As soon as you have an accepted Purchase and Sale Agreement (PASA) your earnest money will be deposited into escrow per terms of the contract.

By Contract, the buyer's deposit is protected for the following reasons:

• Due Diligence - Buyer has 10 days to perform all property inspections. During this period, buyer may cancel the contract for any reason, but must notify the seller in writing prior to the expiration of this period. If buyer is going to submit a repair request rather than cancel the contract, request must be sent prior to expiration of the due diligence period.
• Repair Request- If buyer submits a repair request, buyer and seller have 7 days to come to agreement on repairs: otherwise, buyer can cancel within 3 of the 7 days without losing the deposit.
• Loan Approval - Buyer must receive loan approval within the time frame indicated by contract, If buyer does not receive approval, buyer's deposit will not be forfeited. Evidence of inability to get approval should be provided to seller.
• Appraisal- The appraisal is ordered by the buyer's lender and usually performed within two or three weeks of offer depending on appraiser's schedule. Property must appraise for the offer amount. The buyer will not receive lending for more than the appraisal, so if no agreement can be made on a low appraisal, buyer may cancel the contract without penalty.

You need to make loan application within 5 days. At the time of application, you may have to pay your lender for the credit report and appraisal up-front or it may be included in your closing costs,

The appraisal is ordered by the lender and is usually completed within the first few weeks of the transaction depending on the appraiser's schedule.

You will need to check with a home insurance company for insurability of the property immediately. This is part of your due diligence period. I am happy to make recommendations.

The seller typically chooses the title company / real estate attorney to handle the transaction, including establishing marketable title and obtaining a title insurance policy. The title company will also order a survey if required by contract.

Building, Termite/WDO & Environmental Inspections need to be scheduled right away and completed within 10 days.

• The building inspection cost ranges from $350-$500. The building inspector will examine all the systems in the home and share with you any concerns or issues discovered. You will receive a detailed report post-inspection. We will review the report together to evaluate any major issues that might need resolution prior to closing. If you are using FHA or VA financing, you must have a termite/WDO inspection.
• Homeowner's Insurance may require a 4-point inspection (ex: Older Homes, rental properties, condos), so make sure your general inspector knows you will need that as well. You DO NOT want to send the full general inspection report to the insurance company, only the 4-point!
• Any other inspections and due diligence must be completed during this period. Other items may include septic, pool, confirmation of flood zone, review of survey if available, etc.

After discussing any concerns from the inspections, you may choose to submit a repair request to the sellers. Buyer and seller have 7 days from seller's receipt of request to come to an agreement. If no agreement can be reached within the 7 days, buyer has 3 days after the 7 days to cancel contract.

Loan approval needs to be received from your lender based on the time frame outlined in the PASA. If loan approval cannot be obtained within the appropriate time frame, evidence should be presented in writing to the seller in order to protect the deposit. If outside of the contracted time frame, the deposit will be forfeited to the seller.

The date for closing is established in your contract. If it appears the date will be moved, I will let you know as soon as that information has been received. Sometimes the process moves along so well that the closing date can be moved earlier than originally scheduled. I will set the closing time with the title company based on your schedule. You will receive confirmation ahead of time so that you can make arrangements to sign paperwork.

Cancel utilities and services to take effect the day after closing. This includes:

• Electric & Water - if moving from within your area, your electric/water company may transfer your service to your new address. If you are moving from out of the area, new service will be required to be set up.
• Gas - if you have natural gas service, call to activate. Gas services do not transfer to new customers. If you have propane, you may be leasing a tank or on an automatic fill schedule which may need to be transferred to you. Make sure to call a few weeks in advance to research what is required.
• Mail- Go online to the U.S. Postal service to change mailing address. Be careful, there are a lot of sites that look official and want to charge you, but the service is FREE through USPS.
• Security - Confirm with the sellers that you can transfer the service If you desire. If not, make sure that the current company doesn't require pick up of equipment.

Driver's license, bank, voter registration, etc.

We will schedule the final walkthrough, usually a day before closing, to ensure that it is still in the condition it was when you initially wrote the contract and no appliances, fixtures, plants, etc. have been removed.

Wire funds or bring a cashier's check, made payable to the Title Company. Bring your photo IDs. **PLEASE BE AWARE OF WIRE FRAUD!!!** I will remind you to never transfer money until you have verbally confirmed the instructions with the title agent. This is a very serious issue and some buyers have lost their life savings to computer hackers. Even if an email looks official, do not take wiring instructions or changes to instructions from an email.