Accepted Contract

All of your preparation and hard work have paid off. You’ve found the perfect home and the sellers have accepted your offer.

It is not uncommon to receive a verbal acceptance from the sellers. But, until we receive the written purchase agreement signed by all parties the offer isn’t official. Once all parties have signed the agreement we’ll have an authorized binding contract and we can now move forward.

Once the signed purchase agreement is received, Dawn will send it to your mortgage lender. This will start the loan approval process (recall that you currently only have preapproval for a mortgage). You may need to fill out additional paperwork, provide supplementary documentation, or clarification: this is to be expected. Your lender will be in touch with you frequently while your loan is in the approval phase. It is crucial that you respond to all requests promptly to keep things on track.

While you are being approved for your mortgage, keep the following in mind:

What to do:

• Stay current on all of your existing accounts. Now is not the time to receive even a single 30-day late notice.
• Continue using your credit as you normally would. Any significant change will raise a red flag and lower your credit score.
• Talk to your lender before making any address or credit changes.

What NOT to do:

• Do not apply for any new credit. Each time your credit information is accessed by a potential lender, this can drag down your credit score.
• Do not max out your credit cards. Keep each card 30% under their limit.
• Don’t consolidate credit. Doing so implies you have reached your limit on one card and this will have a negative affects your FICO score.
• Don’t close any accounts. This can make it appear your debt ratio has increased and can adversely impact your score.
• Do not pay off any credit cards. This is not the time to reduce your liquid assets.

Now that your mortgage is in the approval process, it’s time to submit your earnest money deposit to the title company.