While waiting for loan approval:

Once your offer has been accepted and your loan has been approved, you move on to the next important steps: having the home inspected during the period of time specified in the sales contract, acquiring title insurance, etc. Again, your real estate agent can be of great help during this phase of purchasing the home.

Have your inspections done in plenty of time. The inspector will give you a written report, but inspectors will usually allow you to accompany them on the inspection visit, and this is a very good thing to do. If you are there, the inspector will likely take extra care in the inspection. And, instead of just reading an item on a list, you can talk to the inspector in detail about what they find, and you have a better idea of how important it may or may not be and how much it will cost to repair. Then you can go back to the seller and negotiate with full information. Remember, after closing, the seller has no responsibility for any conditions of the property (unless, of course, there was fraud involved which you are able to prove). So you want to get those inspections done and even possibly the repairs done before closing.

A settlement agent, usually a title insurance company but sometimes an attorney, will be given the responsibility of setting a time and place for closing the deal, getting you a truth in lending statement from the lender giving full disclosure of the terms of the loan, and doing a title search to be sure there are no liens or other claims already against the property you are trying to purchase (in other words, being sure the seller actually owns the home and has the legal right to sell it to you). At closing the title insurance company or attorney will give you a guarantee of clear title to the property.

Arrange ahead of time for your own insurance company to provide fire, windstorm, or whatever insurance you want to have on the home, to begin at the point of closing the sale. Usually the lender will require proof of such insurance, and the cost will be included in the closing costs at the final meeting for closing the deal.

The settlement agent will give you an exact figure of the total amount of money you will need at closing (including down payment, your portion of taxes and insurance, any additional costs associated with the loan, etc.). You will need to acquire this money and have a certified check for that amount when you come to the meeting for closing the deal.

You are allowed to have a preliminary walk through of the property before closing, and it’s a good idea to do this the day before the closing so that if there are any issues, they can be resolved before everyone comes together for the meeting for closing the deal.

Your real estate agent can help you make your way through this check list of things to be done in a timely fashion. Often your realtor will be able to recommend inspectors, title companies, etc., that they usually deal with and trust.

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