Congratulations, Your offer has been accepted and your on you’re way to home ownership! Now it’s time to get busy, making sure that you live up to the terms of your offer. It’s important to work with your REALTOR® to make sure that you’re aware of any deadlines for your contract. Some deadlines affect your rights to get a refund of your earnest money deposit, should you not complete the contract to purchase this home. At this point it’s time to make sure the home is in the condition you expected, get your financing completed and prepare to move in.
Financing:
If you’re using financing, it’s likely the first thing on your time line will be to get the details of your offer to purchase your home to the loan officer you’re working with, so that they can work to get you a final approval. This full application should usually be done within the first couple of business days after the seller has accepted your offer. This action on your part is one of the deadlines for your time line. If you do not follow through with your responsibility to work promptly, the seller could cancel the contract in order to find a more proactive buyer
The second part of the financing time line is tied to the date you agreed to remove the financing contingency or the date that your loan officer will tell you that your loan has been fully approved by the loan underwriters. This date is very important to pay attention to due to your earnest money deposit. This date is usually between 20 and 45 days from the date your offer was accepted.
Appraisal:
Part of having a fully underwritten loan approval is an appraisal, so that the lending institution knows the current real value of the property. It normally takes a few days to get an appraisal and with the current pandemic, you might expect some possible delays. Normally this can be done within about 15-20 days from the acceptance of your offer, but verify this with your loan officer. This is another time line item that the seller will be looking at closely. If you pass the date you agreed to have an appraisal completed, they might think you’re not going to move forward and could cancel the contract.
Inspections:
Some loans like VA or FHA have some minimal inspections, more like a property review, to make sure that the property is in sound condition for you to move into. Items like floor covering, a working stove or range and air conditioning as an example will be reviewed for working condition. This review is not in depth. It’s strongly suggested that you get a full inspection of the property and any additional structures, such as a swimming pool or septic system. You want to make sure that there are no surprises after you take possession of your new home. Should you find any details that need to be addressed regarding the condition of the home, you can negotiate repairs after providing the inspection report to the sellers.
In general inspections are priced to match the size of the home, but different companies provide a different level of detail as well. Make sure that you work with a reputable inspection company for best results. Should you find something major, there should be time to pause the appraisal to avoid spending your hard earned money on a house you might not be interested once you know more about it.
Once you’ve completed the inspection and your financing has been approved, it’s time to schedule a “signing” with the escrow company. For buyers, this will usually happen just before you get the keys to your home, unless the seller need more time to move per your agreement. Now that you’ve signed everything, it’s time to get ready to move!
As a REALTOR® with Realty One Group, my brokerage has leveraged services with various vendors, one of which is MoveEasy. MoveEasy is a service to help you arrange not only the movers, but also the service connections, mail and many other details of your move. A dedicated concierge is available if you wish. They will even help remind you of the things you should be doing to keep your home in proper condition, after the move in! If you’d like to know more about this service or your ready to start looking for you’re next home, please use the contact form on this page.