Congratulations! You worked hard to prepare your New Orleans West Bank home for sale, to price it right and make it accessible for potential buyers and their agents. All of that hard work has paid off in the form of an accepted offer from someone who loves your house as much as you do. So, what happens next?
Do you want to continue to show the house? 
This decision can be a tough one. You are more than likely tired of keeping your house in show condition. It's nice to plan a dinner party and not worry about someone wanting to schedule an appointment smack in the middle of it. You may feel all of the confidence in the world in the contract, the buyer and the financing. All good reasons to mark it "under contract" in the MLS and put the "Too Late" sign in the yard.
BUT... stuff happens. Mortgages can be declined even with pre-approval letters (it happens more and more lately). The buyer could lose their job. A strong back-up offer gives you a plan B. All good reasons to continue to show your home up until there is a final loan commitment and a scheduled closing.
The final decision is up to you. Note: with the large number of homes on the market right now, most agents will pass on showing a home with a pending offer, but the possibility exists!
Deposit
I encourage all of my sellers to require that deposits be in the form of certified funds or money order. There is nothing like finding out the deposit check has bounced to put you on notice that this contract may not make it to the closing table (yes, this has happened!). I also encourage sellers to include a time frame for receipt of the deposit or the contract is considered null and void. In my experience, immediately has different meanings for different people.
Remember all of those little things that have bugged you about your house that your agent told you to fix BEFORE putting it on the market? I hope you did them, because the home inspector is going to find every one and then some. Unless you are the most meticulous home owner with maintenance (and let's face it, most of us are not) there will be issues that come up during a home inspection. They can range from small, like a leaking faucet, to large, like a roof that needs to be replaced. Be prepared for another possible round of negotiations based on the inspection results. Just as I encourage sellers to leave during showings, I highly recommend that you are not present during the home inspection process.
Title Company
The title company is responsible for coordinating the closing between the buyers, sellers, listing agent, selling agent and mortgage company. In Louisiana, the choice of a title company is up to the purchaser, since the majority of the closing costs are on the buyer's side of the settlement statement. Be prepared to provide the title company with information such as legal names, social security numbers and marital history, all necessary items for them to have while doing the title research on your property.
One of the final steps in the mortgage approval process is the appraisal. As a listing agent, I consider it my responsibility to meet the appraiser at the home and provide them with the comparable sales used by the seller to determine a price. Does this mean they will use the sales that I have given them? Nope. But in areas where there have been few recent sales it sure can't hurt to try.
Insurance
The purchasers are responsible for obtaining their own home owner's insurance prior to closing. Post Katrina, we have seen a large number of buyers who are assuming flood insurance policies from the sellers. This is only an option if your insurance company will allow an assumption and you agree to it. If the buyer is assuming your flood policy, there will be additional documents to be signed to allow for the transfer.
Final Mortgage Approval
Although the purchaser may have provided a written letter from their lender indicating that they were pre-approved, no loan is truly approved until all of the conditions are met, including an acceptable appraisal and proof of insurance. Once all of these conditions have been met, the loan package goes through the underwriting process again and the loan documents are prepared by the lender and sent to the title company for the scheduled closing.
Utilities
When your closing date is scheduled, you will need to contact the utility companies about disconnecting your existing services. These are important calls, since the buyer usually cannot arrange to have services put in their name until you have given permission for them to do so.
The Closing
Payday! This is the day you have been working so hard towards. Lucky you, the only thing you will need to bring to the closing are the keys and your driver's license. Information on appliances, warranty information and garage door openers should all be left in the house for the new owners. Remember, when you leave the closing table the house is no longer yours. All of your personal belongings must be moved prior to the closing time.
Overwhelming? Not when you have a great West Bank REALTOR® at your side to walk you through each step. Feel free to give me a call with questions about selling your home today or drop me a line at lisa@lisaheindesells.com. I'd love to help you get an offer!
When buying or selling a home on the West Bank of New Orleans or relocating to the New Orleans West Bank, you deserve local expertise and advice. Lisa Heindel provides full time, professional real estate services to buyers, sellers and military transferees in Algiers, Algiers Point, Belle Chasse, Gretna, Terrytown, Harvey, Marrero, Westwego and more.
Copyright 2008. Lisa Heindel, All rights reserved.
Lisa, This is a great post for first-time homesellers. I recently Closed with a couple who were selling their first home and they really did have no idea what was going to happen next! I kept them updated on a step-by-step basis but, this would have been perfect to hand them the minute we went under Contract! Thanks for sharing...
Wow Lisa, GREAT JOB!!! Colors, graphics, and lots of great information!!! I think this should be featured!!
Debe, it seems that lately I have worked with sellers who haven't sold before or haven't sold in so many years that the entire process is different!
Craig, even though our contracts say immediately, I like to define that further. No sense in wasting time waiting on buyers who may not perform.
Jason, thanks!
Lisa: I don't use the "Too Late" sign OR the "SOLD" sign, rather an "Under Contract" one. Alot of agents use the SOLD sign while under Contract and I just don't feel we should do that.
Judy, you are so right. Sellers need to understand the process just as much as buyers, since anything that goes wrong affects them both.
Debe, my brokerage doesn't have under contract signs, but I've seen other agents use that, along with "Sale Pending". I like it because it lets consumers know that there is activity in the area. Too often, the for sale signs just disappear and they don't know if the house sold or was taken off of the market.