Under Contract: What to Expect

[All my blog posts are written without the assistance of AI. I have nothing against it, I’m just weirdly proud of that.]

So, we’ve negotiated the best offer possible and both parties have agreed to the terms in writing. You are now officially Under Contract!! Congratulations!

Now what?

As soon as you go Under Contract, Due Diligence kicks in. What’s due diligence? That’s where the buyer has a negotiated amount of time to kick the tires so to speak, (standard time is between 5-10 days, but it can be more or less, it just depends on each specific contract), and they may back out of the deal without penalty for any reason whatsoever. Didn’t like the vibe, having pre-buyers regret, the neighbors dog has a judgy eye?? 

They can back out because of that.

This time is also for the buyers to get their inspections and appraisals done, as well as more walkthroughs themselves if that’s what they’d like to do. They may measure rooms or see what it feels like in the neighborhood on a Tuesday afternoon instead of a Saturday morning. Due diligence is nerve wracking for all participants, but I’d wager it’s a harder time for the Sellers. Buyers are the ones who can choose to back out, the Sellers are the ones getting backed out on. 

However, once that due diligence time is closed, y’all are pretty well locked and loaded for the closing table. Other things may transpire that cause turbulence, but the buyers can no longer back out simply because they want to. That’s what the DD time was for. If other things fall through (say, financing or insurance), it can still stop the deal, but the buyer no longer gets their earnest money back. That’s something you get to keep for your time and trouble (small consolation I understand, but better than nothing).

On your end as the seller, after due diligence you’ll enter a bit of a no man’s land. There’s precious little for you to do until closing. The buyers are out there securing financing and insurance and all that, but you’ve entered the cruise control section. I, as your agent, may not be in as much contact with you as before, but I’ll make sure to check in at least once a week to let you know how things are handling, and even if there’s no update… How’s your mom and ‘em?? 

Closings take up to 21-60 days, depending on the loan and lender, so don’t get too itchy during this time. It may not seem like much is happening, but there’s a heap going on behind the scenes. 

There are some information for you to make sure to get to the closing attorney prior to closing, and they include:

*All payoff information for your personal loan(s)
*Names of all parties on the title to the property
*Your forwarding address and telephone number
*Most current water bill statement for property
*Original Power of Attorney (only if applicable)
*Have all repairs been completed?

After the loan is cleared to close, now we get to the most exciting part and the subject of my next installment:

The closing itself.

Until next time.