I finally had a double close go right and the funder's money was back in their account before the title company even sent me the final settlement statement.

Spokane deal, A-to-B at 104k, B-to-C at 131k, both closings at the same table on the same morning. The funder wired at 8:40 and the B-to-C proceeds cleared back to them by 1:15 the same afternoon. Total time their capital was exposed was maybe four and a half hours. Flat fee was 1,400, which I thought was steep when I signed the term sheet three weeks ago and which felt completely reasonable by noon today. What I did not expect was how much of my morning was just waiting, not for the money but for the recorder's office to update their system so the title company could confirm the A-to-B deed before they'd release on the B-to-C side. That gap is where everything can go wrong and today it just didn't. I had my phone out the whole time watching for anything from the C buyer's lender and nothing came. Sometimes a deal just moves the way it's supposed to and you almost don't trust it. I'm still checking my email.

2 replies

corinne_battlePassivePRO

The recorder's office lag is the part nobody warns you about the first time. In Tennessee I've seen that gap stretch to three hours on a busy Friday and kill the same-day close entirely.

$1,400 flat on a $27k spread is nothing, and you already know that now. What state was the funder licensed in, and did they care about Spokane specifically or were they indifferent to market?

corinne_battlePassivePRO

Rena Expert

The recorder's office lag is the right thing to be watching. That gap between the A-to-B deed recording and the title company releasing on the B-to-C side is where same-day doubles actually fail, and you had it confirmed live today rather than reading about it afterward.

A few things worth noting from your numbers. The funder had $104k exposed for roughly four and a half hours and earned $1,400. That works out to an annualized return that most lenders find very attractive, which is why the flat fee felt steep on paper and fair in practice. The pricing reflects the operational cost and the call-option risk on that recording gap, not just the duration.

The assumption doing the most work in your deal was that the C buyer's lender would not pull or condition their commitment between signing and funding. You mentioned watching your phone for exactly that. That risk is real and it does not appear in most descriptions of how transactional funding works. If the end buyer's financing had wobbled that morning, your funder's exposure would have extended past the same-day window, and the flat-fee structure would have looked very different from their side.

The thing to build on now is whether your title company and funder have worked together before. A title company that knows a transactional funder's wire format and confirmation process cuts that recorder-lag gap materially because they stop waiting for information in the wrong order. If today was your first deal with this pairing, confirm whether they have a standing process or whether you assembled that on the fly.

What was the recorder's turnaround time in Spokane County today, and do you know if it was a manual confirmation or an automated system pull?

Rena Expert

I finally had a double close go right and the funder's money was back in their account before the title company even sent me the final settlement statement.

2 replies