Buying a Home with A Power of Attorney

Buying a home is a giant responsibility! However, buying a home utilizing a Power of Attorney is an even bigger responsibility and one that involves a few more steps.

When Kyle and I decided to purchase a home at our new duty station, we had to make a big decision pretty quickly. We had to decide if E and I would make the move ahead of Kyle or would we wait and travel together. Now this might not seem like a big decision but to us it was. This decision determined whether or not I would be signing the papers with a Power of Attorney or if we would be signing together. We ultimately decided that E and I would go ahead of time and close on the house prior to Kyle's graduation. We were provided the Power of Attorney by the closing office all Kyle had to do was get it notarized. I sent a copy to the closing assistant and brought the original with me. 

Yay, Power of Attorney! Ha! Not only was this going to give me carpal tunnel but it was a process that had some moving pieces particularly on the morning of closing. 

One thing that had to be done on the day of closing is an Alive and Well statement. This is done by the individual that is not at the closing in person. For Kyle, he had to call into the attorney's office that morning and state that he had not rescinded the POA, he was not coached in any way, and that he was indeed alive and well. 

Since we were also utilizing the VA loan, an additional Alive and Well statement had to be provided to our loan officer by Kyle's boss. This was to ensure that Kyle was not AWOL and in good standing with the military. This email had to be sent on the morning of closing. Not the day before and not the day after. 

Talk about stress for me as I was waiting for confirmation that both statements had been received by their respective recipients. Both statements were received and we were free to move forward with the closing that morning. 

Next up was a whole lot of signing haha! There is a very specific way you must sign when using a POA. Each state will vary on how they prefer to have it done but for us it was "XXXX by XXXXX, his attorney in fact" and when initially it was "XXX by XXX, AIF". You also have to sign the names exactly as they are written. If you aren't use to signing your name with a middle initial or full middle name it can mess things up and cause new documents to have to be printed. 

Once I got comfortable, it was smooth sailing and closing only took about 45 minutes from start to finish. I joked that Kyle owed me big time for taking on this responsibility haha. 

To be honest, it was an easy process but just a lot of little things to get done. If you are ever in a position where you are debating utilizing a POA for purchase a home, do it! It is easy and for us it eliminated a lot of unknowns.