Once you are in contract/closed, stay on top of your escrow, people. I just finished buying my first house, and other than the seller being totally checked out, the process was pretty smooth from start to finish. Except escrow, OMG. I had to chase down receipts for my payments, double check their numbers, make them stop pushing and let me read the papers I was signing.

Then after closing, I found out that not only did they “forget” to notify my new HOA property management that I’d closed, but 6 weeks after closing I got a notice my homeowner’s insurance was about to be cancelled because escrow sent the check, it got returned as a “bad address” and they… did nothing. Didn’t notify me, or my real estate agent, or anyone at all involved in the transaction. Fortunately my mortgage broker is awesome, and so they are chasing down escrow to fix the insurance.