What to Do Once Your Offer is Accepted

You’ve found your dream home, and your offer has been accepted. Great! Resist the urge to share the news with everyone for now, and focus on these 8 steps.

1. Make a Plan With Your Real Estate Agent

Before you do anything, contact your real estate team and get next steps directly from them. They will walk you through everything that needs to be done, which should include the steps below. 

2. Pay Earnest Money

Most contracts will require earnest money, which is your way of putting a safety deposit on the home. This is counted towards your down payment if you close the home, or refunded to you if you don’t close the home – assuming your offer had contingencies. You could lose this money if you don’t close on the home and don’t have any contingencies in place.

3. Get an Inspection and Appraisal

Before you finalize anything, schedule an inspection from a reputable 3rd party, and get an appraisal. If there are any problems with the inspection, you may request that the seller takes care of these before closing – or ask for a lower home price. 

4. Take Care of Lender Paperwork

Now is the time to get your mortgage ready. Hopefully you’re already pre-approved, but every lender requires lots of paperwork from you before things are official. Send over any and all documents they ask for as quickly as possible so the underwriting process can begin.

5. Do a Final Walk Through

Once the inspection and appraisal have been handled and you’re done most of the paperwork, do a final walk through. Check everything – you want to be 100% certain before signing those papers!

6. Choose a Closing Date

Work together with your real estate agent to choose a closing date together with the  seller. This is your final step to gaining the title and owning the home!

7. Prepare Your New Home

In the meantime, choose quality home insurance to protect your home and ensure the basic utilities (water, phone, internet, trash, etc.) are set up and running. You want to have these in place before you move in.

8. Close & Move In!

Once you’ve officially had your closing and all the details we’ve mentioned have been ironed out, you’re ready to move in! Congratulations! Unpack your boxes, get settled, and celebrate!

There is a lot to take care of after your offer has been accepted. Get started on these as soon as possible; the faster you work through these steps, the faster you’ll be ready to move in!

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