1. Your offer is accepted by the seller. CONGRATULATIONS!
2. Your will deposit your Earnest Money with Escrow. This can be done by check or by wire with your Title/Escrow company.
3. I will schedule your inspections. You can have any inspections you choose from a whole
home inspection, pest/dry rot inspection, roof inspection, or anything else that might
concern you. Typically, you will want to come at the end of the inspection appointment
and the inspector will walk you through their findings. You will also receive a full report through email.
4. Upon your offer acceptance, you will receive a Seller’s Property Disclosure. This is an
important seller disclosure that you will want to read carefully.
5. After your inspections, you will have an opportunity to ask the seller to make repairs or
you may cancel the escrow if you are not satisfied. This typically needs to happen within
10 business days after the acceptance of your offer.
6. Once you have successfully negotiated through repairs, the next step will be to order an
appraisal on the home. This will typically take about 14 days to complete. Cash buyers
do not have to have an appraisal, but all buyers obtaining a loan will be required by their
lender to have one.
7. You will receive HOA, CC&R documents if the home has an HOA. You will also receive a
Title Commitment for Title Insurance. All of these forms will come from the title
company. You will want to read all of these documents carefully to make sure you are
comfortable with the information. You will also receive another set of forms from the
title company that you will need to fill out and return. These will ask how you how you would like
to take title to your new home and several other important things that the escrow
company will need to know in order to complete our escrow. If you have any questions
about those forms, it’s best to call the escrow officer directly and ask them.
8. Once the appraisal is received by your lender, your loan paperwork will go to the
underwriting department. They may ask for a few additional items during this process,
as it is essentially an audit of your file to be sure they have everything they need to
complete your loan.
9. Once your loan is done with the underwriting audit, you will have your full loan approval
and your file will move to the lender’s closing department. In the closing department,
the lender will prepare all of the documents that you will sign at your signing
appointment at the title company. This will include several forms related to the home
and your loan.
10. Once all your documents are prepared, they will be sent to the escrow company for
review and preparation. We should receive an estimated closing statement at this time
that will show all of you charges and credits and the final balance due to close your
escrow.
11. Once the escrow company has your document prepared, we can schedule your signing
appointment. This will be at the escrow company. You will need to bring a photo ID for
their notary book and plan for your appointment to take about an hour. I will be there
with you. The sellers will sign at a different time. You may bring a Cashier’s check with
your remaining balance or you may wire your funds to the escrow company either
before or after your appointment, depending on the timing of everything.
12. Once your signing is done, the paperwork goes back to your lender for final review.
Once it’s all reviewed, they will send their portion of your purchase (your loan amount)
to the title company. SIGNING AND CLOSING ARE NOT THE SAME AND, IN
MOST CASES, WILL NOT OCCUR ON THE SAME DAY.
13. ONCE ALL FUNDS ARE RECEIVED AND ALL PARTIES HAVE SIGNED, YOUR HOME WILL CLOSE AND YOU WILL RECEIVE YOUR KEYS. CONGRATULATIONS!