I just accepted an offer.

My agent said we are "under contract."

What happens now?

Congratulations. You are under contract. But you are not at the finish line yet.

There is a process that takes place between the day you sign that contract and the day you hand over the keys. I call it Unlocking the Contract to Close, and once you understand how it works, the next 30 to 45 days become a lot less stressful.

Here is how I explain it to every client I work with.

Think of three phases laid out in a row: getting the offer, clearing conditions, and closing. Everything that happens in a real estate transaction lives inside one of those three phases. The money moves and the outs all connect back to them.

When a buyer and seller agree on terms and sign the contract, the first thing that happens is the buyer submits an escrow deposit. This is also called earnest money. It is a good faith payment that says the buyer is serious. It gets held by a third party, usually a title company, until closing.

Nothing else moves until that deposit is in.

This is the most active part of the process. And it is where most deals either survive or fall apart.

The buyer has three outs during this phase. Every buyer. Every deal.

The first is the inspection. A licensed inspector goes through the property and documents its condition. What comes back in that report can trigger a conversation. The buyer may ask for repairs, a price reduction, or a credit at closing. The seller can agree, counter, or say no. If the two sides cannot reach an agreement, the buyer has the right to walk away and get their deposit back.

The second out is the appraisal. The buyer's lender sends an appraiser to confirm the home is worth what the contract says it is worth. If the appraisal comes in low, that reopens a negotiation on price or terms. The buyer cannot borrow more than the appraised value, so this matters.

The third out is loan approval. Even a pre-approved buyer still has to go through full underwriting. The lender reviews everything: income, assets, credit, the property itself. If something does not clear, the deal can stall or fall apart.

Any one of these three can trigger a renegotiation of price, terms, or both. All three can happen in the same transaction. Most of the time, good agents on both sides work through them. But this is the phase where deals that seemed certain sometimes do not close.

If you clear all three conditions, you are headed to the closing table.

This is where the money moves. The buyer brings their down payment and closing costs. The lender funds the loan. The title company distributes everything: the seller gets paid, the existing mortgage gets paid off if there is one, and the remaining proceeds go to the seller.

The buyer gets the keys.

That is it. Contract to close, start to finish.

The part that surprises people most is phase two. They think going under contract means the deal is done. It is not. It means the deal has started.

The inspection, appraisal, and loan approval are not obstacles. They are the process. Understanding that going in means you will not be caught off guard when one of them opens a conversation you were not expecting.

The deals that close smoothly are almost always the ones where both sides understood what was coming before it arrived.

What part of the contract to close process are you most nervous about?

Stay Safe,

Mike