An accepted offer is certainly worth celebrating, but there are hurdles ahead that take due diligence and consideration. The period between my phone call relaying “you’re under contract!” and "congratulations, you now own a home!" is the part of the homebuying process that almost no one explains clearly up front but everyone deserves clarity on.
It's also the part where deals most often fall apart. Not because of anything dramatic, but rather because of small misunderstandings or surprises nobody prepped the buyer for.
Let me tell you that the 30 to 45 day window between offer and closing is not a steady, even-paced march to the finish line. The rhythm goes like this: the first two weeks are busy and front-loaded with deadlines, the middle stretch is mostly waiting and feels suspiciously quiet, and the last two weeks pick up again as the closing approaches. Knowing that ahead of time changes the experience completely. The quiet middle isn't a sign that something is wrong. It's a sign that everything is on track.
This is written primarily for buyers, but the timeline is roughly the same for sellers, with notes throughout about what's different on the sell side.
Week 1: Hit the Ground Running
The first week after your offer is accepted is the busiest week of the entire transaction. Almost every important deadline starts ticking the moment the contract is fully signed, and there's a lot to coordinate in a short period of time.
In week one, you'll typically do all of the following:
1. Submit your earnest money deposit. This is your good-faith deposit, typically 2% of the purchase price, held in escrow until the day of closing. It gets applied to your closing costs and down payment at closing.
2. Schedule your inspection. This needs to happen quickly because your inspection contingency window is usually 14 days, with three additional days to finalize a response. I don’t expect you to know an inspector and have several to recommend that have done a great job for clients of mine in the past.
3. Choose your closing attorney. In Vermont, attorneys handle closings rather than title companies, which is different from many other states. Your attorney will perform a title search, coordinate with the lender, prepare closing documents, and perform the closing.
4. Get everything to your lender that they ask for. This is where buyers can either keep the transaction on track or quietly derail it. Your lender will request documentation: pay stubs, tax returns, bank statements, explanations for any large deposits, employment verification. Respond to these requests as soon as possible every time. Slow document delivery is the single most common cause of closing delays.
Pay for the appraisal. Your lender will order the appraisal but typically charge you for it up front, usually $700 or more. The appraiser then schedules a visit to the property which often happens in week two or three.
It's a lot. By the end of week one, most buyers feel like they've already done most of the work of buying the home. That feeling is partly accurate, because week one really is the heaviest week.
For sellers: Week one on your side is about preparing for inspection. Clean access to the basement, attic, electrical panel, water heater, and furnace. Your buyer and their inspector should be able to access everything so that they don't need to return.
Week 2: Inspection Day and the First Big Decision
Week two is when the inspection actually happens. I attend every inspection with my buyers because the inspection itself is one of the most useful learning moments of the entire process. You'll walk through the home with the inspector, ask questions, and see things we couldn’t take note of during showings. Plan on it taking between two and three hours depending on the size and age of the home.
In Vermont, your inspection day can include additional testing beyond the standard structure inspection such as testing the water if the home is on a well and radon testing. Other common inspections include wastewater infrastructure inspections, furnace inspections, and chimney and wood stove inspections if applicable.
Once the inspection report and any additional test results come back, you and I work through the inspection contingency together. We'll review the findings, decide what's a valid safety concern versus what's normal wear, and decide whether to request repairs, request a credit, accept the property as-is, or in significant cases, walk away from the deal. This is a negotiation, not a fight, and most sellers will address reasonable requests.
Worth noting that in today's buyer-friendly Chittenden County market, sellers are generally more willing to negotiate on inspection items than they were earlier this year. Buyers have real leverage to request repairs or credits, which is a meaningful change from the spring. You can read more about why in my recent post on today's market.
By the end of week two, the inspection contingency is typically resolved.
For sellers: Don't panic when you receive a repair request list. Inspection reports always look alarming to someone who has never read one. The honest conversation is about which items are actual safety or function concerns versus cosmetic or age-related observations.
Weeks 3 and 4: The Hurry Up and Wait Stretch
Here's where the rhythm changes and where a lot of buyers get antsy for no reason.
Weeks three and four are typically the quietest stretch of the entire process. The big front-loaded tasks are done. The inspection is resolved. Your file is sitting with the lender's underwriting team. The appraisal has been scheduled and the appraiser is taking their time submitting their report to the lender. Your attorney is performing a title search in the background. From your seat as the buyer, it can feel like nothing is happening for two solid weeks.
That feeling is normal and almost always wrong about what's actually going on. A lot is happening, just not in places you can see.
In the meantime, one productive step you can take is to shop for homeowner's insurance. You'll need a policy in place by your financing deadline, and your lender will need documentation of it before they'll issue final loan approval. Like anything in the home buying process, I recommend you get quotes from a few options. Vermont insurance can vary significantly based on the home's age, heating system, roof condition, distance to a fire station, and flood zone status. Start now rather than waiting until the last week.
The other thing to do during this stretch is actually what you should not do. Do not open new lines of credit. Do not finance a car. Do not make large purchases on credit cards. Do not change jobs unless absolutely necessary. Lenders pull credit again right before closing, and any change to your financial picture can derail the loan at the eleventh hour. This is one of the most common ways closings fall apart and it is entirely preventable.
If the wait stretch feels too quiet, that's actually good. Quiet weeks mean no fires.
For sellers: This stretch is also quiet for you. The main thing on your side is staying ready: don't make any property changes, keep up with maintenance, and respond promptly if title or attorney issues surface that need your input.
The Last Two Weeks: Things Pick Up Again
In the final two weeks, the pace shifts back into busy mode as everyone moves toward closing.
Your attorney and lender start communicating intensively. Title work is finalized. Final loan documents are prepared. Wire instructions are generated and verified.
You’re in charge of setting up utilities. Call the electric company, propane, oil, or natural gas provider if applicable, internet, water and sewer (or arrange for septic service if needed), and anything else you'll need on day one in the home. Transfer dates should be set for closing day.
Your lender will issue a Closing Disclosure showing the exact dollar amount you need to bring to closing, which usually comes 3 to 5 days before closing. You get your final figures for closing and initiate the wire transfer or get a bank certified check to bring to closing. If you choose to wire transfer the funds, be extremely careful about wire fraud during this step. Verify wire instructions by calling your attorney's office directly using a phone number you've used before, not a number from an email. Wire fraud in real estate transactions is unfortunately common and the money is rarely recoverable.
Within 24 hours of closing, we do the final walkthrough. This is the moment to confirm the home is in the condition you expected. We'll check that the home is clean, that the seller has removed all of their belongings, that all of the major systems like heat and hot water are functioning, and that any inspection-related repair requests were actually completed. The final walkthrough is not a second inspection. It's a confirmation that what was agreed to is what's being delivered.
Then closing itself. You'll sit down at your attorney's office, sign a stack of documents, and once everything is signed and funds have moved, you get the keys. The closing itself usually takes 45 to 60 minutes. It's a big exciting moment after a long process, and most of my clients are surprised by how quickly it actually wraps up.
The Bottom Line
The 30 to 45 days between offer and closing is the part of the homebuying process where having a competent agent is crucial. Not before you make the offer, when you're touring and dreaming. When the process gets technical, the timeline gets specific, and small mistakes can have big consequences is when an agent’s true value shines through.
My job during this window is to anticipate problems before they become emergencies, coordinate between your lender, attorney, and the listing side, and help you understand what's normal (the quiet middle weeks) versus what's a real issue (a low appraisal, a major inspection surprise, a credit pull problem). The difference between a smooth closing and a stressful one almost always comes down to communication, experience, and not panicking during the quiet stretch.
