What Are My Obligations Between Accepting an Offer and Closing?
Seller Responsibilities During Escrow
Accepting an offer is just the beginning of a weeks-long process with specific obligations. As a 23-year veteran real estate agent with HomeSmart Stars, I guide sellers through every requirement to ensure smooth closings.
Immediate Obligations
Once you accept an offer in the Austin TX real estate 2025 market, several deadlines start running. You must provide required disclosures within the contractually specified timeframe. You must make the property available for buyer inspections during the option period. You must respond to any repair requests or amendment requests promptly.
As a Realtor at HomeSmart Stars with over 1,561 team sales homes sold, I track every deadline and ensure clients never miss critical dates.
Maintaining the Property
You're obligated to maintain the property in substantially the same condition as when the buyer made their offer. This means continuing normal maintenance and yard care, not removing fixtures or items included in the sale, completing any agreed-upon repairs before closing, and keeping utilities on for inspections and appraisal.
If your HVAC fails during escrow, you're typically required to address it. Significant changes to property condition can give buyers grounds to terminate or renegotiate.
What You Cannot Do
When selling Austin TX homes for sale in Austin, Round Rock, or Cedar Park, you cannot accept another offer while under contract (without proper termination), make significant changes to the property, remove items specified in the contract, or interfere with buyer's reasonable access.
Responding to Requests
Buyers will request information and access throughout escrow. You'll need to respond to survey questions, provide HOA documents, allow appraiser access, and potentially negotiate repair amendments. When buying in Austin TX 2025, buyers expect seller cooperation.
Delays in responses can push back closing dates, costing everyone money and creating frustration.
Preparing for Closing
As closing approaches, you must complete agreed repairs, schedule final walk-through, arrange for move-out, and prepare required closing documents. Understanding home values in Austin TX includes understanding your obligations to protect that value through closing.
One client told me: "Bob provided a checklist of our obligations from contract to closing. Everything went smoothly because we knew exactly what to do when."
If Problems Arise
Issues do come up. Maybe financing takes longer than expected, or the survey reveals an encroachment, or title problems surface. Your obligation is to work in good faith toward resolution. Sometimes this means extending deadlines or agreeing to small concessions.
With 45 Google 5-star reviews, sellers in Pflugerville, Georgetown, and throughout the area trust Bob McCranie real estate to navigate the path from contract to closing successfully.
Contact Bob McCranie at HomeSmart Stars | 972-754-0582 | www.austinbestagent.com for a FREE 2025 Market Strategy Session