Here’s what happens after your offer has been accepted.
So the deal has been negotiated, and your offer has been accepted. What happens next?
New York is one of the few states that have attorney representation for both buyers and sellers. Once the deal is negotiated, a deal sheet is prepared and sent over to the buyer’s lawyer and the seller’s attorney. At that time, the seller’s attorney will prepare the contract of sale, which will have all the terms that have been agreed upon previously, such as the purchase price, the down payment, what kind of mortgage the buyer is going for, the purchaser’s name and address, as well as the subject property.
That contract of sale is then sent over to the purchaser’s attorney, who will review it and make sure that all the terms are fair and reasonable for their client. Then the buyer will go in and sign it, leaving a 10% deposit at the signing of the contract. The contract and the deposit are then sent back over to the seller’s attorney, who will have their client sign the contract. That 10% deposit will be helped in the attorney’s escrow account until the day of closing. At this point, the contract is fully committed, meaning that the seller will not accept any other offers from the purchaser, and the buyer won’t make any other offers on other properties.
“In our market, closing usually happens roughly two months after the contracts are signed.”
Once the contract is signed, the buyer then starts their application for the mortgage. In the meantime, things get a little quiet for the seller whose focus is on clearing out their house and planning their next move while the buyer submits all their paperwork to the bank to apply for financing.
Two to three weeks later, the bank will contact us and schedule the bank appraisal. An appraiser from the bank will come to look at the property that they’re potentially lending money for and study recent comparable sales to make sure that the value is there. Once that is approved, the buyer’s attorney will also do a title search. That’s where they make sure that everything is clean and clear on the home—in other words, that there aren’t any outstanding liens or violations on the property.
Once all that is clear and the bank has agreed to finance the purchase, then we can schedule the closing. In our market, that usually happens roughly two months after the contracts are signed.
If you have any other questions about the contract-to-close process, don’t hesitate to reach out to me. I’m here to help.
