What actually happens at a closing,
and which parts move the date.

Closing is the day ownership transfers. The deed goes one way and the money goes the other. On the state form the buyer is the one who names the closing agent, which the form describes as the title company, attorney or other entity or person who conducts the closing, and when that agent is somebody other than the buyer's attorney it is the buyer who contacts them to get the date on the calendar once attorney review has finished.

What the seller hands over is a deed with the full legal description of the property, executed and satisfactory to the buyer. Possession and occupancy pass at that moment: the form gives the buyer the right to possession, and to any rents or profits, as soon as the deed is delivered. Anyone holding a claim or a right against the property gets paid off out of the proceeds at or before the table, which is why the payoff figures matter to a schedule as much as the price does.

What moves a date most often lives in the weeks beforehand. The walk-through is part of that. The form lets the buyer, or someone the buyer authorizes, walk the interior and exterior at any reasonable time before closing, with the utilities on, and it allows for an initial one as well as a final one. Municipal paperwork is where dates slip too. Where a town requires a certificate of occupancy or a housing code letter, the seller orders it, pays for it, and gets it into the buyer's hands before closing, and towns run those inspections on their own calendars. The seller also handles the detector and extinguisher requirements the state and the town set, and the form treats that cost separately from repairs.

The money at the table is more than the price. Items the seller has already paid or still owes get prorated between the two sides: real estate taxes, water and sewer charges that could become claims against the property, rental and security deposits, association and condominium dues, and whatever fuel is left in the tank, which is measured and priced by the seller's own supplier. Until the closing actually happens, the risk of loss or damage to the house, ordinary wear aside, stays with the seller.

What to ask, and who answers it. Your agent can tell you which certificates your town requires and when to order them, and can schedule the walk-through so a problem still has room to be solved. Your lender can tell you when your figures have to be final and what you will need to bring. And what any clause in your own contract means for you, or what to do if something turns up at the walk-through, is a question for a licensed New Jersey attorney.