Step 10: I Have an Offer Accepted, Now What?

Congratulations! The contract has been accepted by the sellers and completely signed around by both you the buyers, and the sellers. Naturally the next question would be “What happens next?” There are quite a few things that need to happen moving forward:

The contract needs to be sent to your mortgage lender and to escrow. As your real estate agent, we will take care of this for you. It is important for your mortgage lender to know that you are now under contract, and they will continue to make sure you will be fully approved for this mortgage (since at this moment you are only pre-approved). Your mortgage lender will be getting in touch with you to continue the process and ask you to fill out quite a bit of paperwork. It is important to be prompt when communicating with your lender to keep things moving quickly and smoothly in the right direction. The faster this process goes, the better.
We will schedule the inspection for you. This needs to be done as soon as possible, especially if you are executing a shorter inspection period. We can recommend a list of inspectors to you and you can let us know who you would like for us to contact, or you can make the appointment, whichever you are more comfortable with.
Write and drop off earnest money check. The earnest money check can either be held by the seller’s agent’s brokerage or by the escrow company that is taking care of closing. It will need to be in the form of a personal check or cashier's check. You will need to drop off the earnest money check as soon as possible. You have two business days to do so, but do not wait until the last minute. Ask for a receipt when you drop it off. Hold onto this receipt and bring it with you at closing.

Now that the above things have been taken care of, we will be in close contact with you every couple of days to alert you of the next steps, and to ensure a smooth transaction as we get closer to the close date!