Gerardo Lopez | Associate Broker, RE/MAX Properties
You got an accepted offer. Congratulations — but the deal isn’t done. Not even close.
Between the day you go under contract and the day you actually close, there’s a 30- to 45-day stretch where a lot of things have to happen in the right order. Inspections. Appraisal. Title work. Lender conditions. Any one of them can stall or kill the deal if you’re not paying attention.
Most buyers and sellers don’t fully understand what’s happening during this period. They just know it feels slow, stressful, and full of emails from people they’ve never met asking for documents they didn’t know they needed.
Here’s what’s actually going on — step by step — so you know what to expect and where deals go sideways.
Within the first few days of mutual acceptance, the buyer deposits earnest money — typically 1–2% of the purchase price in our market. This goes into an escrow account held by the title company. It’s not a fee. It’s a good-faith deposit that gets applied to closing costs or the down payment at the end.
Then comes the inspection — usually within the first 10–14 days, depending on your contract terms. The buyer hires a licensed home inspector to go through the property. They’re looking at the roof, HVAC, plumbing, electrical, foundation, water heater — everything.
Here’s where deals get shaky. The inspector is going to find things. Every home has something. The question is whether those things are deal-breakers or normal wear and tear.
A good agent knows the difference between a real problem and an inspection report that just looks scary. That distinction saves deals.
After the inspection, the buyer can ask for repairs, a credit, a price reduction — or walk away if they’re within their due diligence period. This is a negotiation, and how it’s handled matters. I’ve seen deals fall apart over $500 arguments that didn’t need to happen.
Once inspections are resolved, the lender orders an appraisal. This is the bank’s way of verifying the home is worth what the buyer agreed to pay. The appraiser is a licensed third party — they work for the lender, not the buyer or seller.
They’ll visit the property, measure it, note the condition, and pull comparable sales from the area. In Southern Utah, this can be tricky. If you’re in a neighborhood with a mix of manufactured and stick-built homes, or if recent comps are limited, the appraiser’s job gets harder — and the results get less predictable.
Three outcomes are possible:
This is one of the biggest reasons pricing right from the start matters so much. If you overprice and a buyer offers full ask, the appraisal will often pull it back to reality anyway — and now you’re renegotiating from a weaker position.
While the appraisal is happening, the title company is running a title search. They’re making sure the seller actually owns the property, that there are no liens, judgments, or unresolved claims against it, and that the legal description matches what’s being sold.
Title issues don’t come up often, but when they do, they can delay closing by weeks. Old mechanic’s liens from a contractor who was never paid, boundary disputes, or a missing signature on a prior deed — these things have to be cleaned up before the title company will issue insurance.
On the lender side, the buyer’s loan is going through underwriting. The underwriter is the person who makes the final call on whether the loan gets approved. They’re reviewing income, employment, credit, debt-to-income ratio, and the appraisal report. They will almost certainly ask for additional documentation — updated bank statements, a letter of explanation for a large deposit, verification of employment. This is normal. It feels invasive, but it’s just the process.
The number one thing that delays closing is the buyer not responding to lender requests fast enough. When your loan officer asks for a document, send it the same day.
After doing this for over a decade, I’ve seen deals fall apart for all kinds of reasons. The most common ones:
Once the lender signs off on everything — appraisal, title, underwriting conditions — you get “clear to close.” That’s the green light. The title company prepares the closing documents, the buyer does a final walkthrough of the property, and both sides schedule a time to sign.
In Utah, closing typically happens at the title company. The buyer signs the loan documents, the seller signs the deed, and once the lender funds the loan and the documents are recorded with the county, the keys change hands.
The whole process — from accepted offer to keys — usually takes 30 to 45 days. Cash deals can close faster, sometimes in two weeks. But if you’re using financing, plan for a month minimum and make sure everyone on your team — lender, agent, title — is communicating and hitting their deadlines.
A lot of people think the agent’s job is done once the offer is accepted. It’s the opposite. This is where the real work happens — coordinating between the lender, title company, inspectors, and the other agent. Keeping timelines on track. Managing expectations when something comes up. Negotiating repairs without blowing up the deal.
If you’re working with someone who goes quiet after the offer, that’s a problem. You need someone who’s on top of every deadline and knows how to solve problems before they become deal-killers.
Thinking about buying or selling?
I’ll walk you through every step of the process — from first conversation to closing day.
Let’s Talk About Your Next MoveGerardo Lopez is an associate broker with RE/MAX Properties and has 12+ years in Southern Utah real estate. He’s also an active short-term rental operator across the Zion corridor. Reach out anytime through myhomeandco.com.