The question arrives the moment an offer is accepted and it almost never gets answered well: who closes this? In Florida there are two possible answers (a title company or an attorney) and no law requires either one in particular. The state’s standard contract itself refers to a "Closing Agent" designated by the parties, without requiring that it be a lawyer.
What each one does, and where they overlap
The shared work is the same and duller than it sounds: search title and issue the commitment with its exceptions, order payoffs on existing mortgages, coordinate with the lender, prepare the deed and the closing statement, receive and disburse the money, and record the documents with the county. Both run that circuit.
The difference shows up when the file gets complicated. A title attorney can give legal advice about what turns up (an easement in the way, an heir who never signed, a half-finished probate, an entity that has to be dissolved — and a title company cannot: it can flag the problem and ask that a lawyer solve it. In a clean sale the practical difference is small; in one with a cloud on title, it is the whole difference.
Who designates, and who pays for the policy
This is not vague custom: it is a checkbox in the Florida Realtors and Florida Bar "AS IS" contract, with three options. First: the seller designates the Closing Agent and pays for the owner’s policy and charges, while the buyer pays for any lender’s policy. Second: the buyer designates and pays for both.
The third is labeled in the form itself as the Miami-Dade/Broward regional provision: the buyer designates the Closing Agent and pays the premiums, and the seller covers the actual cost of the title search — up to $200 if the blank is left empty — plus the tax search and the municipal lien search. That a statewide form carries a checkbox naming two counties tells you everything worth knowing about local custom: it exists, it is acknowledged, and it gets negotiated in writing.
Closing services fees sit apart: the contract defines them by reference to Florida’s title insurance statute and allocates them plainly: each party pays its own, to the closing agent or to whichever provider each party selects. And some costs the form allocates by default are worth knowing before anyone argues: association estoppel fees and FIRPTA withholding charges fall on the seller; association application or transfer fees, the appraisal, the survey and the lender’s policy fall on the buyer.
The timeline, in short
- First days: the file is opened at closing, the deposit goes into escrow, and payoffs, plus the estoppel if there is an association, are ordered.
- Midway: the title commitment arrives with its exceptions and, if the buyer orders one, the survey. The form gives the buyer until 5 days before closing to have it done.
- Before closing: title evidence is delivered at least 15 days before the closing date, or 5 if the purchase is cash.
- Final days: the lender’s clear to close, review of the closing statement, walk-through and signing. Money moves by wire, always with the details confirmed by phone at the number you already knew.
The full calendar, with the deadlines the contract prints and what can derail each stretch, is in contract to close in Florida.
Five questions for choosing who closes
- "Who will handle my file and how do I reach them?" A name and a phone number, not a general email address. Closings jam most often for lack of someone to ask.
- "How long from opening the file to issuing the title commitment?" The answer tells you more about their workload than any brochure.
- "How will you send me the wire instructions and how do I confirm them?" If a verification call does not come up, keep looking.
- "What do you do if a cloud appears on title?" This is where the difference between a title company and an attorney shows, and you want to hear it now rather than in week four.
- "What exactly do you charge in closing services?" Each party pays its own: ask for the figure and compare, since the contract lets each side pick its provider.
Where it actually jams
- The association estoppel. Ten business days of statutory deadline that turn into three weeks when it was requested late or from the wrong party. The deadlines and caps are in its own guide.
- The seller’s mortgage payoff. It arrives late, it arrives with a different figure than expected, or it expires before closing and has to be ordered again.
- The survey. A fence off the line, a pool encroaching on an easement or an unpermitted structure turn up here, and they do not get solved in 48 hours.
- Title exceptions. Old easements, a contractor’s lien, a spouse who has to sign even though they are not on the deed.
- A foreign seller. If they are foreign for tax purposes, FIRPTA withholding gets prepared from the start, not on signing day. It is covered in the FIRPTA guide for foreign sellers.
This is general information, not legal advice: every file has its wrinkle and the person who resolves it is the title attorney or the closing handling the deal. What is squarely the agent’s craft is this: ask in week one who closes, under which checkbox of the contract, and which documents to order now. A calm closing is almost never luck — it is those three questions asked in time.