Your offer to buy home is accepted — now what?

The road to homeownership can be long and sometimes bumpy.

With each milestone in the rearview mirror, homebuyers gain confidence and optimism about the prospect of homeownership.

When your offer to buy a home is accepted, you will feel like you’re on top of the world. Months and months of preparation and work are paying off.

An accepted offer is a big deal, but it’s far from the end of the road. There will be several steps to get through now that the seller has accepted the offer. Here are some things to expect and tips on how to handle the final stages of buying a home.

Stay alert, connected

Congratulations. Your home offer has been accepted.

Now, you will have to wait for the next steps, so it’s vital to stay on top of all your correspondence. The real estate and lending teams have a lot of work ahead of them — and will need your help along the way.

By paying close attention to your email and phone alerts, you can be a great partner by responding in a timely manner with information. The more quickly you are able to help answer questions, the faster the process can move forward so you can officially become a homeowner.

Prepare for home inspection

As part of the homebuying process, the lender will facilitate a home appraisal to ensure that the loan amount matches up with the home value.

At the same time, you can order a professional inspector to examine the home. Any red flags, such as needed repairs, will be noted by your real estate team and can be introduced into formal discussions and negotiations. This process will also require additional paperwork, which your team will expertly handle with your assistance.

Organize required documents

With the closing of the home approaching, now is a good time to gather all the required paperwork that you’ll need to furnish or sign.

Tax returns, driver’s license, salary statements, bank statements and other pertinent documents will be needed to move forward.

For people who are self-employed, make sure to gather profit and loss statements that can help speak to the status of your current financial resources.

Get preapproval

If you haven’t gotten your preapproval prior to making an offer, now is the time to do so. In today’s market, sellers will want to move as quickly as possible. A preapproval from a lender can get the wheels turning quickly.

In order to get preapproved, be prepared to supply many of the documents noted above. This process will lock in your interest rate and can be done in a matter of days.

Once approved, you will also need to sign up for homeowner’s insurance, based on certain requirements.

Leading up to the purchase of your home, there will be a lot of activities that will keep you busy. From finalizing your mortgage loan, signing disclosures and agreements to constantly communicating with your team, the final steps of buying a home will be a whirlwind. But once the dust settles, you’ll feel accomplished and proud of all the work you took on to become a new homeowner.