Once your offer is accepted, the file moves through five stages: application and disclosures, appraisal, underwriting, clearing conditions, and closing.

At the first stage, submitting a formal application produces a Loan Estimate within a few days. It lays out your rate and projected costs, and it's the first document that lets you evaluate terms. This is also when you decide whether to lock your rate.

Next the appraisal is ordered, and its result goes into underwriting alongside your documentation. Conditions come out of that review, and the time spent clearing them is where files differ most. Once every condition is resolved, the file is clear to close.

Three days before closing you'll receive a Closing Disclosure. It states your final terms and the exact cash you'll need, and a legally required review period applies — which means a significant change at this point moves your date. Keeping your finances unchanged through that final week matters.

The stages run in sequence but they're linked, so anything left open early resurfaces all at once near the end. The number of moments where you personally need to act is smaller than most buyers expect, but missing one of them moves the whole schedule. We lay out what each stage requires before you get there.