A purchase is a sequence of conditional steps, each of which unlocks the next and most of which run on deadlines counted from the day the contract was accepted. The order below is descriptive. It is not advice, and no step here should be treated as a recommendation about any particular purchase.
The sequence
- Preparation. Borrowing capacity is established with a lender before offers are made, because in most markets an offer without evidence of funding is not treated as serious.
- Offer. A written offer states price, deposit, the contingencies relied on and their deadlines, the requested closing date and what is included with the house.
- Acceptance. Agreement of all terms in writing by both parties starts the clock. Every later deadline is counted from this date.
- Escrow opens. A neutral third party takes the deposit and holds it, along with the instructions, until every condition of the contract has been satisfied or waived.
- Inspection period. The buyer investigates the physical condition of the property within a fixed window and may raise, renegotiate or withdraw within the terms agreed.
- Title work. The title company searches the record, issues its commitment, and lists what must be cleared before it will insure.
- Appraisal. The lender obtains an independent valuation for its own security purposes.
- Loan underwriting. The lender verifies income, assets and the property, and issues its final conditions.
- Final walk-through. The buyer confirms the property's condition and that agreed items remain.
- Settlement and recording. Funds are disbursed, the deed is signed, and the transfer is recorded in the public record. Recording, not signing, is what makes the change public and effective against third parties.
Contingencies are deadlines, not opinions
A contingency is a stated condition that must be satisfied for the contract to proceed, coupled with a date. The common ones cover inspection, appraisal and financing. Their power lies entirely in the date: a right exercised after its deadline has passed is usually no longer a right, and a deposit that was protected before the deadline may not be after.
This is why the calendar, drawn out on the day of acceptance with every deadline marked, is the single most useful document a buyer produces.
Escrow, plainly
Escrow is a holding arrangement. A neutral party receives money and documents from both sides, checks that the stated conditions have been met, and only then releases each to the other. It exists because the two performances, paying and conveying, cannot happen simultaneously without a trustworthy intermediary.
It is not an account with the buyer's name on it in any useful sense, and it is not the same thing as the escrow account a lender may later maintain for taxes and insurance, which is described on the mortgage page.
Where timetables actually slip
Delay is nearly always caused by dependency rather than by effort. The appraisal cannot be ordered before the lender has a complete file. The title cannot clear before a recorded item is resolved. Funding cannot be scheduled before underwriting conditions are met. Each of these is a queue in another organisation.
The practical implication is that a closing date is a forecast built on several other forecasts, and that the honest question to ask about it is which dependency is furthest from complete.