Your offer was accepted! Now what?
Day 1 of Escrow officially starts the day after your contract is ratified (both parties sign and are in agreement) and every day counts, not just Monday through Friday.
On average here in SF, the shorter your escrow period the stronger your offer. For cash deals, you can see escrow periods as short as 5 to 7 days, for deals with financing on average you see 18-25 days. In more normalized markets, 30 days is the benchmark.
The escrow period is a busy time and it's critical for you to respond to inquires in a timely manner to keep the transaction moving forward and to stay within the contractual agreements committed to.
Key deliverables during the escrow period include but are not limited to: inspections, loan conditions are removed, disclosures are read/signed, appraisal completed, title insurance issued, deposit of buyer funds into escrow, both buyer and seller sign closing documents, buyer final walk through, the bank funds the loan, you get your closing statement which you will need for your taxes.
For the sake of example, the timeline below is for a 21 day escrow. The details below are an abbreviated version of the process to be used as an example of what you can expect during escrow: