How exciting for you! You just signed an offer to sell your home. You may have an good sense of where things go from here, you may not. But lets delve into the most typical scenarios here so you can be prepared.
1. Home Inspection
2. Purchase and Sale
3. Appraisal
4. Financing
5. Close Preparation
6. Close
Step 1: After a Real Estate Accepted Offer is the Home Inspection
The buyers will hire someone to come inspect your home, and this inspector will just have WONDERFUL things to say about your home. Mostly. He will, of course, point out many situations that "could be better" or "should be safer" or "will save you money tomorrow, if you fix it today". All of these, and many others, are fair game for your home. There are SO MANY things that can come up in an inspection, I couldn't begin to address them all here. But, typically, buyer and seller will agree that certain defects either need to be fixed (by the seller, at the sellers expense), or buy the buyer (also at the sellers expense via a credit off the purchase price - typically). Bottom line, as the seller, be prepared to have someone ask you for money!
Step 2: Negotiate and Sign the Purchase and Sales Contract
Now that we have that nasty business out of the way, its time to get the P & S done. The P & S is usually done opposite the offer. The seller drafts it, the buyer changes it, and when everyone agrees, the buyer signs it, delivers his "large" deposit, and the seller countersigns. In many cases, the P & S supersedes (that is overrules) the offer. Once both parties have signed, typically the offer no longer is an agreement between the parties, so this becomes the record of the agreement. Where the offer is 1-2 pages, this agreement typically is 8-14, so there's a lot more detail here. Most times, attorneys are in place on both sides, and the quality of the agreement typical reflects them, so choose carefully, and understand what you are agreeing to.
Home Appraisal
Step 3: The bank is typically going to extend a mortgage on the property, and they need assurances that it is worth what the buyer is paying for it. That's the appraisers job, and they will come out and inspect your home, measure it, and look at local data to determine if the purchase price is appropriate. If it's not, look out! Your deal could be in jeopardy, especially if you've agreed to a "appraisal at purchase price" contingency. So it's best to get that appraisal done quickly, without much ado. Fortunately, problems at this point in the transaction are rare, but you still want to make sure the home is clean when the appraiser comes through. It can't hurt!
Home Purchase Financing/Mortgage
Step 4: The buyer, now with P & S, and appraisal in hand, has everything they need from you to get final approval from the bank. Never an easy task, and it can take some time. The date they need to do this is clearly spelled out at offer time and P & S time, but extensions are common, so don't be surprised if you get one. Sellers are really between a rock and a hard place, as by typically NOT granting the extension, once asked for correctly, means the deal is off, so most sellers have little choice but to grant the extension.
Fundamentally, buyers extend if they still aren't sure the bank is OK to proceed with their loan. And despite words like "Final approval" and "Commitment Letter" better words would be "Final Conditions for Approval" or "Qualified Commitment Letter". Banks can (and do) pull financing at the last minute, and the best way to make sure that won't happen to you is to keep track of the extensions. The bank (and the buyer) have no obligation (and will not) keep you informed of the details, you will have to watch and listen careful to your agent and attorney, depending on who is doing the follow up.
Step 5: Close Preparation:
Here is where you make sure the movers are lined up, you have a place to go, and the utilities will be cut-over appropriately. Don't forget about your Smoke Detector Requirements! It's also a good time to gather things you think the buyers may want that really belong with the home, like that user manual for the pellet stove, or instructions for how to work the irrigation system. Many sellers do not attend their closing, usually the deed is signed up front, and a LPOA (limited Power of Attorney) is granted so that your attorney can sell your home (while your dealing with the logistics at your end!). It's a real time saver, so consider it!
There's a lot at this step, but we've all moved before, so we probably know the drill. Hopefully your agent has sent you a handy checklist to help you out, but if not, check out the USPS. They have one!
Step 6: Close
Ah, the big day. As noted in #5, you probably won't be there for the passing of paperwork, but your attorney will let you know when it's on record. And now you just have to go where you're going and unpack! How long can that take anyway? Right? Good luck, and hopefully you'll have many good memories in the new place.
*All information is posted in good faith and is assumed to be reliable, but may rely on third party information sources.
