Congratulations! Your offer has been accepted and the house is now “Pending” or “Under Contract”. Now that your offer has been accepted, the contractual clock starts ticking and some swift action will be needed to ensure that everything gets accomplished within the deadlines.
After I have worked through the Sale Agreement with the Seller’s Agent to verify contractual deadlines, I will email you a Stay Connected Timeline. There will be lots of little details to coordinate throughout this transaction, and the Stay Connected Timeline is a great reference to help you stay on top of all the deadlines. I will also send you a copy of the completed Sale Agreement for your records; please review these documents again, and contact me if you have any questions about what to expect as we move forward.
I will deliver a copy of the Sale Agreement to your Lender and the Title Company. You can expect the Title Company to reach out to you within the first 2-3 days after I open escrow, as they will ask you to complete a questionnaire to collect some of your personal data.
Earnest Money Deposit
After your offer is accepted, you will send an earnest money deposit to the Title Company. The timeline for delivering the earnest money depends on the specific details of your Sale Agreement, however it’s typically due within 3-5 business days of mutual acceptance.
What is earnest money? Your earnest money deposit represents the liquidated damages available to the Seller if you do not complete the purchase as specified in the Sale Agreement. Assuming that the transaction is performed according to plan, your earnest money deposit will be applied towards your down payment, closing costs, or prepaid fees (such as homeowners insurance & property taxes).
You have several options for payment of your earnest money deposit:
Personal check made payable to the title company
Money order or cashiers check, made payable to the title company
Wiring funds
If you are sending a check, money order or cashier’s check, you can either hand-deliver the payment to the Title Company, or if that’s not possible, I suggest overnighting the payment so that it arrives without delay.
If you prefer to wire your funds to the title company, you will need to contact the title company to get wiring instructions. Due to wire fraud concerns, I recommend that you first make contact by phone from a verified number, and then the title company will provide a secure portal to provide specific wiring information to you. Wire fraud is real and is happening daily, so if you have any questions, concerns or funny gut feelings about wiring instructions you’ve received, please contact me before sending money to anyone.
I will inform you of the address and contact information for the Escrow Officer and title company, so that you can complete your earnest money deposit without delay. If you have any questions about this, don’t hesitate to reach out to me.
Finalize Your Loan Application
Within 3 business days after your offer has been accepted, you will be required to finalize your loan application. Because you’ve already worked through a loan pre-approval with your Lender and have submitted a preliminary loan application, finalizing the application will fairly simple.
I will inform your Lender that you have a property purchase pending, and will provide them with all pertinent sales documents so that they can do their part in completing the loan application in a timely manner.
Throughout this process, it’s important that you remain as available as possible for follow up questions from your Lender. If you are planning travel or have anything scheduled during which you won’t be available to receive calls, emails or provide documentation, it’s important that you inform me and your Lender of this in advance so that we can plan accordingly.
I look forward to guiding you through this exciting process! We’re so close!