What to Do After Signing Your Home Purchase Contract
By WealthyDesis Team · August 6, 2026
Signing the purchase contract isn’t the finish line — it starts a 30-to-45 day sprint of deadlines, any one of which can put your earnest money at risk if you miss it. For immigrant buyers specifically, two things tend to cause avoidable delays: fund-sourcing paperwork when money has moved internationally, and status documentation that a lender unfamiliar with visa files doesn’t ask for early enough.
The contingency clock starts now
Most purchase contracts include three contingencies, each with its own deadline written into the contract itself:
- Inspection contingency (typically 7-10 days): you hire an inspector, review the report, and either accept the property, negotiate repairs or a credit, or walk away with your earnest money intact — but only if you act before this window closes.
- Appraisal contingency (typically 14-21 days): the lender orders an independent appraisal to confirm the home is worth at least the purchase price. If it appraises low, you renegotiate the price, pay the difference in cash, or exit the contract depending on how the contingency is written.
- Financing/loan contingency (typically 21-30 days): your lender must issue final loan approval by this date. Missing it without an extension can mean forfeiting your earnest money even if the delay wasn’t your fault.
Miss any of these deadlines without a written extension signed by both parties, and you can lose contingency protection — meaning your earnest money deposit, often 1% to 3% of the purchase price, is no longer guaranteed if the deal falls through.
Where immigrant buyers lose time they didn’t need to lose
The contingency clock doesn’t pause for extra underwriting steps, so anything that adds documentation time eats directly into your deadline buffer.
Large deposit sourcing
Under Fannie Mae’s underwriting guidance, a deposit is only exempt from further documentation if its source is printed on the statement itself — a labeled payroll deposit or a tax refund, for instance. A deposit without a clear label, and Freddie-backed lenders commonly flag anything above roughly half your monthly qualifying income, gets flagged and requires the lender to trace it back to its source before your loan can close.
This is where international money movement causes the most friction. A $15,000 wire from a parent’s account in India, sitting in your US account with no explanation attached, is exactly the kind of deposit that triggers a documentation request — even though the funds are completely legitimate. The fix is procedural, not financial: keep two months of the sending account’s statements, a simple letter explaining the relationship and purpose of the transfer, and the wire confirmation, ready before your lender asks. If you know a family contribution is coming, mention it to your loan officer during the contract period, not after underwriting flags it.
Gift funds from family abroad
If the money is a gift rather than your own savings, Fannie Mae requires a signed gift letter from the donor along with evidence of the transfer from their account to yours. The single biggest time-saver here: have the gift sent directly to the title/escrow company once you have an accepted offer, rather than routing it through your personal checking account first. Funds that pass through your own account first typically require additional documentation tracing that leg of the transfer too — an extra step that’s easy to avoid by skipping it.
Visa and employment status re-verification
Lenders re-verify employment and, often, immigration status close to closing, not just at pre-approval. If your H1B extension, OPT, or EAD is within a few months of its expiration date during the closing window, flag this to your loan officer at signing — not when a closer employment verification request comes back and stalls the file. An H1B holder mid-transfer to a new employer during the closing window should expect the lender to request a new offer letter or I-797 approval notice as a matter of course.
What happens if this is mismanaged
- Sitting on the inspection report past the deadline: waiting even a few days past the inspection contingency window to negotiate repairs can mean losing your right to renegotiate or exit — the clause protects you only while it’s still active.
- Not disclosing an incoming international transfer before it lands: a large, unlabeled wire deposit discovered mid-underwriting adds a documentation cycle the lender didn’t plan for, which can push your closing date past the loan contingency deadline.
- Routing a gift through your personal account instead of straight to escrow: this doubles the paperwork trail your lender needs (donor-to-you, then you-to-escrow) instead of the single trail a direct-to-escrow gift creates.
- Letting a visa document expire without telling the lender first: an EAD or H1B extension that lapses between application and closing can freeze the file at the worst possible moment — flagging the expiration date upfront lets the lender plan around it instead of reacting to it.
- Assuming a low appraisal is the seller’s problem to fix: if the property appraises below the contract price, you’re the one who has to renegotiate, bring extra cash, or invoke the appraisal contingency — waiting to see what the seller does first can burn contingency days you don’t get back.
What to do in the first week after signing
Schedule your inspection immediately — don’t wait for a reminder from your agent. Confirm with your loan officer, in writing, exactly which documents they’ll need if any portion of your down payment or closing funds came from outside the US, and get that paperwork moving in parallel with the inspection rather than waiting for underwriting to ask. If you know your H1B, OPT, or EAD has an expiration date anywhere near your projected closing date, say so now, not later.
Next step: if your down payment includes savings held in India or a family gift, read sending money to India: cheapest way to remit for the reverse-direction version of this fund-movement question, or check the closing-week document checklist.
Sources: Fannie Mae Selling Guide — Depository Accounts (large deposits), Fannie Mae Selling Guide — Personal Gifts. This article is educational information, not legal or financial advice — contingency timelines are set by your specific purchase contract, and specific large-deposit thresholds vary by lender, so confirm both with your agent and loan officer directly.
Frequently asked questions
How long does closing take after signing a purchase contract?
Typically 30 to 45 days for a conventional loan, though this can run shorter with a strong pre-underwritten file or longer if the loan requires extra documentation, such as verifying foreign-sourced funds or visa status.
What counts as a 'large deposit' that a lender will question?
Fannie Mae guidance flags deposits that aren't clearly identifiable from the statement itself, such as payroll or a tax refund, and Freddie-backed lenders commonly flag anything exceeding roughly 50% of your qualifying monthly income. A $15,000 wire transfer from a parent's account in India, with no label explaining it, is a textbook example that gets flagged.
Can a family member in India gift me money for my down payment?
Yes. Fannie Mae allows gift funds from family members, including parents abroad, but the gift must be documented with a signed gift letter and evidence tracing the transfer from the donor's account to yours — sending it directly to escrow, rather than through your personal account first, usually simplifies the paperwork.
Written by WealthyDesis Team
Reviewed for accuracy against current IRS and USCIS guidance at time of publishing.