Like many solid real estate agents, Jane Armstrong arrived early for the closing a few weeks ago. And it's a good thing.

The Las Vegas short-sale specialist had time to review the "HUD-1" closing statement before the actual signing, and she discovered several mistakes, including $200 in fees that shouldn't have been charged to her client.

Armstrong, who hangs her shingle with the Signature Real Estate Group, had requested a copy of the completed form in advance -- twice -- all to no avail. Still, she was versed enough in the process that showing up 20 minutes early gave her enough time to spot the errors and get them corrected.

"My client may or may not have caught the mistakes," the Nevada agent says. "But that's my job."

Fortunately for both buyers and sellers, most agents feel the same way. And they show up for signings even when they are not required to, or when the closing is handled by attorneys who represent each side of the transaction.

In some parts of California, for example, buyers and sellers separately sign the stack of papers necessary to transfer ownership, sometimes days apart. But that doesn't stop Terri Vellios of Keller Williams in Campbell, Calif. from being there for her client.

"I've had escrow officers fly through the documents while my clients' eyes glazed over," she says. "Sometimes the escrow officer doesn't explain it to my clients in terms they understand. In those cases, I will explain what something means."

Buyers and sellers also sign independently on the other side of the country in Virginia and "are never at the table together." But Jim Mellen of RE/MAX Peninsula at New Town in Williamsburg always accompanies his buyer clients, and occasionally his sellers.

"Buyers are relying on us. We owe it to them to be there," he says.

Mellen has heard other agents say they don't attend to avoid liability, but that's poppycock as far as he's concerned. "I think that is lame and borders on insubordination. We are licensed professionals and have a responsibility."

Many loan officers don't feel the same way. Their presence at settlement isn't required, either. After all, the closing professional's job is to carry out the lender's instructions. But most agents would prefer that your lender -- in the form of the person who actually took your application and ushered you through to approval -- would take the time to sit alongside you at settlement.

As it is, it's a toss-up whether that happens or not. Sometime loan agents show, sometimes they don't. But if not, they are typically just a phone call away.

Still, realty agents say there's nothing like being there. For example, when loan documents are late or the final numbers do not line up with what was agreed upon previously, the lender can offer an explanation on the spot, says Marty Soller of Coldwell Banker King Thompson in Columbus, Ohio.

"We have had to wait up to four hours for funds to be wired. That can be quite a problem when the buyer's movers are waiting at the house to start moving in," says Soller, who has seen cases where the closing was delayed over the weekend to the following Monday, forcing his client to pay double for moving and storage and find a place to stay.

Most closings go off without a hitch. But any number of bad things can happen, so it helps to have someone on your side who has been with you since the beginning on your house-hunt journey -- someone who understands your situation as thoroughly as you do.

Here's a short list of common things that go wrong at closing.

-- Acrimony. If you've had a particularly arduous negotiation, things can sometimes boil over when you sit down at the table, face-to-face with your adversary. Every agent has a story about this, but Michael Marks of Keller Williams Realty in south Florida takes the prize.

Marks attended a closing where the seller showed up in drag and proclaimed the entire contract a sham, saying that he was entitled to more money. At another of Marks' closings, armed guards were present "because of threats of bodily harm during negotiations."

-- Trouble saying goodbye. Sometimes the seller has a special bond with the house and has a tough time letting go, to the point where he wants to back out at the last minute.

Dee Smith of RE/MAX Premier Group in Wesley Chapel, Fla., once had a client who was so overcome with emotion selling the place she had owned with her recently deceased husband that she had trouble continuing. But Smith "was able to console her and help her through this tough ordeal."

-- Typos. Often, agents find misspelled names, incorrect addresses or wrong apartment numbers and other errors that the buyer and seller missed.

Earl Walker of Keller Williams in Sapphire, N.C., once discovered that the survey didn't include all the property being sold. But he was able to get the mistake corrected. Lenore Wilkas of Coldwell Banker in San Mateo, Calif., has seen wrong loan amounts. Others have seen incorrect interest rates.

-- Problems at walk-through. Sometimes the house isn't clean enough to satisfy the buyer, or perhaps it is discovered that an appliance doesn't work. Sometimes items that were supposed to be taken care of by the seller -- repairing a balky closet door, for example -- were not.

Perri Feldman of Keller Williams in Short Hills, N.J., has seen gaping holes where TV wall brackets once hung. Another KW agent, Kirk Pugh in Wilmington, N.C., was there when the builder switched the range with one of lower quality. Had he not been present, the buyer might have accepted the change without comment. Instead, Pugh was able to insist on an $800 credit on his client's behalf.

-- Missing items. Property that was supposed to stay with the house -- washers and dryers, chandeliers and curtains are the most popular -- are missing at walk-through, and the agent has to mollify his client. "Even rented fixtures like water softeners can result in a 'discussion' at closing if the rental was not disclosed beforehand," says Paul Spoerl of Century 21 First Realty in Appleton, Wis.

-- Junk left behind. Sellers sometimes leave "stuff" they no longer want, thinking that maybe the buyer would want their junk. To save the deal, agents have had to find cleaners in the last minute to get rid of the items the seller should have disposed of in the first place.

Once, a seller left a house almost fully furnished, recalls Noreen Parrell of Better Homes & Gardens Rand Realty in Briarcliff Manor, N.Y. "These things don't happen often," she says. "But when they do, you have to be there."

-- Lack of child care. Agents are sometimes called upon to keep the children occupied so their parents can concentrate on the closing papers. Why people bring their kids to this important legal proceeding is a question for another day. But when they do, agents are often called on to hold the kiddies' hands -- or change their diapers -- while the signing is being completed.

-- Missing documents. More than a few buyers have forgotten to obtain homeowner's insurance or left their driver's license on the coffee table at home. Maybe the seller forgets to bring the keys. Whatever the case, the agent who's there can step in to save the day.

Despite the recent spate of far-reaching federal regulations hammering the mortgage business, innovation is far from dead.

For example, one of the nation's largest credit unions now allows borrowers to reset their rate at no cost up to five times over the life of the loan. A Beverly Hills company has created a way for small investors to put their money in commercial real estate deals that are usually reserved for wealthy individuals. There's also a new online search tool that allows homebuyers to identify and compare houses for sale based on drive times to work and other places, night and day.

The rate protection feature is offered by the Pentagon Federal Credit Union, a 1.2 million-member institution headquartered in Alexandria, Va. It is available on the credit union's 5/5 adjustable rate mortgage, which adjusts to the then-market rate every five years over the 30-year term.

Beginning with the loan's second year, borrowers can choose to change their rate to PenFed's current rate plus 0.25 percent at any time. So, say in the third year, you don't like which way rates are heading and you want to nip an increase in the bud. Or you'd simply like to take advantage of lower rates. You can simply "click" to reset the loan on PenFed's website.

You can exercise the reset option anytime after the first year, up to five different times. But once you do, you have to wait another 12 months to do so again.

The feature gives borrowers five shots at the brass ring, says PenFed executive James Schenck. It "puts borrowers in control of their mortgage," he says, and is a cheaper, less cumbersome way for them to refinance and take advantage of current rates.

The new investment vehicle comes from Realty Mogul, which calls it "crowdfunding for real estate." The Southern California company creates an online marketplace for accredited investors to pool their money and buy shares of office and apartment buildings and retail centers, and gives developers access to a broader pool of capital.

The concept is another form of syndication, but it is done solely online, and "you don't need to be a Rockefeller" to participate, says Realty Mogul co-founder and CEO Jilliene Helman.

Typically, deals the size of those put together by the company -- the latest is a group of five multifamily buildings in Los Angeles -- are the province of people who can invest $100,000 or more. But with Realty Mogul, investors with as little as $10,000 can participate.

The investments are fully vetted, and Realty Mogul over-raises to cover future repairs or improvements. Consequently, says Helman, there are no calls for investors to put up more money later.

Another key feature: monthly or quarterly distributions to investors. "We focus on cash flow," says Helman. "We are looking to be a source of income for our investors."

The new drive-time search tool, which has already been scooped up by the RE/MAX real estate network, gives buyers an easy, visual way to find houses within a specific drive-time from work, schools or other important locations. Drive times can be calculated at rush hour and at other times of the day or night.

"Drive time is a quality-of-life issue to buyers. For many, it's as important as the neighborhood and good schools," said RE/MAX Technology Strategy Officer John Smiley. "We're taking the guesswork out of one of consumers' most important purchase criteria: their commute."

RE/MAX plans to bring the app to its customers in all 50 states, beginning with New Jersey sometime in this year's first quarter.

To determine drive times using the new feature, which was developed by INRIX, buyers will enter the addresses of the locations most important to them as part of their search criteria on the RE/MAX website. The tool then automatically shows neighborhoods and properties that meet their desired travel time.

"In a world measured in miles, we measure it in minutes," said INRIX General Manager of GeoAnalytics Kevin Foreman in a news release.

According to the release, the program gets its traffic information "from a variety of public and private sources ranging from government road sensors, official accident and incident reports to real-time traffic speeds crowd-sourced from a community of approximately 100 million drivers."

Factors such as the day of the week, the season, local holidays, forecasted and actual weather, accidents and construction are also considered.

INRIX says its program has been found accurate to within 3 mph of actual traffic speeds under all driving conditions 24/7.

It's one thing to manage a rental house when it's located in a nearby community. But it's another process entirely when the rental is in a distant vacation retreat. Unfortunately, many second-home buyers find that out the hard way.

According to a survey by HomeAway, an online marketplace for vacation rentals, owners spend an average of 8.6 hours a week managing their properties. That's one full workday a week! And even then, it's doubtful that the typical owner can market his vacation pad, maintain it and do all the other things necessary to have a successful rental regime.

That's not to say you can't be successful going the do-it-yourself route. You can. But think of the things a professional property manager can bring to the table. The list includes their full time and attention, 24-7 -- 365, if necessary -- along with marketing, screening, housekeeping, record-keeping, periodic inspections and more.

Of course, this doesn't come cheaply. Fees are all over the ballpark, depending largely on geography, says Mark McSweeney, executive director of the Indianapolis-based Vacation Rental Managers Association (VRMA). "There's a pretty wide range, based on your region. The average is from 15 to 40 percent" of the monthly rent.

But what's going out shouldn't be as important as what's coming in, according to Ben Edwards of Newman Daily Resort Properties, a rental management company in Miramar Beach in Florida's Panhandle region.

"Everybody asks about our fees, but 90 percent isn't high if you are delivering revenue," he says. "That's what the focal point should be."

Edwards, who is also president of the rental managers group, says that in today's market, it's not difficult to nail a few rentals, particularly in your area's prime rental season. But to fill the place week after week or month after month, year-in and year-out, with people who return over and over again? Well, that's another thing entirely.

"We book more," the professional manager says. "We wouldn't be able to survive in these very competitive markets if we didn't."

VRMA doesn't have any figures to back up its contention that the pros book more tenants than individuals, or that they generate more revenue to offset the expense of hiring a manager. But a survey in 2012 by PhoCusWright, a travel and hospitality research firm, found that the split is pretty much even.

That is, whereas the rent-by-owner segment was responsible for 51 percent of the bookings, says Vice President of Research Douglas Quinby, the managed segment took in 51 percent of the revenue. But the trend, he adds, is toward professional management.

"When the market was very strong, owners could be choosy. And they didn't have to take a very professional approach," Quinby explains. "Now, they have to be much more engaged."

It's impossible to discuss all the benefits a professional manager brings to the table in the space allotted here. But let's take a deeper look at just a few:

-- Marketing. You might be able to fill a few weeks or months by word-of-mouth or local advertising. You might even be able to create a website.

But the pros can place your place in the local multiple list service, and they can advertise not just in local papers but in those ubiquitous weekly real estate magazines you see on newsstands, on television and online. Then there's email marketing, social media and online listing sites.

"Some of the biggest advantages to partnering with a professional are the in-depth programs designed to market their inventory," the VRMA website says. "Companies may invest in high-resolution property videos or photos, guest surveys, contests, promotional trade outs, brochures, rack cards and more to drive business."

-- Screening. This is more than determining whether the potential guest can fog a mirror. The pros make sure the tenant is qualified by income, age and background.

"I don't put just anyone who can come up with the first month's rent and security deposit into your home," says Joan Medeiros of Royalty Rentals and Property Management in Fort Myers, Fla., who handles only year-round leases, not seasonals.

"I screen them carefully," says the longtime manager, who takes the first month's rent and 10 percent of the monthly rent as her fee. "I do a full background check, including credit and criminal."

Medeiros also asks for three current paystubs and looks for prior evictions. If the prospect has been evicted anywhere in the previous five years, she turns them down flat.

That may be a little much for weekly rentals, but certainly not for anything longer. "You have to be tough to get the right people," she says.

-- Inspections. It's difficult, if not impossible, to lord over your place when you live hundreds of miles away. But on-site managers are around all the time.

Medeiros inspects the inside of her properties every three months and the outside every month. She also does a walkthrough before tenants move in, when they move in and when they move out. Again, perhaps a little much on a weekly rental. But you get the idea.

-- Services. Can you respond at any time, even when something goes bump in the middle of the night (like it always does)? The pros can.

"You won't have a tenant calling you in the middle of the night, weekends or holidays. They'll be calling me, and I'll be answering, no matter what time of the day," the Fort Myers manager says. "You won't have to search for contractors to make repairs because I have them on speed-dial."