ESCROW TIMELINE FOR SELLERS

1. Receive an Offer

2. Counter Offers Until Acceptance or Get Full Price on the First Try (Lucky You!)

3. Your Escrow Timeline Begins the Day After Acceptance and is Measured in Calendar, Not Business Days ( If the date falls on a weekend or holiday, we will probably close escrow the following business day, if possible)

4. The buyer’s agent will Deposit their Earnest Money Check to Escrow within 3 Days and that Opens the Escrow. You will get a copy of the receipt for the check and escrow information, such as our escrow number and escrow officer’s contact information.

5. We need to deliver to the buyers your disclosure paperwork within 5 days of Acceptance. Hopefully we will have this all ready to go in advance and I can just email it over. This will include a form called a Seller Property Disclosure Statement and a 5 Year Insurance Claims History from your Homeowner’s Insurance Company.

6. The buyer’s agent will schedule Pest and Home Inspections (Typically the first week) I will coordinate with you the times and details of those. And I will review the results with you, if we receive copies of the reports. (Buyers pay for the reports and don’t have to show them to us, but I always request them. If they ask for some repairs to be made or a credit for some repairs, we typically see the reports at that time.)

7. The buyer’s lender will Schedule an Appraisal and either the Appraiser or myself will coordinate the time and day with you. This is typically after they do their inspections.

8. The buyers may request either a credit or some repair work be done after their inspections. Every escrow is different, but I would expect to have some more negotiation before they remove their contingencies. I will walk you through whatever comes up and make sure you understand all requests fully and do my best to negotiate on your behalf.

9. Once we have come to terms on any repairs or credits, then the buyers will remove their inspection contingencies, which are typically 10-14 days from the beginning of escrow. At that point, they are waiting for their loan to process and we are preparing to close escrow. You’ll definitely want to be packing and planning your move at this point.

10. The escrow company will also order a disclosure packet from your HOA (if you have one). We may or may not have some up-front disclosure fees to pay and the escrow officer and I will coordinate to let you know how much and when if there are any to pay.

11. You will be given quite a bit of real estate paperwork to sign throughout the escrow. I will coordinate everything to make sure it is all handled in a timely fashion and fully explained. I will make it as painless as possible, I promise!

12. About a week or so before our scheduled closing date, we will schedule a signing appointment at the escrow company. Your signing appointment should take about a half hour. You will need to bring a picture ID, as you will be signing some notarized forms.

13. The buyers will sign their final escrow papers at another time and we will not meet them.

14. The buyer’s typically will bring some of their own money for a down payment and have money coming from their lender to close the escrow. Often, things run a little behind because it’s always on a tight last minute schedule. I would plan that your escrow may close a few days later than scheduled, and then if it’s on time you’ll be pleasantly surprised. Lenders have asked for a lot more documentation lately, and things seem to get held up last minute quite often. I will keep you informed through this last stage of the escrow and make sure you understand where we are at all times.

15. Once all of the buyer’s money from their lender and themselves is into escrow, we typically officially go on record at the county that afternoon or the next day.

16. Once we are on record, this is the official close of escrow. Your proceeds from the sale will either be wired to you or a check will be available from the escrow company, depending on what you have requested. This is normally the same day or first thing the following morning, depending on whether we close escrow in the morning or afternoon.

17. At this point the buyers get the keys to their new home and you’ll need to have all of your things removed from the property. Congratulations on a successful home sale!

18. Typically, buyers will have a few questions about the home after we close escrow. They may be about appliances or sprinkler systems or any variety of things. Just be prepared that we may get an email or phone call about a couple of little things. The buyer’s agent and I typically communicate for you both to make it easier, unless you and the buyers prefer to talk directly.



If you have any questions at all, please ask. No question is dumb! This is a very important transaction and you should fully understand everything that you sign and agree to. Our team is here to explain every detail of the transaction and make sure you feel comfortable and informed every step of the way.