Escrow opens and a clock starts: earnest money goes in within days, inspections and the appraisal happen in the first two or three weeks, the lender underwrites, and every contingency has a date by which you either approve it or can walk with your deposit.
An accepted offer is the start of a fixed schedule rather than the end of the process. Almost everything that goes wrong later is a date somebody missed, so the useful mental model is a list of deadlines rather than a list of tasks.
The order it happens in
- Escrow opens and earnest money is deposited, usually within one to three days. A neutral third party holds it, not the seller.
- Inspections, inside the inspection period. General inspection first, then specialists (roof, sewer, pool, structural) if the first one raises something.
- The repair conversation, which is a negotiation with a deadline. Repairs, a credit, a price reduction, or acceptance as-is.
- The lender orders the appraisal, and title starts its search for liens and anything else attached to the property.
- Underwriting, where most delays live, and almost all of them are documents the lender asked for and has not received.
- The Closing Disclosure, at least three business days before signing. Final walkthrough, signing, funding, recording, keys.
The contingencies are the protection
Each contingency is a right to cancel and keep the deposit if a specific thing is not satisfactory by a specific date: inspection, appraisal, loan approval, and sometimes the sale of your current home. Once a date passes without action, that protection is usually gone, which is why the calendar matters more than the paperwork.
Nothing about this is legal advice, and the contract you sign governs. Read the dates the day you go under contract, not the week they arrive.
What not to do in those 30 days
Do not open a credit card, finance a car, change jobs, move money between accounts without a record, or make a large deposit you cannot document. Underwriting re-checks credit and employment shortly before funding, and buyers lose loans at the last minute over furniture bought on credit for the house they are buying.
Questions people ask
How long after an offer is accepted do you close?
Usually 30 to 45 days with financing and two to three weeks with cash. The contract sets the date, and modest slips are common and not usually a sign of trouble.
Can a seller back out after accepting an offer?
Only under the contract's own terms, which are usually narrower than a buyer's. Sellers can and do try, and what happens next depends entirely on what was signed. This is a lawyer's question, not ours.
Do I get my earnest money back if the inspection is bad?
If you cancel within the inspection contingency and by its deadline, normally yes. That is what the contingency is for, and the deadline is what makes it work.