My offer was accepted

A - Congratulations! The acceptance of your offer starts a process that normally takes between 30-45 days, depending almost entirely upon the ability of your mortgage company to finalize your new mortgage. Your Realtor can play a crucial role on making this process go smoothly and as fast as possible. Here are the things that need to happen:

1. You will need to inform your mortgage company and get them started on actually underwriting a mortgage for you. They will need to see a copy of the Offer To Purchase Real Estate. They will schedule an appraisal of the property.

2. You will need to schedule any inspections that you have requested in the Purchase Agreement - Termite, Radon, Home Inspection. You will need to make sure that the seller is scheduling any inspections and reports that you required of him/her - a Well and Septic inspection and report is the most common. Your Realtor should be able to provide you with a list of companies that do the inspections. You are responsible for contracting for and paying for the termite, Radon and home inspections, normally at the time of the inspection. The seller is normally responsible for paying for the well and septic inspection and for providing a report of the results to you.

3. The Radon test takes at least 48 hours. A device is placed in the house that records Radon levels every hour on the hour. The federal government has set a standard for acceptable Radon levels in houses, especially in finished basements where the family may spend significant time. If the detection device detects unacceptable levels of Radon, you may ask the seller to fix the problem by informing him/her in writing within 3 days of the report and requesting remediation. Radon remediation systems cast about $800-1000. so sellers may be reluctant to install them. The seller normally has 5 days to decide whether to meet your request or refuse. If he/she refuses to deal with the Radon issue, you have the right to declare your offer to be null and void and walk away from the deal and get your earnest money back. Visit this US Gov EPA site for more on Radon.

A similar scenario plays out with the Home Inspection. If the inspector finds a significant problem with the house or any major system, you must inform the seller about the problem in writing within 3 days of the inspection and ask for it to be repaired. The seller again has the right to say no, which then give you the right to cancel the deal or to go ahead with closing. Normally your Realtor will take care of setting up the home inspection appointment and will be at the inspection with you. You should plan on spending 3-4 hours on this inspection and plan to take lots of notes. This is where you will really learn all about your new house. A good home inspector will show you where everything is, explain how all of the major systems work, explain how to re-light any pilot lights, how to change any filters and provide tons of other useful information for the new home owner. He will also record all of the model and serial numbers for the major systems, so that you have that information if you have to call for repairs. The cost of the home inspection varies by the size of the house, but figure somewhere in the $300-500 range and be ready to write the check when the inspection is done and the inspector turns over the report to you. Visit the Real Estate Information Section for some leads on home inspectors. You should also do a home inspection on new build homes, even though the builder may not want you to. Here’s an article that explains why.

6	You will need to purchase an insurance policy for the house and provide proof of paid-up insurance at closing. See the Financing and Insurance section for more on that.

7	You will need to plan for the move-in and possibly hire movers. Your Realtor can probably make recommendations for movers.

The closing date is an agreed upon date between you and the sellers but is normally driven almost entirely by the length of time that it takes for your mortgage company to set up your mortgage. The Offer states that the closing will be held within 5 days of the completion of all of the necessary paperwork and gives a "not to exceed" date that is normally 30-45 days from the acceptance date. If there is any need to move that date out further, an Addendum must be signed by both the Buyer(s) and Seller(s).

Once closing is set, you will have one final opportunity to inspect the property before closing. This is called the "walk-through inspection" and is normally scheduled for 48 hours prior to closing. This inspection allows you to see that no significant changes or damage has take place to the property and that it is still as it was when you made the offer. If there is significant change, you may delay the closing to allow the seller to repair any damage or make right any changes. This might occur if the sellers decided, after you made your offer and they accepted it, to remove a light fixture or tear out an above ground pool

The Offer that you made specifies that all of the light fixtures, window treatments and other attached or "permanent" features and fixtures of the house will stay, unless specifically excluded in the Offer to Purchase. Some sellers don't understand that and some just try to get around it. The final walk-through inspection is where you would catch that and request that the issue be resolved prior to closing. Don’t wait until after the closing to ask, “What happened to the chandelier in the dining room?” It will be too late then.