From Contract to Closing: What Happens When You Sell Without an Agent in Virginia

Once you’ve accepted an offer and gone under contract, the sale doesn’t run itself just because there’s no listing agent managing it. Virginia has a fairly standard sequence of steps between contract and closing, and most of it is administrative rather than complicated. If you want a second opinion on anything in the buyer’s financing timeline once you’re under contract, text me at 571-363-7686 and I’ll walk through it with you.

The part that catches unrepresented sellers off guard isn’t the paperwork — it’s the deadlines built into the contract. Most Virginia purchase agreements include specific windows for the home inspection, the appraisal (if the buyer is financing), and the loan commitment itself. Miss a step in tracking those dates, and you can lose leverage you didn’t know you had, or find out about a problem later than you should have. If you’re not sure what’s supposed to happen next in your specific contract, send me the relevant pages at 571-363-7686 and I’ll help you figure out what to expect.

In broad terms, here’s the order things usually move in: the buyer completes their inspection and any negotiated repairs or credits get settled, the buyer’s lender orders an appraisal if financing is involved, the loan moves through underwriting, and a title company or attorney prepares for settlement once the loan is clear to close. Each step depends on the one before it, which is why an early delay — especially in underwriting — tends to push the whole timeline back.

Virginia doesn’t require a real estate agent to be involved in this process, but most sellers still work with a title company or real estate attorney to handle settlement. They can confirm exactly how your deed, disclosures, and any existing mortgage payoff need to be handled in your specific transaction — that’s a separate role from a listing agent, and it’s worth having in place regardless of how the sale came together.

This post is part of a series on selling a home without a listing agent in Virginia. Start with the hub guide for an overview of the full process.

Text me the letter.

I’m Simar Sarang, a mortgage broker based in Centreville. Send the pre-approval letter to 571-363-7686 and I’ll tell you what’s actually behind it — what got verified, what didn’t, and what I’d ask that lender before you take your house off the market.

Usually same day. No cost, no obligation, and it makes no difference to me which lender your buyer is using.

Text 571-363-7686

Simar Sarang — Mortgage Loan Originator, NMLS #2558182

E Z Lending, LLC · Company NMLS #215245 · Brokering since 2002

Licensed in Virginia and Maryland

Equal Housing Lender