A US closing is a set of documents, a wire and a recording, not a meeting. The borrower is your US LLC, and you sign for it as its manager or member. Nothing in a business-purpose loan requires you to be physically in the country on closing day.
What does vary is how your signature has to be witnessed so the county will record the documents and the title company will insure them. That is decided by the state where the property sits and by the closing agent, so it should be settled at the start, not the week before closing.
The usual ways to sign from abroad
| Method | How it works | Check first |
|---|---|---|
| US embassy or consulate | A US consular officer notarizes your signature abroad | Appointment availability in your city, which can take weeks |
| Local notary | A notary in your country witnesses the signature, often with an apostille added | That the closing agent and the county will accept the format |
| Remote online notarization | You sign electronically on a video call with a commissioned US notary | That the state, the title company and the lender all accept it |
| Power of attorney | A trusted person signs in the US on your behalf | The lender's and title company's approval of the form, recorded where required |
States where an attorney runs the closing
In some states the closing itself must be handled by a licensed attorney. Georgia and South Carolina are the clearest examples: in both, the state Supreme Court has treated conducting a real estate closing as the practice of law, so the closing is run by, or under the supervision of, a lawyer admitted in that state. That does not force you to travel, but the closing attorney decides how documents signed abroad will be accepted, so choose the attorney early and ask the question on day one.
Other states use title or escrow companies. Either way, the person running the closing is the one to ask about remote signing.
Money: the part that cannot be done at the last minute
- Fund the LLC's US bank account well before closing; international wires and bank compliance checks can add days
- Wire the closing funds to the closing agent only on verified wiring instructions, confirmed by phone with a known number. Fraudulent wiring instructions are a known risk in US closings
- Keep the source-of-funds trail clean: the lender's KYC checks will ask where the equity came from
A realistic timeline
The financing is the fast part: a term sheet in 24 to 48 hours and closing in about two weeks on a clean file. The slow parts for a foreign buyer are the entity (LLC, EIN and bank account) and the signing logistics. A 30-day closing plan for foreign buyers sets out the order, and the EIN without an SSN entry covers the step most often underestimated.
If you do want to visit the property before buying, do it during the inspection period, not on closing day.
What the closing agent will ask a foreign LLC for
- The LLC's formation documents, its EIN letter and a certificate of good standing from the state
- A resolution or operating agreement showing who may sign for the LLC
- A copy of the signer's passport, and the same name spelled the same way on every document
- Original signed documents returned by courier when the county or the title company requires wet signatures
- Wiring details for the LLC's US account, so the funds come from the borrower named on the loan