The Massachusetts Closing Process, Step by Step

Massachusetts closes real estate differently from most of the country, in two ways that matter. First, a purchase runs through two contracts, not one: the Offer to Purchase, then the Purchase and Sale agreement. Second, this is an attorney state — a licensed attorney conducts the closing, and title companies do not perform that role here.

Most of what goes wrong for a buyer happens in the gap between those two contracts. Here is the whole sequence.

Step 1 — The Offer to Purchase is accepted

The Offer is a binding contract, not an expression of interest. It names the price, the deposit, the contingency deadlines, and the closing date. A deposit, often $1,000, goes with it.

From the moment it is signed, the clock on every contingency is running. Read the dates before you sign; they are the whole negotiation.

Step 2 — Inspection, typically within 5–10 days

You hire the inspector. Alongside the general inspection, consider radon, and in a home built before 1978, lead paint. If the property is on septic, the Title 5 inspection is the seller's obligation and its timing needs to be confirmed now, not later.

Under the standard offer, the inspection result gives you a defined window to negotiate, ask for a credit, or withdraw. Once that window closes, this leverage is gone.

Step 3 — The Purchase and Sale agreement, usually 10–14 days after the offer

This is the real contract. The Offer is superseded by it, and every material term is restated and expanded: title standards, what happens on a casualty loss, the extension mechanism, what constitutes default, and how the deposit is treated if the deal fails.

The deposit typically increases here, commonly to 5% of the price. Both sides are usually represented by counsel, and the standard Greater Boston Real Estate Board form is routinely amended. This is the point at which having your own attorney stops being optional.

Step 4 — The mortgage commitment

Your lender processes the file: appraisal, underwriting, verification. The P&S sets a commitment date, and if the lender has not issued a written commitment by then, you must either get an extension in writing or exercise your right to terminate. Letting the date pass without doing either can forfeit the deposit.

Appraisal is the usual source of trouble. If the property appraises below the contract price, the lender lends against the lower number and the gap is yours to cover, renegotiate, or walk from — depending on what the P&S says.

Step 5 — Title examination and the smoke certificate

The buyer's attorney examines the chain of title, typically 50 years back, and resolves anything found: old mortgages never discharged, easements, boundary discrepancies, probate gaps, unreleased liens. Lender's title insurance is required; owner's title insurance is optional and, at a one-time premium, generally worth it.

Separately, Massachusetts requires the seller to obtain a smoke and carbon-monoxide detector certificate from the local fire department, dated close to the closing. Departments book up, and a missed inspection appointment delays a closing more often than anything in the loan file.

Step 6 — The final walkthrough

Immediately before closing. You are confirming the property is in the condition the contract requires, the agreed repairs were done, everything that was to stay has stayed, and the systems still work. Problems found here are resolved at the closing table, usually with a holdback or a credit.

Step 7 — The closing

Held at the registry of deeds or the closing attorney's office. The seller signs and delivers the deed; the buyer signs the note, the mortgage and the settlement statement; funds are disbursed; and the deed and mortgage are recorded at the registry. In Massachusetts the transaction is complete on recording, not on signature.

Bring a government photo ID. Your funds must be in certified or wired form — and confirm wire instructions by telephone, using a number you already had, immediately before sending. Wire fraud targeting real estate closings is common and the money is generally not recoverable.

What does each side pay?

Broadly: the buyer pays lender fees, the appraisal, title examination and insurance, recording fees, prepaid interest and escrows. The seller pays the Massachusetts deeds excise tax, the payoff of existing mortgages, the 6(d) certificate if it is a condominium, the smoke certificate, and the brokerage fee under whatever agreement they signed. Municipal charges — property tax, water, sewer, and heating oil left in the tank — are prorated to the closing date.

Where does the timeline actually slip?

In order of frequency: the mortgage commitment date arriving before underwriting is finished; a title defect surfacing late; a low appraisal; the smoke inspection not being booked early enough; and a walkthrough finding something that was supposed to be repaired. None of these are exotic. All of them are cheaper to catch early.

Most Greater Boston closings run 30 to 45 days from accepted offer, and a cash purchase can be faster.