From Accepted Offer to Closing: What Actually Happens for FSBO Sellers

Getting an offer accepted is the moment most sellers focus on, but it's the start of the next phase, not the finish line. Selling FSBO doesn't mean you're on your own for the parts that follow. It means you're the one making sure the right professionals are lined up. Here's exactly what happens between an accepted offer and the day you hand over the keys.

Step 1: Open escrow and engage a title company or attorney

Within a day or two of acceptance, the closing process officially kicks off by opening escrow and engaging whoever will handle the closing in your state. Depending on where the property is located, that's either a title company, an escrow officer, or a real estate attorney.

About a third of states require or customarily use an attorney to conduct or supervise closings, mostly concentrated in the Northeast and parts of the Southeast. Most other states, including large ones like Florida, California, and Texas, allow title or escrow companies to handle the closing without an attorney. This isn't legal advice, and requirements shift over time, so confirm your state's specific rules with a licensed professional before you rely on any general summary, including this one.

Either way, this is who holds the buyer's earnest money deposit, orders the title search, and ultimately manages the closing itself. As a FSBO seller, you're the one who needs to select and engage them since there's no listing agent doing it for you.

Step 2: Title search and title insurance

The title company or attorney runs a title search on public records to confirm you actually have clear, marketable title to the property, meaning no unresolved liens, boundary disputes, unpaid taxes, or old claims sitting against it. This usually takes one to two weeks.

If something turns up, like an old lien that was never released or a name discrepancy from a prior deed, it needs to be resolved before closing. This is exactly why title insurance exists: both a lender's policy (if the buyer is financing) and an owner's policy protect against title problems that surface after closing.

Step 3: Inspection period

Most contracts include a defined inspection window, commonly 7 to 14 days. The buyer has professionals inspect the property, and if issues turn up, they may request repairs, a price reduction, or a credit at closing. This is a normal part of nearly every transaction, not a sign the deal is in trouble.

As the seller, your job here is to respond within the timeline your contract specifies. Silence or slow responses during the inspection period is one of the more common ways a FSBO deal loses momentum.

Step 4: Appraisal, if the buyer is financing

If the buyer has a mortgage, their lender orders an independent appraisal to confirm the home is worth at least the purchase price, since the lender won't finance more than the appraised value. This typically happens two to four weeks into the process and takes about a week to come back.

If the appraisal comes in at or above the purchase price, this step is a non-issue. If it comes in low, you and the buyer will need to renegotiate the price, the buyer covers the gap in cash, or the deal falls apart, depending on what your contract's appraisal contingency allows. A cash buyer skips this step entirely.

Step 5: Clear to close and the closing disclosure

Once inspection, title, and appraisal (if applicable) are resolved, the buyer's lender issues a "clear to close." For financed purchases, federal law requires the buyer receive a Closing Disclosure at least three business days before closing, outlining the final loan terms and closing costs. This is a fixed, non-negotiable waiting period built into the process.

Step 6: Final walkthrough

Within 24 to 48 hours of closing, the buyer does a final walkthrough to confirm the property is in the agreed condition, any negotiated repairs were completed, and nothing has changed since the inspection. This is typically brief and straightforward if everything has gone as expected.

Step 7: Closing day

All parties (or their authorized representatives) sign the closing documents, the buyer's funds are transferred, the title company or attorney disburses the proceeds, and the deed is recorded with the county. Once recording is confirmed, ownership has officially transferred and the keys change hands.

The full process from accepted offer to closing typically takes around 30 days for financed deals, and often runs faster for cash purchases since there's no appraisal or lender clear-to-close to wait on.

The single biggest risk at closing: wire fraud

This deserves its own section because it's not a minor footnote. Real estate wire fraud cost Americans over $275 million in a single recent year according to the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center, across more than 12,000 reported victims. The scam works by monitoring email threads throughout a transaction, then sending "updated" wiring instructions right before closing that appear to come from the title company or attorney. The money moves fast, and once it leaves the country, recovery rates drop close to zero.

Protect yourself and your buyer with one non-negotiable rule: never wire money based on instructions received by email alone. Always confirm wiring instructions by phone, using a number you look up independently rather than one provided in the email itself. This applies to buyers wiring closing funds and to sellers receiving proceeds. The Countered Fraud Warning, part of our legal documents, covers this in more detail and is worth reviewing before closing.

What Countered does, and doesn't, handle

Countered covers the offer stage: receiving offers, scoring them, and giving you the tools to send your own counters, right up through acceptance. Once an offer is accepted, the closing itself, title work, escrow, and funds transfer are handled by the title company, attorney, or closing agent you engage, exactly as they would be in any real estate transaction. We don't hold funds, provide legal advice, or conduct the closing. Lining up a reputable title company or attorney before you accept an offer, not after, keeps this handoff smooth.

Bottom line

Nothing about the post-acceptance process requires an agent to manage it well. It requires knowing what's coming, engaging the right closing professional early, responding to deadlines on time, and treating wiring instructions with the same caution you'd give any large financial transfer. Handle those four things, and the path from accepted offer to keys in hand is genuinely straightforward.