What Happens After Your Offer Is Accepted on a South Bay Home?

What happens after your offer is accepted in California?

Once a seller accepts your offer, escrow opens and a 30 to 45 day countdown starts. You wire your initial deposit in the first few days, inspections and the appraisal happen in the first two weeks, you review the seller's disclosures, and then you remove your contingencies in writing. Your lender funds the loan at the end, and you get the keys when the deed records with Los Angeles County. That recording is what close of escrow actually means here.

By Ben Larson | September 21, 2026

The call that your offer was accepted feels great for about an hour. Then wire instructions arrive from an escrow company you have never heard of, someone mentions Day 17, and it sinks in that you just signed the biggest contract of your life without a map.

Buyers post about this exact moment constantly. They cannot sleep the night the offer is accepted. They wonder if they overpaid. They are afraid to touch anything in case it costs them their deposit.

Here is the good news. The California purchase contract runs on a fixed set of deadlines, those deadlines exist to protect you, and once you can see the whole sequence the fear mostly goes away. This is the same week by week walk I give every buyer I represent in the South Bay.

The first 72 hours: escrow opens and the clock starts

Your timeline starts the day after the seller signs. In the South Bay, the purchase agreement goes to an escrow company, and a separate title company starts the title search. That two-company setup is normal here, so do not be surprised when paperwork arrives from both.

Your first job is the initial deposit, often called earnest money. Locally that is usually around three percent of the purchase price, and the contract sets the deadline, typically within three business days of acceptance.

One warning I give every client before anything else: wire fraud is real and it targets exactly this moment. Call your escrow officer at the phone number on the opening package to confirm wiring instructions before you send anything, and never trust a last-minute email telling you the instructions changed. No legitimate escrow company changes wiring instructions by email.

Your deposit is not gone once it is wired. It sits in escrow's trust account and only moves when the contract says it moves. If you want to see how the deposit fits into your total cash to close, I broke that down in how much closing costs run for South Bay buyers.

Week one: inspections and the appraisal get ordered

Book your general home inspection immediately. In this market you are often working inside a shortened inspection window, sometimes 7 to 12 days instead of the default 17, so every day matters.

What you inspect should match the house. Much of the South Bay's housing stock has real age on it: 1920s to 1950s cottages in Redondo and Hermosa, mid-century tract homes across Torrance, and hillside construction in Palos Verdes. That is why sewer lateral scopes, foundation looks, and termite inspections are routine here, and why hillside properties sometimes justify a geologic review. A condo or townhome near the Redondo marina corridors swaps some of that for a close read of the HOA package.

While you inspect, your lender orders the appraisal and builds your loan file. Respond to document requests the same day you get them. Loan questions, program details, and anything about payments belong with your licensed lender, and slow paperwork is one of the most common reasons escrows run long.

One more week one job if you are buying in Palos Verdes or any hillside pocket: start your homeowners insurance quotes now, not in week four. Your lender will not fund without a bound policy, and in the fire hazard zones coverage can take time to arrange. I covered how insurance behaves in these zones in my Palos Verdes fire zone insurance guide. It is written for sellers, but the carrier math is the same, and a licensed insurance broker should be on your team early.

Week two: disclosures, the inspection report, and repair decisions

California sellers owe you a stack of disclosures, generally within the first seven days: the Transfer Disclosure Statement, the Seller Property Questionnaire, a Natural Hazard Disclosure report, and the agent's own visual inspection disclosure. Read all of it. The SPQ is usually where the interesting history lives.

Your inspection report lands around the same time, and now you have a decision. You can ask the seller to make repairs, ask for a credit instead, or accept the house as it sits. Most South Bay sellers prefer a credit over doing the work, and honestly, so should you in most cases, because you control the contractor and the quality. I wrote about this negotiation from the seller's chair in can you refuse a buyer's repair request, and reading it shows you exactly how the other side thinks.

If the repair conversation turns into money, the structure of the concession matters. Here is how a seller credit compares to a price cut from the buyer's side.

Week three: the appraisal lands and contingencies come off

If the appraisal matches the price, your loan moves toward final approval and week three is quiet. If it comes in low, you have real options: ask the lender for a reconsideration of value, renegotiate the price, split the difference, cover the gap yourself, or cancel while your appraisal contingency is still active and keep your deposit.

Then comes the part of the California process almost every buyer misunderstands. Your contingencies do not expire on their own. Day 17 arrives and nothing happens automatically. Contingencies only come off when you sign a Contingency Removal form and deliver it, which means the decision is always an affirmative act by you.

What the deadline does change is leverage. Once you are past the date, the seller can issue a Notice to Buyer to Perform, which typically gives you 48 hours to remove contingencies or the seller can cancel. So the honest framing is this: before you sign that removal form, your deposit is protected. After you sign it, your deposit is on the line if you walk. In a standard South Bay purchase, a liquidated damages clause caps what a seller can keep at three percent of the price, but three percent of a South Bay home is real money. Remove contingencies when you are actually sure, not to be polite.

The seller is running a parallel track this whole time, and knowing their side helps you negotiate. Here is what the same escrow looks like from the seller's seat.

The final week: signing, funding, recording, keys

Loan documents arrive at escrow, and you sign with a notary a few days before closing. Your closing funds are due by wire, and the same rule applies: confirm instructions by phone.

You also get a final walk through, formally the Verification of Property Condition, usually within five days of closing. It is not a contingency. It exists to confirm the house is in the condition you agreed to and that any negotiated repairs are done. If something is wrong, the usual fixes are a credit, an escrow holdback, or a short delay while the seller cures it.

Then the sequence finishes without you: the lender funds, the deed records with Los Angeles County, escrow calls with "we are on record," and you get the keys. Recording day is closing day here. Plan your movers around that call, not around your signing appointment.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long does escrow take in the South Bay?

Most financed purchases close in 30 to 45 days from acceptance. Cash purchases can close in roughly 7 to 10 days because there is no lender, no appraisal requirement, and no loan contingency. Your contract sets the exact date, and both sides can agree in writing to extend it.

Can I back out after the inspection without losing my deposit?

Yes, if your inspection contingency is still active. Cancel in writing before you have removed the contingency and your deposit comes back. The inspection contingency in the C.A.R. contract is broad, so you do not need the seller to agree that the problem is serious. Once you sign a Contingency Removal covering inspection, that protection is gone.

What happens if I miss the Day 17 contingency deadline?

Nothing automatic. Your contingencies stay in place until you sign a Contingency Removal form, but you are past your contractual date, so the seller can issue a Notice to Buyer to Perform and cancel about 48 hours later if you still do not act. Treat the deadline as real and either remove contingencies or negotiate an extension before it hits.

What if I cannot get homeowners insurance on the house?

This comes up most in the Palos Verdes fire hazard zones. Your lender will not fund without bound coverage, so get quotes from a licensed insurance broker in week one, before you remove contingencies. If standard carriers decline, the California FAIR Plan plus a companion policy is the common fallback, and your broker can price it before you are committed.

When do I actually get the keys?

When the deed records with Los Angeles County, not when you sign. Signing usually happens a few days earlier. Unless your contract gives the seller a rent-back period, possession transfers at recording, which escrow confirms by phone or email that afternoon.

The bottom line for South Bay buyers

Escrow is a sequence, not a mystery. Deposit, inspections, disclosures, appraisal, contingency removal, signing, recording. Every deadline in that chain protects you until the moment you sign it away, so the whole game is knowing where you stand before you sign anything.

If you are getting ready to buy here, my South Bay Buyer's Guide covers El Segundo, Manhattan Beach, Hermosa Beach, Redondo Beach, Torrance, Palos Verdes, Lomita, and San Pedro, including how to set up your offer so this timeline works in your favor. Grab it at larsonrealty.group/south-bay-buyer-guide, or reach out and I will walk you through your specific situation.

This article is general information, not legal, tax, lending, or insurance advice. For legal questions about your contract, talk to a real estate attorney. For loan terms and payments, talk to a licensed lender. For coverage questions, talk to a licensed insurance broker, and for tax questions, talk to a CPA.

About Ben Larson

Ben Larson leads Larson Realty Group, powered by Real Broker, serving the South Bay of Los Angeles. Licensed since 2006 with more than $100 million in closed sales, he specializes in listings across the Palos Verdes Peninsula and the beach cities, and works extensively with probate, trust, and inherited property sales. Reach him at larsonrealty.group. DRE #01746853.