Buying a home is a detailed process. It is important to have proper representation for yourself when finding and negotiating the purchase price on the property, and even through the multiple steps after getting your offer accepted. Find an agent you trust and like to represent you.
Here are some steps you will experience AFTER you have found and negotiated your price:
- Once you have successfully negotiated a price for a property, escrow will be opened on the sale. In the State of California, escrow is opened through title companies or escrow companies. In other states, your closing may be conducted through a real estate attorney and title company. The average timeframe for a sale to close escrow is 30 – 45 days, and should be stated on your purchase contract.
Exception shortsales:
If the purchase involves a shortsale, you may need to wait longer to close escrow because this means that the seller’s lender also needs to approve the deal in order for the transaction to go through. Shortsales can take anywhere from 30 days to 120+ days to get approved, depending on the lender(s) required to approve the shortsale. Usually escrow is not officially opened until the shortsale is approved by all the lenders the seller has a mortgage with.
Your loan officer will update your file with the subject property information and provide a complete loan application package to sign, along with GFE, Itemization of closing fees, and list of documents required to complete your file for underwriting.
Loan file will be put through Registration and moved in line for Underwriting review.
Do your home inspection ASAP after you have received accepted offer. Ideally we recommend waiting until AFTER home inspection to order appraisal - You want to be sure about moving forward with the purchase before paying for an appraisal. After you have completed your home inspection, review it thoroughly with your real estate agent so that you can put together any repair requests for the seller. These requests may or may not be agreed to, so you are still negotiating at this point.
Appraisal – your appraisal can be ordered AFTER your loan has been registered and the lender disclosures have been sent to you. You will receive a copy of the appraisal after it is completed.
Underwriting Dept completes file and issues loan approval with list of conditions required to clear file for loan documents. You will be notified of additional items you need to provide. These items may be more than what is shown on the pre-approval since the underwriter makes the final call on what is required for final loan approval.
You will need to shop for a homeowners insurance policy to and let your loan officer and escrow officer know who will be issuing your policy for the property.
Escrow will provide and estimated closing statement to show how much $$ you will need to close on the purchase. You should receive this estimate at least 1 week before closing. Only bank wires or cashiers checks paid to the escrow or title company will be acceptable for closing funds.
Your file is cleared for docs, and the Closing Dept will email Final loan documents to escrow company. You will be contacted by escrow to arrange a loan signing with a notary. You will need to bring identification to the signing.
Your signed loan docs will be returned to the lender, reviewed by the funder, and funds wired to the title company – can take 2-3 days after signing date if documents need to be overnighted.
In San Diego County, the title transfer to the property will be recorded the next day after your loan has been funded. Other Counties may allow for same day recording if mortgage funds are received early enough.
A typical loan file from start to finish will take 21 – 30 days on conventional loans and 30-40 days on FHA or VA loans. Your loan rate can be locked anytime from the day you have signed your application package up until 7 days before closing.
