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You've made it through all of the negotiations, the inspections and the buyer has loan commitment. Closing date is fast approaching. What should you expect from the title company?
Well, in case you don't know. The title company is the head cat wrangler in the St. Louis real estate industry. Not only do provide the title insurance that protects the buyer and the buyer's lender from any kinds of flaws in the title (such as a long lost relative of the person that you bought the house from showing up with a legitimate claim to your property), they also manage the closing of the real estate transaction.
Basically the process works like this; You or your agent selects a title company to handle your end of the transaction and the buyer or their agent selects a title company to handle their end of the transaction. Many times the seller will follow the buyers to the title company that they select (a practice that I normally attempt to avoid).
Your title company will interact and coordinate your transaction with the buyer's title company. In St. Louis, the seller's title company does not actually issue any kind of insurance policy.
During the processing of the title file, the buyer's title company will more than likely send a survey 
company out to survey your property to make sure that what the buyer and the buyer's lender thinks that they are purchasing, is indeed what they are purchasing, that there are no survey issues such as the neighbor's fence encroaching on your property or vise versa.
If there are any unexplained issues with the title, the buyer's title company might call you and ask for you to provide documents such as divorce decrees, death certificates, wills, etc. They aren't just being nosy and it is "their business". They need to make sure that what they are safe insuring the buyer, the buyer's lender and future buyer's that they are getting a clear title to the property.
After the title file is processed and the title insurance policy issued, a closing time will be set. You will go to your title company at the appointed time and sit down with that company's closer. She will have a stack of documents for you to sign, such as;
The HUD-1 Settlement statement - A form that outlines all of the fees and charges that are being charged in relationship to this real estate transaction.
The Deed - There are several kinds of deeds that you can use to "deed" the property rights to the buyer. In residential real estate transactions the most common one is called a "General Warranty Deed"
Seller's Affidavit - A series of questions about you and the property basically designed to make sure that nothing has transpired since the title company did it's research that would change their exposure. For example: "Have you either gotten married or gotten a divorce since this contract?" or "Have you had or have contracted to have any work done on the property that hasn't been paid for" These are two of the questions that you can expect to be asked on the Seller's Affidavit.
Title Company's Privacy Statement - A statement where the title company tells you whom they may release information on you and your transaction to. Some disclosures are mandated and can't be avoided such as reporting the sales price to the county. Others might share your information with sister companies. Other's yet might sell your information to whomever will buy it. If this is a concern to you, be sure to read this statement.
IRS W9 - A tax form to report to the IRS what you've received from the transaction.
Buyer's Loan Documents - Some mortgage company's and programs require the seller to sign certain loan documents.
Payoff Agreement - An agreement where you recognize that the title company is depending upon the payoff statement being accurate and where you agree to hold them harmless in the event that the payoff statement is wrong. This is particularly important if you have a home equity line of credit and have taken a disbursement from it since the title company received the payoff.
What To Expect At Closing
Most times the seller's side of a real estate transaction is fairly simple and straight forward. The opportunities for errors and problems are much greater on the buyer's side of the transaction. That said, it's not unusual for something to go wrong at closing.
Your transaction might be one in a series of transactions that are dependent upon one another to close. For example, your buyer might be closing on the sale of their home the same day as they are closing on the purchase of your home. Their purchaser might be doing the same thing. If something goes wrong on that transaction, it can have a negative effect upon your transaction.
This is the nature of the beast and there isn't a whole bunch that you can do about it. The important thing to remember is that most of these situations work themselves out and it's not worth getting upset about. I strongly suggest that you schedule your closing on a day where you don't have anything else important already scheduled. Go into the closing with a relaxed out look and don't be surprised if your closing gets postponed or lasts longer than you anticipated. It's not unusual to hang out in a title company waiting for a problem to be resolved.
On that last note, it's not a bad idea to call the title company ahead of the scheduled time for your closing to make sure that everything is going as it should.
It's also not a bad idea to have all of the information about your home in a file and to bring the file. Also bring a copy of your driver's license or other valid ID.
If you have to bring money to the closing table, be sure that it's in the form of certified funds.
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