Keep utilities on.

Per the contract, utilities must remain active through closing. Buyers need water, gas, and electric ON in order to complete inspections, re-inspections of any agreed upon repairs, and in order to perform a final walk through the day of closing. Should closing be delayed for any reason, please also reschedule the termination of utilities. It is recommended that you wait until a few days before closing, just in case the date changes, to call to cancel your utilities, homeowner's insurance, & alarm monitoring. You’ll get a checklist from us about a week before our scheduled closing date with a reminder!

Appraisal (if the buyer is using financing).

The appraisal will typically take place during the 2nd or 3rd week after going under contract. Please make sure you have two earthquake straps on your hot water heater and a CO (Carbon monoxide) detector on each level of the home before the appraiser arrives.

The appraiser works for the bank and is there to protect the bank’s interests. Their job is to determine if property is worth at least as much as the buyer has promised to pay. Unfortunately, we don’t get to see the report, but we do get notified of the results. We want to hear “at value”  and “as-is”. This means the appraiser believes the value of the home supports the purchase price and that no repairs are needed to satisfy the bank’s requirements.

During these scheduled times, please make sure that all major systems and components are accessible including but not limited to the attic, electrical panel, water heater, furnace, crawl space, etc. to avoid paying a re-inspection fee. It's recommended no one be present, all lights left on, with blinds and curtains open. We will communicate the day and time to you as soon as we are informed of those details.

Home Inspection (if this contingency is part of your contract).

Access to your home will still be needed for the inspection. Keep your home show-ready for this appointment. The home inspection takes 2-3 hours to complete, and just the buyer's agent, their clients, and the inspector should be present.

More about the inspection contingency: REPAIRS

After the inspections are complete, the contract allows for the buyer to submit a request for repairs. We call this round two of negotiations.

The 35R is the buyer's written request for the items they would like to see repaired or replaced at the seller's expense before closing and has nothing to do with potential loan or appraisal requirements which could come at a later date.

Before responding to the 35R, take time to have professional contractors evaluate the item(s) in question and provide a written bid. While some items can be corrected by you or a good handyman, electrical, plumbing, or heat & air items should be corrected by licensed contractors. If the buyer has specified in their requests for a licensed/bonded contractor to complete the repairs, they MUST be done by a licensed/bonded contractor and invoices provided before closing.

To protect yourself when obtaining a bid, be sure to provide the contractor with a copy of the 35R and the home inspection report (if we have a copy). If there are any questions about an item, let's have a discussion about it or have the contractor reach out to the phone number on the inspection report for clarification.

For a list of professional contractors which The Serviss Group has had a positive experience with in the past, click HERE. 

Inspection Negotiations

After gathering bids, sellers can respond to the 35R in any of the following manners:

1) Accept all requests with no changes
2) Reject all requests
3) Accept some items, while rejecting others
4) Offer something valuable in lieu of repairs such as dollars towards the buyer's closing costs, the kitchen fridge, or the zero turn mower.

At the end of the day, buyers and sellers must come to a written agreement within our agreed upon timeframe. In the event a written agreement is not reached within the specified time frame, the contract shall terminate and the earnest money shall be returned to the buyer.

Inspection Repairs & Re-inspections

Once the 35R has been signed by all parties, sellers are responsible for having the agreed upon items completed prior to closing. The contract allows buyers to perform a re-inspection of the repaired items during their final walkthrough, therefore, it is recommended to have all repairs completed at least five days before closing.

It's important to have the repairs completed in the same manner which they were agreed to. For example, if the agreement is to repair or replace a faulty electrical outlet, installing a blank wall cover is not appropriate. Another example would be repairing a furnace when the agreement was to replace the furnace. 

In the event the buyer hires their home inspector to perform the re-inspection and an item is deemed to not be corrected properly, the seller might be required to pay additional re-inspection charges.

Copies of all documentation pertaining to a repair should be made available to the buyer or their home inspector upon request. Feel free to send us a photo or scan of the paperwork to save in your file for future reference.

Re-Inspection & Final Walk Through.

Per the contract, buyers have the right to enter the property to re-inspect any items which a seller agreed to repair or replace prior to closing. They will conduct a final walk through of the property to ensure it is in the same condition as it was on the date upon which the contract was signed. One of the most common issues we see come up is that the grass is not mowed. Make sure you give it one last good mow about 5 days before closing.

Propane Tank.

If there is a propane tank on the property, we will take a photo of the gauge and tank size to share with escrow so they can prorate the cost of the remaining fuel. This will happen a few days before closing.

Signing Closing Documents.

Typically, sellers will "pre-sign" with the title company 1-3 days before the official closing. If the final settlement statement is not ready or numbers change after a seller pre-signs, the title company will e-mail the updated information. The title company will coordinate a time with you prior to closing to have you sign the seller docs. This takes about 30 minutes, and you can have a notary come to your home for a fee (usually around $125). Don't forget to take your valid ID.

Keys & Garage Door Openers.

Please leave all keys (don’t forget the mailbox key), garage door openers, and access codes on the kitchen counter. The buyer's agent will keep the key from the key box and provide it to the buyers after the home is closed.

Don’t count your chickens.

In real estate, there is never a guarantee, so please do not make any permanent plans with the proceeds from the sale of your home until you have a check in your hand (or the money wired into your account). If the buyer is using financing, they still have to be put under a microscope by the underwriter. Sometimes, even with a pre-approval letter in hand, a buyer can be denied their loan, and we must start the process all over with a new buyer. 

Why is the sign up?

We will leave the for sale sign in the yard until after closing day. We want to make sure if anything happens with our current buyer, we still have marketing out to the neighborhood and the online world that you want to sell your home.

Close day is not moving day. Contractually, you have until 9pm on closing day to remove any left items, but we don’t recommend cutting it that close. Please ensure the home is "broom swept clean" and free of all personal items and general debris. If you need a recommendation for a house cleaner, let us know!