Ask who the closing attorney is early, especially in Georgia, where the buyer customarily selects them.
Timelines differ. Attorney states need documents earlier, and a Friday afternoon Georgia closing is not the place to discover a title issue. Getting the order opened the day the contract is signed is worth more in attorney states than anywhere else.
Your closing instructions land with an attorney in Georgia and North Carolina and with a title agent in Florida and Tennessee. One vendor across all four states means one set of contacts rather than four different processes to chase.
Multi state volume is where this bites. Scheduling several closings in the same week across attorney and non attorney states takes planning, which is exactly what we build into a portfolio schedule up front.
Element Title Group closes in Florida, Georgia, Tennessee and North Carolina. Georgia and North Carolina files include the attorney review those states require. Florida and Tennessee files are conducted by our licensed title team. You get the same intake, the same communication and the same net sheet format either way.
Related: closing costs by state · closings in metro Atlanta · closings in Charlotte · all service areas