Your offer is accepted, your home purchase agreement is signed, and your escrow account is set up and ready to go. Now what?

It’s time to execute on the the terms of the purchase agreement.

Before you can fully close on your home, you’ll need to coordinate with several different relevant parties to finish each required step within the timeline laid out in the purchase agreement. This is the most technically complex stage of the process, but don’t worry - we’ll lay each step out clearly for you here. Your mortgage lender, if you have one, will also likely guide you through each of these steps since they all play into the loan approval process. As you go through, keep in mind that:

• You may want to amend or renegotiate your purchase agreement based on the outcome of each step.
• Your purchase agreement should have a deadline for each step below, so plan accordingly and give yourself plenty of buffer time.
• Some of these costs, such as inspection and appraisal, may be covered by any concessions the seller has made to go toward closing costs.

Home Inspection

Estimated time: 1 day

Many home purchases are contingent on a third-party home inspection. You’ll want to hire a reputable home inspector and coordinate the home inspection with the inspector and the seller by the agreed upon deadline. Here are a few ways you can go about this:

• Ask your friends! If anyone you trust can refer you a home inspector they had a good experience with, this is the most reliable way to go.
• You can find reputable home inspectors using sites like Yelp, Google Maps, Angi, or Thumbtack. Look for positive reviews and proven experience, and contact a few to get an idea of pricing. Look for certifications to prove inspectors’ capabilities. For example, the American Society of Home Inspectors certification indicates that an inspector has done at least 250 paid certifications.
• If you have an agent, they may recommend you an inspector. Keep in mind though that agents are paid for closing home transactions, so there is a potential conflict of interest; the more issues the inspection raises, the less likely the transaction is to close!

When booking an inspection, you’ll often be presented with a variety of optional specialized inspection types. If you want to play things extra safe, it can help to familiarize yourself with the options available and make a decision based off of your risk levels and comfort.

Inspections generally take 2-4 hours, and the price varies depending on the size of the property. If you’re able to be there for the inspection, it’s a good opportunity to get familiar with your home and ask the inspector any questions that come up.

The inspector will provide you with an inspection report once they’re done. You can use the findings of this report to amend the offer if necessary. For example, if there’s roof damage or water damage, you can ask that the seller repairs the damage prior to closing, provides a warranty, or provides a concession so you can repair it after closing. If you’ve included a contingency that has been triggered, you may also reconsider your decision to go through with the purchase.

Title Inspection & Insurance

Estimated time: 1-2 weeks

A title inspection, or title search, aims to unearth any legal encumbrances or claims that might question a home seller’s right to transfer ownership. Title insurance guards buyers (and lenders) against future problems or financial losses due to undiscovered defects in the title after a purchase has completed, and will often cost around 0.5%-1% or less of the home price. Many lenders will make insurance mandatory for an approved loan. Some things a title search is meant to uncover:

• A lien is a legal claim against a property for unpaid debts. This could be from unpaid taxes (tax lien), contractors (mechanic’s lien), or mortgages. A property cannot be sold until all liens are cleared.
• An easement is a legal right to use another person’s land for a specific limited purpose. For example, utility companies may have an easement to run lines over a property. Easements often stay in place even after the property is sold.
• An encroachment is when a property owner violates the property rights of another by building something like a fence or a shed that extends onto a neighbor’s land.
• A judgment entails a court awarding a financial judgment against the property owner, which may entail the property becoming collateral for the debt.
• An ownership dispute may result from previous deeds or wills that are ambiguous, leading to disputes about who truly owns the property.
• If a previous owner has filed for bankruptcy, the property may be subject to claims by the bankruptcy court or creditors.

Say one or more issues arises during the inspection process; you can negotiate with the seller to pay off any unsettled amounts or to deduct them from the purchase price.

A title company orchestrates this whole process. It conducts the title inspection to ensure the property title is clean, issues the title insurance to protect against future disputes, and often handles the actual closing of the real estate transaction, ensuring all documents are correctly executed and filed. In some areas, a title company will also offer escrow services and therefore handle all of the financial transaction coordination as well.

Your lender will often have a preferred title company to handle inspection and insurance, but you are free to shop around for alternatives. In some areas, an attorney may be required to inspect your title and approve your title insurance.

Navigate Disclosures

Disclosures are typically delivered to you after the purchase agreement is signed. Disclosures are statements including information about the physical condition of the property, any known defects, and other material facts that could affect the property’s value or desirability. You want to review these to ensure that you are OK with them. If there are any problems, you can ask the home seller to fix them before the sale, adjust the purchase offer, or back out of the sale (assuming you have a contingency for disclosures).

This part of the process is where legal and practical knowledge can be helpful. Consider hiring a flat-fee real estate attorney if you don't already have a buyer agent, who can help you understand the disclosures. Software services like Bramble (that's us!) also have low-cost options available to help you review and understand your disclosures.

When reviewing disclosures, pay attention to:

• Major Repairs: Past major repairs can indicate areas of concern or reassure you about the property's condition.
• Age of Key Components: Lifespans of the roof, HVAC system, water heater, and other critical components.
• Environmental Hazards: Such as flood risk, earthquake zones, or radon presence.
• Legal Issues: Easements, zoning violations, or liens against the property.

Here are some common types of disclosures you might encounter:

• Property Condition Disclosures: Detailed reports about the physical condition of the property, including any known problems or past damage.
• Natural Hazards Disclosures: Information on whether the property is in an area prone to natural disasters like floods, wildfires, or seismic activity.
• Lead-Based Paint Disclosures: Required for homes built before 1978, indicating whether lead-based paint is present.
• Pest Infestations: Reports from pest inspections revealing issues like termite damage or other infestations.
• Neighborhood Nuisances: Potential nuisances like noise, smells, or nearby commercial activity that could affect livability.

Home Appraisal

Estimated time: 1 day

A home appraisal involves a third-party appraiser determining the fair market value of a home. This process serves two primary purposes:

1. It protects a home buyer from overpaying for a property.
2. It helps the mortgage lender confirm that the amount being loaned doesn’t exceed the value of the property being purchased.

Your mortgage lender will generally be the one to order a home appraisal, though this may vary by area. Your responsibility may be to help coordinate the appraiser’s visit. If the appraisal value is significantly different from the purchase price, here’s what can happen:

• If your offer is significantly higher than the home’s appraised fair market value, then the mortgage lender may not be willing to loan you the extra amount above the fair market value to meet the purchase price. In this case, you might need to cover the difference yourself. You might also wish to renegotiate with the seller to bring the price closer to the fair market value, especially if you have an appraisal contingency that covers this possibility.
• If your offer is significantly lower than the home’s appraised fair market value, then, well, good for you! In rare cases the seller may have a contingency letting them back out of the deal in this case, or they may try to renegotiate with you even without a contingency. Still, they were the ones who agreed to the purchase price, so you have no obligation to change the price unless something in the purchase agreement states otherwise.

Homeowner’s Insurance

Estimated time: 3-7 days

Most mortgage lenders require proof of homeowner’s insurance to be submitted at least 3-7 days before your closing date. Start shopping around for homeowner’s insurance options as soon as your offer is accepted to ensure you can secure a good rate ahead of time.

Some good places to look include:

• Bankrate
• Nerdwallet
• A local insurance broker: Find ones with good reviews in your area, and you may be able to get better rates than advertised online.

When buying houses in certain states, your lender may require you to get additional region-specific coverage - for example, flood insurance, or windstorm insurance. Make sure you ask your lender what coverages are specifically required.

Loan Underwriting & Approval

Estimated time: 30-50 days

Lastly, you’ll need to have your mortgage loan underwritten and approved. Underwriting involves a party (this may be your lender or some other business they outsource this task to) reviewing your financial information including credit, debt, assets, income, and the home property value to decide whether you ultimately qualify for the loan. If you’ve already gotten pre-approved (which is highly recommended!), meaning you already had a prospective lender check your financial information to estimate how much you can borrow, this process is much more likely to go through without any surprises.

Regardless, you’ll need to provide a variety of documents to your prospective lender so that they can initiate the underwriting process:

• Proof of income (W2 forms, pay stubs, bank statements)
• Asset verification (bank statements, stocks & bonds)
• Credit check (credit reports, credit history)
• Home appraisal
• Home inspection report
• Proof of homeowner’s insurance
• Title inspection result & proof of title insurance

• You can find usually find more detailed information about this process on your lender’s website.
• Note: negotiating for lower interest rates and origination fees can save you tens of thousands of dollars over the course of your loan.

Once all of the above is complete and your loan is approved, your lender will provide you with a closing date and let you know exactly how much cash you’ll need to close on your house. This will generally need to be paid via cashier’s check or bank wire, so keep it ready.

And that’s it! You’re ready to close on your new home.