Accepted is not sold. Between your signature and your proceeds sits the Arizona escrow process, and for sellers it’s fundamentally a defensive game: the price you negotiated now has to survive the buyer’s inspections, their lender’s appraisal, and the title examination. I’ve defended sellers’ outcomes through this stretch for decades, step five of my roadmap is what to expect and how we protect your number.
The Buyer’s Inspection Period
Arizona’s standard contract gives buyers a due diligence period, commonly around ten days, and they’ll use it. Expect a general inspection and possibly specialists: roof, HVAC, termite and pest, pool and spa, and in outlying areas, well and septic. Your job is simple, keep the home accessible and systems operable, and one piece of advice I give every seller: don’t panic when the report arrives. Every inspection of every home produces a list. What matters is what happens next.
Responding to the BINSR
Buyers deliver their findings on Arizona’s Buyer’s Inspection Notice and Seller’s Response, the BINSR, usually with repair or correction requests attached. Here’s what sellers need to understand: you have options. You can agree, decline, or agree to some items and not others, and every request is a negotiation, not an invoice. My response strategy weighs the market, the buyer’s alternatives, the cost of each item, and the strength of your position, sometimes the right answer is fixing the roof, sometimes it’s a modest credit, and sometimes it’s a polite no. How this document is answered routinely swings thousands of dollars, and it’s exactly where a listing agent earns the fee.
The Appraisal
If your buyer is financing, their lender sends an appraiser to confirm the price. I don’t leave that to chance: I meet the appraisal with a prepared package, the comparable sales and property improvements that support your contract price, because appraisers work from data and better data produces better conclusions. If an appraisal still comes in low, we have paths: challenging it with additional comps, renegotiating, or holding firm where the buyer can and will cover the gap. This is also why I recommended, back at the offer stage, favoring buyers with genuine loan commitments over thin pre-qualifications, stronger buyers survive appraisal turbulence.
Title, Liens and the Closing Agent
The title company researches your property’s complete recorded history to certify clear title at closing, free of undisclosed mortgages, liens, and encumbrances. The seller’s move here is early honesty: tell me now about anything on title, old liens, solar agreements, disputes, unpermitted work, so we resolve it on our schedule instead of discovering it two days before closing. HOA payoff and transfer requirements get ordered early for the same reason.
Keeping the Deal on Schedule
Contract timelines in Arizona have teeth. We document everything in writing, every agreement and addendum signed with copies to you, and we hit every date, because a seller in breach hands leverage to the buyer. I track the milestones and keep you updated constantly; your only surprises should be pleasant ones.
Seller Escrow FAQ
Do I have to make the repairs the buyer requests?
No. BINSR requests are negotiable, agree, decline, or meet in the middle. The right response depends on your market position, and blanket answers in either direction cost sellers money.
What happens if the appraisal comes in below the contract price?
Options include challenging the appraisal with supporting comps, renegotiating the price, or the buyer covering the difference. The right path depends on the gap, the buyer, and your alternatives.
Can the buyer really walk away during the inspection period?
Generally yes, within the contract’s inspection provisions. That’s why offer selection and BINSR strategy matter, keeping a committed buyer engaged is part of defending your sale.
How long does escrow take for sellers in Arizona?
Typically 30 to 45 days financed, faster for cash. Your contract sets the date, and disciplined milestone management keeps it.
Next Step: Close of Escrow
Continue to Close of Escrow, revisit Accepting an Offer or contact me at 480.861.6624.