Most buyers don't meet with the lawyer until a day or two before closing when they come in to sign the closing documents and bring in a cheque for the balance of the closing costs. Some lawyers don't even meet with their clients then, but have a clerk or secretary handle the signing up process.

We do it differently at our office. We arrange to meet with the client as soon as possible after the deal is firm. At that time we spend 30 minutes to an hour going over the agreement of purchase and sale to determine whether there are any special circumstances or concerns the client may have regarding the offer. We also explain what we will be doing from that time until closing and what the client should be doing also. We talk about financing issues such as using your RRSP toward the purchase price, we give a rough estimate of how much the client can expect to bring in at closing and we actually book the signing appointment then and there.

We also discuss arrangements for picking up keys after closing including when and where the keys will be available and talk about what time would be good to book movers if the client is actually moving in on closing day.

We also strongly encourage our clients to call us immediately if they have any concerns or questions between that initial appointment and the closing date because we find it is really helpful for the clients to know that their concerns will be dealt with on a timely basis and not left to the day of closing when everyone has too much on their plates to deal with problems effectively.