This is the mechanics article. The cornerstone piece covers the whole remote purchase; this one stays at the closing table. It is information, not legal advice: the closing itself is run by licensed title and legal professionals, and their procedures govern each file.
Remote online notarization: what Florida law allows
Since January 1, 2020, Part II of Chapter 117 of the Florida Statutes has authorized online notarization. The signer appears before a registered Florida online notary through a recorded audio-video session, identity is verified through the statute's identity-proofing and credential-analysis requirements, and the documents are signed and notarized electronically. The signer's location is not the constraint; a buyer in Quebec City appears the same way a buyer in Orlando would. For remote buyers this is the backbone of the modern Florida closing: the deed, mortgage and settlement package can be executed in a session booked like a video call, and many Florida counties accept electronic recording of the result.
What gets signed remotely, and the caveats that matter
In practice the signing method on any given file is decided by the lender and the title underwriter, not by the buyer's preference. Three configurations cover nearly everything:
- Full RON closing: the entire package signed and notarized online. Increasingly common, and the cleanest for a remote buyer.
- Hybrid closing: most documents signed electronically, with a small set signed on paper. Used where a lender or underwriter wants wet ink on specific instruments.
- Mailaway closing: the package couriered to Canada, signed on paper before a notary with any required witnesses, and couriered back. The traditional route, still used where RON is not accepted on a file.
Two cautions. First, certain document types carry additional statutory requirements in Florida, wills and some estate instruments among them, so remote execution rules are not uniform across every kind of paper. Second, the signing method should be settled early, not on closing week: a file that planned for RON and meets a wet-ink requirement late needs courier days it may not have. This is exactly the kind of coordination a remote buyer should never have to chase personally.
The power of attorney route
Where signing in person is required and travel is off the table, a power of attorney lets a representative sign at the closing. Florida practice for a POA used to convey or encumber real property requires execution with the formalities of a deed, meaning the principal signs before two witnesses and a notary. On financed purchases the lender's consent is not optional: lenders that accept a POA generally require written approval in advance, and many insist the document be transaction-specific, identifying the property and the loan rather than granting broad authority. Title companies want the executed POA reviewed and approved before closing day. Arranged early, it is a routine instrument; produced late, it is a delay.
Title and escrow, administered at a distance
The title company or closing attorney runs the same file for a remote buyer as for a local one: title search and commitment, lien and municipal searches, escrow of the deposit and closing funds, preparation of the settlement statement, and recording of the deed and mortgage after funding. The buyer's side of it happens through documents: reviewing the title commitment, the settlement figures and the closing disclosure, asking questions by phone or video, and signing by whichever method the file uses. Electronic recording means even the final step often happens the same day, with the recorded documents delivered as PDFs.
Wiring funds from Canada, and the caution that belongs in bold
The money mechanics are straightforward: closing funds move by international wire from the buyer's Canadian account, or through a currency exchange provider, into the title company's escrow account. Build in lead time, since cross-border wires and currency conversion can add days, and keep the records, because the lender's underwriting will want the funds sourced and traced.
The caution: verify wire instructions by phone, every time, before sending. Wire fraud targeting real estate closings is a documented crime category tracked by the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center. The classic pattern is an email that looks like it came from the title company or an advisor, delivering altered account details, sometimes days before closing, sometimes hours. The defence is procedural and simple: call the title company at a number you obtained independently, not from the email carrying the instructions, confirm the account details verbally, treat any last-minute change as a red flag to be re-verified, and confirm receipt with the escrow agent once the wire lands. A remote buyer wiring six figures across a border should treat this as part of the closing checklist, not an optional precaution.
FIRPTA awareness at the closing table
FIRPTA is a US withholding regime on dispositions of US real property by foreign persons, and it can appear at a Canadian buyer's closing from two directions. If the seller is a foreign person, the buyer is generally the withholding agent: the IRS describes withholding of typically 15 percent of the amount realized, remitted with Forms 8288 and 8288-A, with reduced-rate and exemption cases the IRS sets out, including certain personal-residence purchases at price points the IRS defines. In practice the closing agent identifies the requirement and handles the remittance, but the obligation formally sits with the buyer, which is why it deserves a line in this article. The second direction is the future: a Canadian owner who later sells will be the foreign person on the other side of the same rule, with withholding taken from the gross price at that closing. Both directions are tax machinery, not financing, and the mechanics belong with cross-border tax counsel; the risk flag belongs here.
A closing to coordinate from Canada?
Send the scenario, not sensitive documents: the property, the timeline, where the funds sit, who is on the file so far. Straight answer within a business day on how the remote closing would be structured.
Send David the ScenarioRelated: Buying Florida property remotely from Canada · The remote buying team · FIRPTA and the forms nobody mentions · Complete guide for Canadians buying US property