The seller said yes. You’re excited. Then your inbox fills with deadlines, payment instructions, inspection questions, and requests from your lender. What happens first?
After your offer is accepted on an Amarillo home, confirm the fully executed contract and effective date with your agent. Next, verify payment instructions, meet your deposit deadlines, arrange inspections promptly, and respond to lender and title requests. Track your actual option and financing deadlines rather than assuming everything follows a ten-day schedule.
This guide organizes the first ten days of a typical home purchase into manageable steps. It is a planning framework, not a contractual timetable: your option period may be shorter, longer, or absent, and several tasks happen at the same time.
First: get your contract and deadline list
Ask your agent for the signed contract, all addenda, and a written calendar. Confirm the effective date, escrow agent, payment amounts, option expiration if applicable, buyer approval deadline, survey requirements, and scheduled closing and possession dates. Keep those documents somewhere easy to find.
A verbal “accepted” message is your cue to check the paperwork with your agent. Do not calculate deadlines from the date you first submitted the offer or from an email’s arrival time.
Your first ten days: who handles what?
Immediately after execution: You review the deadline calendar and verify funding instructions. Your agent explains the agreed terms and helps coordinate delivery of the contract to the appropriate parties.
Within your payment deadlines: You deliver required funds through the escrow agent’s verified process and obtain confirmation of receipt. Your agent helps track the contract dates; the escrow agent confirms receipt.
As early as possible, before your applicable decision deadlines: You choose and hire inspectors and specialists. Your agent helps coordinate property access and discusses the report with you after you receive it.
Before your actual option deadline, if you have one: You evaluate findings and make decisions with your agent’s guidance. Your agent communicates proposals and prepares appropriate documents; the seller decides whether to agree.
Throughout the first ten days and beyond: You answer document requests and shop for insurance. The lender processes financing and any required valuation. The title company works on title and closing requirements. These processes may continue well beyond day ten.
Earnest money and option fees: know the difference
Earnest money is a deposit toward the transaction; the option fee pays for a negotiated unrestricted termination right. Neither should be confused with the inspection fee or the rest of your cash to close.
Under the current TREC One to Four Family Residential Contract (Resale), form 20-19, earnest money and the option fee are payable and delivered to the named escrow agent within three days after the effective date. The form provides a weekend and defined legal-holiday extension for delivery. Additional earnest money may have its own negotiated deadline.
If a valid option applies, termination notice must meet its deadline, including 5 p.m. local time where the property is located. Do not assume the deposit-delivery extension also extends the option period. Missing payment requirements can affect contractual rights.
Have your agent verify every date against your signed documents. Builder, condominium, land, and other contracts can use different terms. See our Amarillo cash-to-close guide for the broader upfront budget.
Verify payment instructions before sending money
Urgent emails and familiar logos are not proof that a payment request is legitimate. Establish a trusted phone number for your title or escrow contact early, then independently confirm instructions before sending funds. Verify the recipient and account details through that trusted channel, including any claimed change.
After a transfer, confirm receipt directly. If you suspect fraud, contact your bank immediately and report it to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center. NAR’s consumer wire-fraud guide explains the precautions in more detail.
Arrange inspections while you still have time to act
Choose your inspector promptly. Ask about availability, the inspection scope, report turnaround, and whether separate evaluations may be appropriate. Depending on the property, follow-up questions might involve the roof, sewer, foundation, HVAC, wood-destroying insects, a well, or a septic system.
These are property-specific decisions, not a suggestion that every Amarillo home needs every specialty inspection. Rural properties around Canyon, Bushland, and the broader Panhandle may involve systems and documents different from a home on city utilities.
TREC explains that licensed Texas home inspectors follow state standards and provide a written inspection report. Review recommendations with the inspector and allow time for specialists where needed. A general inspection does not answer every technical question.
The buyer chooses, hires, and pays the inspector. Discuss access and any opportunity to attend with the inspector and your agent. Your agent helps you consider the findings and available contract options; contractors and inspectors provide technical evaluations. Our guide to inspection issues that can complicate an Amarillo sale offers more context.
A repair request is not a repair agreement
After reviewing the report, identify which items matter most and gather qualified estimates when useful. Your agent can help organize a focused proposal. The seller may accept, reject, or counter it.
Sending a repair request does not pause the option clock. An amendment needs the parties’ agreement and signatures. An option extension also requires a properly documented agreement; Texas REALTORS® advises addressing additional consideration when extending it. Discuss any extension early instead of assuming negotiations protect your deadline.
Review Texas REALTORS® guidance on amendments and its option-period guidance with your agent. Consult an attorney when you need advice about legal rights or a disputed deadline.
If a credit is proposed instead of repairs, involve the lender before agreeing. Our price reduction versus closing cost credit guide explains why the structure matters.
Keep the lender, insurance, and title work moving
Ask your lender what is still needed and use its verified submission process. Send complete documents, confirm receipt, and respond promptly. Discuss changes involving employment, credit, debts, or the source of funds before making them. The CFPB’s document-request checklist explains why lenders may need additional information during processing.
Shop for homeowners insurance early enough to understand coverage, deductibles, and any property-related underwriting questions. For Amarillo buyers, our roof, hail, and insurance guide provides questions to discuss with an insurer.
Ask your title contact which documents are outstanding. Review title, survey, HOA, and other materials promptly when received, with professional help as appropriate. Some review and objection periods depend on document delivery, so a single closing-date reminder is not enough.
An appraisal is different from an inspection
An inspection evaluates condition within its scope. An appraisal provides a value opinion for the lender’s financing decision and may also identify conditions relevant to the loan. It does not replace your own inspection. The CFPB distinguishes the two processes.
The appraisal may occur after your option period, and some eligible loans use an appraisal waiver or another permitted valuation process. Ask the lender about timing and requirements. If value comes in below the contract price, review the signed financing and appraisal documents with your agent and lender; outcomes are not automatic. Read our Texas appraisal guide.
Questions Amarillo buyers ask after an offer is accepted
Do I automatically get ten days to inspect?
No. Ten days is this guide’s planning window. Your signed contract determines any option period and other protections. Schedule around your actual deadlines.
Does the seller have to fix everything in the inspection report?
The report itself does not create an agreement to make every repair. Existing contract duties and any signed amendments control; discuss the specific situation with your agent.
Does preapproval mean my loan is finished?
No. Ask your lender what borrower, property, and closing conditions remain. Continue responding to requests until the lender confirms the required steps are complete.
Can I move in once my offer is accepted?
No. Confirm the possession terms in your contract and any lease or other agreement. Offer acceptance alone does not provide possession.
Start with a clear plan for your Amarillo purchase
The first days under contract become easier when you know the next action, its owner, and its deadline. Green Door Group can help you understand the process, coordinate with the transaction parties, and keep your decisions tied to the signed paperwork.
Contact Green Door Group about buying a home in Amarillo, Canyon, or the Texas Panhandle.
Phone: (806) 318-8479
Green Door Group | 3131 Bell St, Suite 201, Amarillo, TX 79106
Reviewed October 22, 2026. General educational information, not legal advice or a transaction-specific deadline calculation. Your executed contract, addenda, and amendments control. Consult your agent, lender, title company, and an attorney as appropriate.
