The call comes, the offer is signed, and for about an hour it feels finished. Then most of my sellers ask the same quiet question. So what happens now?
Here's what's happening. An accepted offer is not a sale. It is a plan for a sale, with a series of checkpoints between you and the closing table. Nearly a decade of walking sellers through this stretch has taught me that the ones who know the checkpoints in advance feel calm, and the ones who learn them in real time feel ambushed. This article is the calm version.
The first few days: earnest money and scheduling
Right after acceptance, the buyer deposits earnest money, their good-faith deposit held in escrow, and the clock starts on every contingency in the contract. The title company opens its file and begins researching the ownership history. The buyer's lender kicks off the formal loan process.
Your job this week is simple but real. Read your own contract dates with your agent so you know every deadline, keep the house insured and maintained, and expect the inspection to be scheduled quickly. Buyers almost always book it within the first week.
Week one to two: the inspection
The buyer hires an inspector who spends a few hours going through the home top to bottom, and you should plan to be elsewhere while they do. A few days later, the buyer sends either a clean acceptance or a repair request.
This is the biggest checkpoint on the whole timeline, and it deserves its own preparation. Know what an Indiana home inspection covers before the inspector arrives, and when the request comes, respond on substance and on time. Separate real safety items from cosmetic asks, decide between repairs and credits deliberately, and keep the tone professional. Handled well, this stage takes a few days and the deal moves on stronger, because both sides have now invested in solving a problem together.
If you agreed to repairs, schedule licensed contractors immediately and save every receipt. Those receipts come back at the final walkthrough, and a folder of invoices is the cheapest peace of mind you will ever buy.
Week two to four: the appraisal
If your buyer is financing, the lender orders an appraisal to confirm the home is worth what the buyer agreed to pay. An appraiser visits, measures, photographs, and compares your home against recent nearby sales.
When the appraisal matches or beats the contract price, nobody calls you and life goes on. When it comes in short, there is a negotiation. The buyer can bring extra cash, you can adjust the price, you can meet somewhere in between, or the deal can die there. In my experience, appraisal gaps are far less common on homes that were priced from honest comps in the first place, which is one more reason pricing discipline at listing time protects you weeks later. If you want to understand the valuation side deeply, start with how homes get priced in Tippecanoe County.
You cannot control the appraiser, but you can help them. Make access easy, have the home clean, and let your agent hand over the comps and the list of improvements with dates. Appraisers are human, and good information given professionally never hurts.
Running in the background: title, loan, and paperwork
While the visible checkpoints happen, two quiet processes grind forward. The title company verifies you can convey clean ownership, checking for liens, judgments, unpaid taxes, and surprises in the property's history. Most files are boring, which is exactly what you want. If something odd surfaces, an old unreleased mortgage or a lien you thought was resolved, the title company works it, and starting early is why closings stay on schedule.
Meanwhile the buyer's loan is in underwriting, where the lender verifies employment, assets, credit, insurance, and the appraisal. Sellers never see this process, but it is the reason financed closings take the weeks they take. Late-stage loan surprises are the least fun way to lose a deal, and it is why I take pre-approval quality seriously back when we are choosing among offers, not after.
The last week: numbers, walkthrough, and keys
A few days before closing, the title company produces the final settlement statement showing your sale price, your mortgage payoff, prorated property taxes, title and closing fees, and your bottom-line proceeds. Review it with your agent line by line. Errors are rare but real, and the time to catch one is before the closing table, not at it. If you want a preview of how the money side of an Indiana closing works from the other chair, my piece on Indiana closing costs shows what your buyer is paying alongside you.
Then comes the final walkthrough, usually within a day of closing. The buyer confirms the home is in the condition they contracted for, the agreed repairs are done, and the things included in the sale are still present. Leave the house clean, leave the garage door openers and appliance manuals on the counter, and the walkthrough becomes a happy lap around an empty house.
Closing day itself is mostly signatures. In Indiana, you can often sign your side ahead of time if the timing is tight. The deal is done when documents are recorded and funds disburse, and that is when the keys change hands for good.
Your moving checklist runs alongside all of it
While the transaction moves, so should your logistics. Book movers early, because the end of the month fills up fast in a college town. Schedule utility shutoffs for the day after closing, never the day of, so the final walkthrough happens with the lights on and the furnace running. File your change of address, gather every key, opener, mailbox key, and pool or amenity fob into one drawer, and set aside the manuals and warranties for the appliances staying with the house. Plan to leave the home broom clean. None of this is contractual drama. It is just the difference between a frantic last week and a boring one, and boring is the goal.
What can wobble, and how sellers stay steady
Three checkpoints cause nearly all the turbulence. The inspection response, the appraisal, and buyer financing. You have real influence over the first, indirect influence over the second through pricing, and influence over the third only at offer selection. This is why I tell sellers the strength of an offer is never just its number. Terms, financing quality, and contingencies decide how smooth these weeks feel.
The other steadying move is planning your own next step early. If you are buying your next home at the same time, the two timelines have to be choreographed, and I wrote about exactly that dance in selling before you buy your next home. Do not leave that thinking for week three.
Under contract is a marathon's final miles, not a victory lap and not a minefield. Know the checkpoints, hit your deadlines, keep the house ready, and the day comes when the wire hits your account and the chapter closes properly.
If you are still on the front end of all this and wondering what a sale would even look like, start with the number. Get a free home value estimate built from real Greater Lafayette comps, and I will give you an honest read on the rest of the road. No pressure either way.