Accepted Offer - What to Expect Next

First 5 business days after execution of the contract
As soon as the contract is executed, we will send all documents to your attorney and CC you in on that email.
All formal communication between buyer and seller now goes through the attorneys.
Attorney looks over and approves the contract. Sometimes small changes will be suggested and made. Technically you or the other party can cancel the contract any time within this period for any reason other than price.
Typically, the home inspection is ordered and responded to during this time. Occasionally extensions can be granted to the 5 days, but usually in your best interest to get past this as quickly as possible.

The period for the buyer to have a home inspection completed matches the attorney review period. Seller must make the home available at reasonable times for the home inspection.
The sellers are not present during the home inspection. A typical home inspection takes about 3 hours. The home should be in showing condition for the home inspection. You will get further instructions on preparing for the home inspection.
Most of the time the buyers will also order a radon test to be placed in the home. That is typically in the house for 48-72 hours. During that time, the house needs to be sealed so no windows or doors can be kept open.
Once the results of the home inspection and the radon test are complete, the buyer’s attorney will send a letter to the sellers’ attorney with requests for repair or credit for repairs needed. Even new construction homes have items that come up on the inspection, so we can generally expect to have some work to do negotiating these items with you. Once we get the request from the buyers, we will talk through everything together and come up with a plan for a response. We then give that plan to the attorney for the formal response. Remember once the attorneys are involved, things can move a little slower… they are not on call 24/7 like we are.

Generally, once the inspection items are all agreed upon, the buyer’s lender will order an appraisal. This typically takes 30 minutes, but I have seen appraisers in houses over an hour in the past. Depending on the situation, you may be present during the appraisal or we may decide it is best to leave the appraiser alone and leave the house for them. We make that decision based on several different factors but always try and do the best thing depending on the situation. All we care about for the appraisal is that it matches the purchase price. That is our goal.
Once we clear the appraisal hurdle, we are almost home.

Obviously, there is a lot that goes into preparing for the closing. Moving arrangements, utilities, final cleaning of the home, etc.
Generally, the easy part for sellers is that you can pre-sign the closing documents with your attorney. That way you can be free to be moving on to your next destination on the scheduled closing day.
We will send more detailed information on preparing for the closing once we get past the appraisal.