Another one of those real estate terms that you didn’t know existed until someone tells you it has to happen…
Recording, or going to record, is one of the final steps in the transaction of a property from seller to buyer. It’s an important one that you don’t hear too much about since it happens after the buyers and sellers have signed their paperwork.
Going to record means that the paperwork buyers and sellers complete is sent to the official county records department. These documents are available for public access.
There is a fee for recording the documents with the county that is typically part of a buyer’s closing costs. The fee will vary by county. The title company that handles the closing will handle sending the documents to the county.
In Virginia, it takes up to forty eight hours for the documents on the sale or purchase of a home to be processed. As a seller, you will not receive any payment from the sale of your home until the transaction has been recorded. Sometimes, if you close on a home on a Friday afternoon or there is a federal holiday there may be some additional time before the documents are processed since the recording offices are not open.
