Once you have accepted an offer to sell your home, your real estate agent will inform you of all the procedures involved in order to proceed successfully to closing, as well as the parties responsible for completing those procedures and estimates of completion. For instance, the property may need to be formally appraised, surveyed, inspected or repaired. Depending on the specifics reached during the negotiations, you may pay for all, some, or none of these items.

Your agent will then coordinate with all the parties and keep you informed as to the results of the various procedures. If each procedure returns acceptable results as defined by the contract, then the sale may continue. If there are problems with the property the terms set forth in the contract will dictate your next step. Depending on the contract, you or the buyer may decide to walk away, open a new round of negotiations, or close. Your agent will advise you throughout this process and will help you coordinate any actions you must take to keep the sale moving forward.

There are some sales that go smoothly and some that require a lot of work to get to the closing table. Until you get into it, you won't know which one you have on your hands. Either way, your agent will be there with you every step of the way.