Buying · Middle Tennessee
How buying actually works
The whole thing in order, with the timing on every step, from the first conversation to the keys in your hand. Nine steps, and an honest note on which of them move.
The road, in order
9 steps. The timing on each one is approximate, because your lender and the other side set the real pace.
We talk before you look at anything
Before week one
Thirty minutes on what you actually want, what you will not trade away, and where the money is coming from. Most of what goes wrong three months from now is decided in this conversation and nowhere else.
You get fully underwritten, not pre-qualified
Week one
A pre-qualification is a conversation. Full underwriting is a lender reading your documents and standing behind what they say. When a seller has a choice in front of them, those two pieces of paper do not read the same. Ask your lender which one they are handing you.
We set the search, including what never lists
Week one to two
Price, area, and the things you are willing to give up. Alerts reach you the morning a listing posts rather than the evening. At the same time I work the agent network for the ones that sell before they ever reach a portal.
We go and see them
As they come up
In person, in daylight where the schedule allows it, and never more than a handful in one run. Four houses seen properly beats twelve seen in a blur, and you will know the difference the next morning when you try to remember them.
We write the offer
The day it matters
What sold nearby and what it sold for, what the seller is weighing besides price, and which terms you can move on without leaving yourself exposed. Price is one line of several that decide who gets the house.
Binding agreement, and the clock starts
Day one under contract
Earnest money goes to the holder, the dates stop being hypothetical, and every deadline in the contract counts from here. I keep that calendar. A date that passes quietly can cost you a protection you were paying for.
Inspections, and your way out
Usually days one to ten
General inspection first, then whatever it tells us to look at harder: roof, sewer line, structure, termites. This is the window where you can still walk away. Use all of it rather than most of it.
Appraisal, loan and title
Usually days ten to thirty
Your lender orders the appraisal, underwriting works through the file, and the title company traces the ownership back through anything recorded against the property. Do not open credit, change jobs or move large sums while this runs. Ask your lender before you do anything financial at all.
Final walkthrough, then closing
The last week
We walk it again to confirm it is in the condition you agreed on and that anything promised actually happened. Then you sign, funds move and you get keys. Wire instructions never change by email. Call the title company and confirm the numbers out loud.
What the timing on each step is, and what it is not
Everything above carries a marker because a road with no distances on it is not much of a road. None of them are promises. A deal runs on your lender’s pace, on the other side’s choices, and on how fast a county office answers, and no agent controls any of those.
What the markers are good for is knowing when something has gone quiet for longer than it should have. If you are on day eighteen and nobody has mentioned the appraisal, that is worth a call, and now you know it without anybody telling you.
The two dates that actually matter
The end of the inspection period and the financing deadline. Those are the two places the contract gives you a way out, and both of them close quietly whether or not anyone is watching the calendar.
That calendar is my job. It is also worth you knowing both dates by heart, because the only thing worse than a deadline you missed is finding out you had protection you never used.
What I am doing in the weeks you are waiting
Between the offer and the keys there is a long stretch where it looks to you like nothing is happening. What is happening is coordination: lender to title, inspector to contractor, appraiser to listing agent, and a running check that every date on the contract is being met by the people responsible for meeting it.
You should hear from me whether or not there is news. Silence from your agent during a contract is not a sign that everything is fine.
Common questions
How long does all of it take?
Finding the right house takes as long as it takes. Once you are under contract, thirty days is a common number in Middle Tennessee and your lender sets the pace. Cash moves faster. Anything unusual in the title work can move slower.
Which steps can run at the same time?
Inspection, appraisal and title all overlap, which is why the second half of a contract feels busier than the first. The one that cannot overlap is underwriting, because it needs the appraisal before it can finish.
What if I am selling at the same time I am buying?
Then there are two timelines and they have to be made to meet. That is a real conversation about order, about bridge options you would discuss with your lender, and about whether an offer contingent on your sale is strong enough to win here right now.
Can I still walk away once I am under contract?
Inside the inspection period, yes, within what your contract allows. After it closes, your exits narrow sharply and your earnest money is at risk. Read your own dates and ask me about anything in them you are unsure of.
The bottom line
You should never have to ask what happens next or how long it takes. That is what this page is for, and if your experience ever stops matching it, that is the moment to call me rather than wait.