Congratulations are in order. After all the hard work to prepare your home, the showings, open houses, and negotiations, you’ve accepted an offer!
Initially, both parties accept the offer verbally (or via email). The next step is to make the offer official.
A formal contract will be created and sent to both the sellers and the buyers for signature. As you may have discovered by now, we use an online electronic signature service called DocuSign, which helps expedite the process.
Once you and the buyer have signed the contract, the buyer is required to submit their earnest money deposit (EMD) within 24 (business) hours. Generally, funds are wired, but a check may also acceptable. This good faith deposit will be held in an escrow account until closing when it will then be applied to the buyer’s down payment. When the title company receives the EMD, they will send an email confirming receipt of these funds.
If for some reason, the buyer doesn’t comply by providing the EMD as stated by the contract, they may be considered to be in default. This situation allows the seller to cancel the contract if they so choose. Normally, we will first try to determine the reason for the delay before canceling the contract. If the buyers are first-time home purchasers, they may not have been aware the funds would be needed so quickly. An addendum to the contract will be drafted and signed, allowing an extension to provide the buyers additional time to get the EMD to the title company, thus keeping the transaction intact and on track.
Once the earnest money has been received by the title company, Dawn will change the status of your home from ACTIVE to PENDING in the MLS. This notifies agents and other buyers that your home is under contract. We will also cancel any upcoming showings and open houses events.
Now that the earnest money deposit has been received and your property is pending in MLS, we enter the “Buyer Investigation Stage” of the contract, which generally begins with a home inspection.
