Same day out, or hold it overnight on purpose

Ran a 118k in, 142k out last month and both legs closed within about two hours of each other, which is how I've done every one of these. My funder doesn't care, the fee is flat plus a nominal interest calculation, and the shorter I hold the less can go wrong.

Then a settlement agent asked why I don't just close leg one on a Thursday and leg two on a Friday. Her argument was that a deed in and a deed out separated by minutes looks like one transaction wearing two hats, and if the point of taking title is to be a genuine owner, an actual overnight of ownership makes that harder to argue with. Whether that distinction matters legally depends on the state and on the statute involved, so that's a question for a local attorney, but the operational side is mine to decide.

The cost of holding overnight is real. One more day of funding, insurance for the period you're on title, a second trip for everyone, and a window where the end buyer's wire can fail after you already own a house. The cost of same day is that your ownership is thin enough that nobody watching would describe you as an owner in any ordinary sense.

I've been same day on all eleven of mine. Not sure that's a decision so much as a habit I never examined.