You sign a purchase and sale agreement after the seller accepts your offer and after any inspection-driven negotiations are complete, but before the closing period begins. In most transactions, that puts the signing somewhere between a few days and a few weeks after offer acceptance, with closing following 30 to 90 days later. The signed agreement replaces your initial offer letter with a binding contract that governs both sides through the closing table.
Where Signing Falls in the Home-Buying Timeline
The sequence is fairly standard, even if the exact pace varies by market. The seller accepts your offer. You and the seller then enter a negotiation and due-diligence window, during which a professional home inspection usually takes place. The inspector looks at the roof, foundation, electrical, plumbing, and HVAC, and flags anything that could affect value or safety.
If the inspection turns up issues, you negotiate repair credits or a price adjustment before putting anything on paper. Only once those terms are settled is the purchase and sale agreement drafted to reflect what both sides actually agreed to. A real estate agent or attorney typically prepares the document using standardized forms for your area.
That is when you sign. From signing to closing usually runs another 30 to 90 days, depending on how quickly your lender processes the loan, how long the title search takes, and whether complications surface. Many agreements include a “time is of the essence” clause, which turns every deadline in the contract into a firm cutoff; missing one can count as a material breach.
What You Are Committing to on the Signature Line
Real estate contracts have to be in writing to be enforceable, a requirement that comes from the Statute of Frauds.1Legal Information Institute. Statute of Frauds Before you sign, confirm the document contains the elements that make it hold up:
- Full legal names for both buyer and seller, matching legal identification.
- The property’s legal description, not just the street address. This is typically a metes-and-bounds description or a reference to a recorded plat map.
- The exact purchase price, broken out between financing and cash.
- The earnest money deposit amount, who holds the funds, and the conditions under which it is refundable.
- A target closing date.
- Contingencies, each with its own deadline.
Check the math before you sign. Purchase price, deposit, loan amount, and down payment should all reconcile. An error that slips through now causes disputes or delays at closing.
Contingencies and the Deadlines You Are Agreeing To
Contingencies are the escape hatches built into the contract. If a contingency isn’t met by its deadline, you can usually walk away without penalty. Miss the deadline or waive the contingency, then back out, and you risk your deposit. Common ones include:
- An inspection contingency, giving you a set number of days to have the property professionally inspected and renegotiate or cancel if serious problems appear.2Freddie Mac. Understanding Contingency Clauses in Homebuying
- A financing contingency, typically allowing 30 to 60 days to secure a loan commitment and sometimes capping the interest rate you’ll accept.
- An appraisal contingency, letting you renegotiate or exit if the lender’s appraisal comes in below the purchase price.
- A home sale contingency, protecting you if you need to sell your current home first. Sellers often resist this one.
Every contingency you accept at signing should spell out its deadline and what happens if the condition isn’t satisfied. Vague language invites fights later.
Disclosures the Seller Owes You by Signing
Some disclosures must be in your hands before or at the moment you become obligated under the contract.
Lead-Based Paint
For homes built before 1978, federal law requires the seller to disclose known lead-based paint or hazards before you are bound. The seller must provide the EPA pamphlet “Protect Your Family From Lead in Your Home,” share available test results, and give you a 10-day window for your own lead inspection. You can agree in writing to shorten, extend, or waive that window.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 USC 4852d – Disclosure of Information Concerning Lead Upon Transfer of Residential Property The contract itself must include a Lead Warning Statement signed by both parties.4U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Real Estate Disclosures About Potential Lead Hazards
Property Condition and HOA Documents
Most states require sellers to complete a property condition disclosure covering known defects in major systems and any history of flooding, pest infestation, or environmental hazards. Format varies by state; the obligation to reveal known material problems is consistent.
If the home is in a homeowners association, you should also receive the governing documents, bylaws, fee schedules, and any pending special assessments, often packaged as a resale certificate. These are typically requested 30 to 60 days before closing, so you may receive them after signing but well before you close. Read them carefully.
How the Signing Actually Happens
You can sign with a pen or through an electronic signature platform. Federal law bars denying a contract legal effect solely because it was signed electronically.5Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 7001 – General Rule of Validity One point that trips people up: the signed contract has to be delivered back to the other party or their representative. Until delivery happens, there may not be a binding agreement, even if both of you have signed your copies.
You will typically hand over the earnest money deposit at signing. Deposits often run 1% to 5% or more of the purchase price, depending on local norms and competition. The funds sit in an escrow account held by a title company, attorney, or real estate broker until closing, when they are applied toward your down payment and closing costs.
Who runs the signing depends on your state. Some require a licensed real estate attorney to prepare documents, run the title search, and manage closing. Others let title companies handle everything without an attorney. Attorney closings tend to take longer and cost more, but add a layer of legal review. Confirm your state’s rule early so you know who needs to be at the table.
What Starts the Moment You Sign
Once the agreement is signed and delivered, the listing flips to “under contract” or “pending,” and several processes run in parallel.
A title examiner reviews county records to confirm the seller’s ownership and surface anything that could cloud title, such as unpaid mortgages, tax liens, judgment liens, easements, or pending lawsuits. Problems generally have to be cleared before closing. If something can’t be fixed, your contingencies may give you grounds to terminate.
Your lender orders an independent appraisal to confirm the property’s market value supports the loan. If the appraisal comes in low, you can renegotiate with the seller, cover the gap in cash, or cancel the contract if you included an appraisal contingency.
Your lender also has to deliver a Closing Disclosure at least three business days before closing, laying out your final loan terms, monthly payment, and all closing costs. If the APR, loan product, or a prepayment penalty changes afterward, the lender must issue a corrected disclosure and restart the three-day clock.6Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. TILA-RESPA Integrated Disclosure FAQs Compare it line by line against your earlier Loan Estimate.
Within 24 to 48 hours of closing, you do a final walkthrough. This isn’t a second inspection. You’re confirming the home is in substantially the same condition it was in when you signed, that negotiated repairs were completed, and that fixtures and included items are still there.
Changing the Terms After You Sign
If something needs to shift after signing, you use one of two tools. An amendment changes existing terms, like pushing back the closing date or adjusting the price after a low appraisal. An addendum adds new terms without altering the old ones, such as a clause covering personal property the seller agreed to leave.
Both have to identify the original contract by name and date, describe the change clearly, and be signed by everyone. An unsigned amendment or addendum has no legal force. Verbal side deals aren’t enforceable for real estate contracts under the same Statute of Frauds rule that governs the original agreement.1Legal Information Institute. Statute of Frauds
If You or the Seller Back Out After Signing
Walking away from a signed agreement has financial consequences, and the outcome depends on who defaults and whether a valid contingency applies.
If you back out without a protecting contingency, or after your contingency deadlines have passed, the seller generally keeps your earnest money. The contract may also let the seller pursue damages beyond the deposit. Track every deadline and give written notice of any intent to cancel within the timeframes the contract spells out.
If the seller refuses to close, you can sue for money damages, typically the costs you incurred relying on the deal, such as inspection, appraisal, and moving expenses. Because every parcel of real estate is treated as legally unique, courts may also grant “specific performance,” a court order forcing the seller to complete the sale. A judge weighs fairness, hardship, and whether you were ready and able to close.
Where a “time is of the essence” clause is in the contract, deadlines are hard cutoffs and a miss can be a material breach. Without that language, courts generally allow performance within a “reasonable time” before treating a delay as contract-ending. Even with the clause, a judge may give a late party a chance to cure if strict enforcement would be unfair.