RECEIVE THE OFFER
Once you have accepted an offer to sell your home, your real estate agent will inform you of all the procedures involved in order to proceed successfully to closing, as well as the parties responsible for completing those procedures and estimates of completion. For instance, the property may need to be formally appraised, surveyed, inspected or repaired. Depending on the specifics reached during the negotiations, you may pay for all, some, or none of these items.
Your agent will then coordinate with all the parties and keep you informed as to the results of the various procedures. If each procedure returns acceptable results as defined by the contract, then the sale may continue. If there are problems with the property, the terms set forth in the contract will dictate your next step. Depending on the contract, you or the buyer may decide to walk away, open a new round of negotiations, or close. Your agent will advise you throughout this process and will help you coordinate any actions you must take to keep the sale moving forward.
Some sales go smoothly and some require a lot of work to get to the closing table. Until you get into it, you won't know which one you have on your hands. Either way, your agent will be there to advise you every step of the way.
A few days before the closing, your real estate agent will contact the entity closing the transaction to make sure that all of the necessary forms and documents have been prepared and are going to be available for you to sign on the appropriate date. Your agent will also contact each party to the transaction to be certain that they have taken each action necessary for closing, so that the entire closing can proceed on the date and time planned.
Your agent will also prepare you in advance for the process of the closing, advising you of any documents you must bring to the closing, how much time to block off for the closing, and any other information that is pertinent to the closing meeting itself.