The offer is signed, everyone shakes hands, and then the phone stops ringing. Sellers routinely assume something has gone wrong. Almost always, nothing has.
The sequence
Day one. The deposit is delivered to the listing brokerage and held in trust. Your lawyer receives the agreement.
Days two to five. The buyer's conditions run. Inspection, financing, status certificate. This is the only genuinely uncertain stretch, and it is where a deal either firms up or comes back to you with a request.
Conditions waived. The deal is firm. From this point the buyer is committed, and so are you.
Weeks two to five. Lawyers do title searches, order discharge figures from your lender, and prepare documents. You will hear very little. This is normal and it is the longest stretch.
The requisition date. The buyer's lawyer's deadline to raise title problems. Usually uneventful.
The final week. You sign documents with your lawyer. The buyer does a walkthrough. Utilities and property tax are adjusted.
Closing day. Funds move between lawyers, the transfer registers, keys are released, and your net proceeds are sent to you.
Instructing your lawyer promptly when they first make contact, and requesting your mortgage discharge statement early. A discharge figure that arrives late is one of the most common causes of a delayed closing, and it is entirely within your control to ask for it in week one.
What can still go wrong
- A condition is not satisfied and the buyer walks. Clean, and it is what conditions are for.
- The appraisal comes in below the purchase price, and the buyer's financing falls short.
- A title issue surfaces: an old lien, an unregistered easement, a survey problem, work done without permits.
- The buyer's circumstances change between firming up and closing.
Until closing, the property is yours and your obligations under the agreement continue: insurance in force, the property in substantially the same condition, and every chattel you agreed to leave still there. Removing a light fixture you had second thoughts about is a breach, and it is the single most common closing-day argument. See Common Clauses.