What does it mean to be "Under Contract"?

Once the offer is agreed to by all parties concerned, the agent will take the written final agreement and the deposit check and deposit them "under contract." An escrow account protects your money until the closing.  Escrow account will then be deemed open.

The purpose of an escrow account is to enable a buyer and seller to deal with each other without risk. Before title to the property can be transferred to the new buyer, the buyer must deposit into escrow all monies necessary to pay for the home. This is most commonly done when the buyer obtains a loan.

Then, the seller must be paid, the seller's old mortgage paid off, and any other liens on the property must be paid off. All responsibility for handling funds and documents is delegated to the escrow holder, a neutral third party, which is usually a title insurance company or escrow company.

We have a home "under contract" - What happens next??

1) The buyer begins inspections within the "due diligence" period including:
- systems (heater, air conditioning, plumbing, etc.)
- structural (walls, foundation, subflooring, etc.)
- terminte ( termites are bad in GA so this is important here)
2) Mortgage loan is processed for buyerincluding:
- Appraisal
- Verification of Credit, Employment, Assets, loans, and any other verifications
- Loan is submitted to underwriting for approval ( loan officer packages the loan and then everything that is submitted is scrutinized by the underwriter.
3) Buyer obtains Insurance
4) Lawyer checks title to verify loan payoffs and to check for any liens or other encumberances to giving clear title to buyer.  
5 ) All money goes into the lawyer's account from the loan, earnest money, cash from borrrower and any other sources just prior to closing time.  
6) At closing time all the paperwork for the loan and to transfer title (ownership) from the seller to the buyer is completed.
7) Once the paperwork is completed the money is dispersed from the lawyers account to pay off the loans, pay everyone involved in the transaction, taxes, insurance, pre-paid items, and any other outstanding bills that need to be paid.  
8) At this point ownership transfers from the seller to the buyer!  

Congratulations you have just bought or sold your home!!