What Happens After a House Offer Is Accepted

The Timeline: Earnest Money, Inspection, and Underwriting

Earnest money moves fast. Once both sides sign, the buyer deposits it into escrow within 24 to 48 hours, or whatever window the contract sets. Typically that's 1% to 3% of the purchase price, and it counts toward the buyer's down payment at closing.

Then comes inspection: 7 to 10 days. A licensed inspector spends two to three hours walking the property. Inspections generally run $300 to $500. The buyer has until the window closes to submit an objection notice and keep the right to walk away or renegotiate.

While inspection runs, the title company works in parallel: pulling the chain of ownership, existing mortgages, judgments, tax liens, and HOA records. That takes one to two weeks and ends with a title commitment listing any exceptions that need clearing before closing.

The lender moves at the same time. An appraisal confirms the home's value supports the loan. Full underwriting starts: bank statements, tax returns, pay stubs, employment verification, all get pulled and checked. Underwriting is the longest stretch, commonly 30 to 45 days, and it's the real bottleneck. One more requirement before the file clears: the seller needs homeowners insurance in place that meets the lender's minimum coverage.

Final Walkthrough and Closing Day

Once financing clears, the buyer walks the property one more time, usually the day before or the morning of closing. They're checking that agreed-upon repairs got done and nothing changed since the inspection.

Closing day is mostly paperwork. Signing takes about an hour to 90 minutes. Once everything's executed, funds get wired to the seller, usually landing within 1 to 3 business days.

That gap matters for sellers: the money doesn't hit your account the same day you sign. Plan around the short wire delay. Don't assume same-day funds.

What This Timeline Means If You're Selling in Florida

Here's what sellers miss: accepting an offer isn't the finish line. It's the start of a 30 to 60 day underwriting stretch, and the deal can still fall apart if the buyer's financing doesn't clear. That's the real choice every Florida seller faces when picking how to sell. A cash investor moves fast, but the price usually comes with a discount that skims equity out of the sale. A traditional listing can take 6 to 9 months once you add time on market to this same closing timeline, with real risk the deal falls through somewhere in that stretch.

Cash Flow Deals is a Florida real estate investor that locks in a net price for a seller's house before repairs are scoped, using a novation-based, flat-fee process arranged through its licensed FL brokerage partner, Silver Door Realty — not a traditional listing, and not a brokerage itself.

CFD works a third way. The net price gets locked in with the seller, in writing, up front: that's the number on the contract, unless something structural like foundation, moisture, wiring, or drain issues turns up in inspection. If that happens, the numbers get re-costed and the seller decides how to proceed.

To get the home in front of real buyers, CFD partners with Silver Door Realty, a licensed Florida brokerage, which lists it on the MLS through a flat-fee listing service. That's how the listing gets found, not what the seller pays CFD. From there, CFD markets the property above the seller's locked-in number, aiming for a real, financed buyer using FHA, conventional, VA, or DSCR financing. Same single-contract novation used everywhere else on this site: one transaction, no resale, and CFD never takes title or buys the house itself.

When the home sells, the proceeds pay the seller's price first, then the seller's closing costs, then the buyer's agent commission. CFD only gets paid from what's left over: the spread between the final sale price and the seller's locked-in number. The seller collects their number no matter how big or small that spread runs, so every dollar in the transaction is traceable, and the whole thing still moves at a pace closer to an investor sale than a 6 to 9 month listing. Want to see your locked-in number? Get your net price locked in writing.

Cash Flow Deals' Offer Process:

1. Cash Flow Deals reviews the accepted-offer terms on your property and puts your net price in writing, up front, before the earnest money deposit and inspection clock even starts running.

2. You sign a single-contract novation agreement: no resale, no double closing. Cash Flow Deals goes to work marketing the property above your locked-in number to a real, financed buyer.

3. Once a qualified buyer is under contract, the sale can close in as little as two weeks. When it funds, your price, your closing costs, and the buyer's agent commission get paid first out of the proceeds.