Congratulations! Once your offer is accepted it’s time to celebrate but it’s also important to pay close attention to all details of the contact. The first step is the deposit of the earnest money within the timeline and means specified in your contract.
Escrow
Washington State is and escrow state. This means an escrow officer and escrow company can facilitate the closing of the sale of real property. Some states use an attorney only, but here we have the choice to use escrow services.
Title
You will also take title to the property once the sale closes. There are many ways to take title and you may wish to consult an attorney or tax advisor on the best way to hold title. Different methods of holding title have different legal, estate and tax implications.
Inspection
If your signed contract includes an inspection contingency, you will need to have a licensed property inspector inspect the property within the time frame that was agreed upon in the contract. An inspection can take anywhere between 1-4 hours or more to complete. A licensed real estate agent needs to be present during the inspection. You may elect to have different inspectors inspect the property, if you wish to obtain professional opinions from inspectors who specialize in a specific area (eg. roof, HVAC, structure). Depending on the outcome of the inspection you are moving forward with the sale, negotiating through repairs/renegotiating the terms of the contract due to items discovered in the inspection or disapproving the inspection and the sale no longer continues to go forward.
Appraisal
If the agreement is conditional upon financing, then the property will be appraised by a licensed appraiser to determine the value for the lending institution, via a third party. As opposed to the inspection, you and your agent are not required to be there, and it only takes about 30 minutes to complete. This is done so that the lending institution can confirm their investment in your property is accurate. Appraisers are specialists in determining the value of properties, based on a combination of square footage measurements, building costs, recent sales of comparable properties, operating income, etc.