Congratulations! We have an accepted offer.

Congratulations, I’m so happy for you! Once we’ve verbally accepted an offer, both parties will sign the offer. It is not official until both parties have signed and we have a fully executed contract.  Once that happens, I’ll start ordering tax certs and loads of other boring documents like Use + Occupancy. The 10 day (or whatever was negotiated) inspection time period can officially begin on the next calendar day.

In the meantime, within the first few days of the contract being signed, the buyer is required to drop off his or her first earnest money deposit check with my office.  This is essentially a good faith payment showing the buyer is serious about moving forward.  The earnest money will be credited towards the buyer’s down payment at closing.  Once the earnest money is dropped off I will let you know.  Our office holds on to the payment in an escrow account simply because our office can act as an unbiased 3rd party should a dispute come up between the buyer and seller and the buyer asks for the earnest money to be returned. 

Once the earnest money is received, we will mark the property as Active Under Contract in the MLS unless there are no more contingencies like home inspections or mortgage- then it will go to Pending. I will cancel any future showings and cancel any upcoming open houses.