Buying on Long Island · after you sign

You are under contract. Here is what happens next.

The contract is signed and your deposit is in escrow. From here the loan runs through ten stages, most of them out of your sight. Nobody explains them, so the silence feels like trouble. It is not. This page is the whole path, in order, with the spot where each stage can break and the part that is yours to do.

On this page

The two words that matter

You will hear two milestones and people use them as if they were one. They are not.

The commitment letter is the lender saying yes, with conditions attached. In New York it is what your mortgage contingency is waiting for. When the contract says commitment by a certain date, this letter is the thing.

Clear to close comes later. It means every condition on that letter has been met and the file is done. People say it as CTC. About three weeks of work usually sits between the two.

So a commitment letter with conditions is normal, not a warning. Most Long Island contracts accept one as long as the conditions are the usual kind. Whether yours does is a question for your attorney, and it is worth asking the week the letter arrives.

The ten stages, in order

Each one says what happens, then where it can break. Most files break in the same few places, so you will see the same themes repeat: paperwork, the appraisal, title, and new debt.

The signed contract comes back. In New York you sign first and the seller signs second. The deal exists the day the signed copy reaches your attorney. That day starts every clock: the window to apply for the loan, the commitment date, and the closing date. Send the signed contract to your loan officer the same day. Many Long Island contracts ask you to apply within a few business days, often three to five.Where it breaksThe contract sits in an inbox for two weeks. Wait too long and you can lose the protection your own contingency gives you. This is the one stage where the house cannot fail you. Only the calendar can.
Your file goes live. The loan officer turns your pre approval into a real application on this address. Under federal rules the application exists once the lender has six things: your name, your income, your Social Security number, the address, an estimated value, and the loan amount. That starts a legal clock for the lender.Where it breaksRarely here. If your income or your job changed since the pre approval, say so now. Finding out at underwriting costs weeks.
The Loan Estimate, and the papers you sign. Within three business days the lender must hand you a Loan Estimate: the rate, the monthly payment, and the cash to close, on one standard form. With it comes a signing package. Consent to do this online. Permission to pull credit. A form that lets the lender check your tax returns with the IRS. And one called Intent to Proceed. The lender may not charge you anything but the credit report until you sign that one. That is why the appraisal bill lands the minute you finish signing. It is the law, not a slow lender. You also upload pay stubs, W2s, tax returns, two months of bank statements, and, if family money is involved, a gift letter with the giver's bank statement.Where it breaksA large deposit with no paper trail. Every dollar in your account has to be explained. Tax transcripts that do not match the returns you handed over, or a return still on extension.
The appraisal is ordered. Your lender does not pick the appraiser. It orders through a management company, a middle layer the law requires so nobody can lean on the value. The appraiser calls the listing agent to get in. On Long Island right now, seven to fourteen days from order to report is normal. Longer on the East End, or on an unusual house. You get a copy at least three business days before closing.Where it breaksThe value comes in low. The lender lends on the lower of the price and the value. Your options: the seller drops the price, you cover the gap in cash, you split it, or you ask for a reconsideration of value. Every lender must offer that review now, and you get one request per report, so send your best comps, not your most. Here is the part most people get wrong: a low value does not by itself let you out. If your down payment is big enough that the loan still fits, the loan is approved and you are bound, unless your attorney wrote a separate appraisal clause into the contract. Most Long Island contracts do not have one. Ask before you count on that door. Two more: the appraiser may require repairs first, common on FHA and VA loans (peeling paint, a missing handrail, no smoke or carbon monoxide detectors, a well or septic test), then a second visit. And some houses a lender will not touch at all: an illegal apartment, a finished basement with no certificate of occupancy, a two family that is legally a one family. On Long Island the illegal apartment is the most common file killer there is.
Title runs at the same time. Title is not the lender's job here. Your attorney orders it. Back comes a title report: the chain of owners, a tax search, municipal searches for certificates of occupancy and open permits, and a survey. The lender requires a policy that protects the loan. You buy a second policy that protects your purchase price. Both attorneys and the lender read the same report.Where it breaksAn old mortgage that was paid but never marked paid. A lien against someone with a name like the seller's. Unpaid taxes. A seller who died, so the estate needs court papers nobody budgeted time for. A survey that shows the fence over the line or the shed on the neighbor's land. And the Long Island special: a dormer, deck, pool, or finished basement built with no permit. Clearing it means a permit application and town inspections, and towns move on town time. Sometimes the title company insures over it. Sometimes money is held back at closing. Sometimes the deal waits. A flood zone finding raises the insurance bill, and that can move the loan math.
Processing. A loan processor stacks the file and chases the outside pieces: proof of your job, the IRS transcripts, the insurance binder naming the lender, flood insurance if the house sits in a flood zone, and the building package if it is a condo or co-op.Where it breaksInsurance says no. Coastal exposure, an old roof, or a prior claim, and getting a binder becomes its own emergency. A surprise premium can move the ratios. In a condo, too many investor owned units, a lawsuit, or thin reserves can fail the building, which means a worse loan or walking away. In a co-op there is no title insurance in the usual form, a lien search instead, plus the board package and the interview, and a board can say no without giving a reason. The co-op and condo guide covers the building side.
Underwriting, and the letter your contract is waiting for. An underwriter runs the file through the automated system, then reads it as a person. The outcome is almost never a clean yes. It is a conditional approval, and in New York the letter version is the commitment letter. That is the document your mortgage contingency is written around. The other two outcomes are suspended, meaning they need more before deciding, and denied.Where it breaksA job change mid process, especially from salary to commission, because underwriters want a history on commission income. The rate lock runs out. Locks run 30, 45, or 60 days, and an extension costs money that somebody has to pay. Every delay has a price tag.
Conditions cleared, then clear to close. You and the processor knock down the list: a letter explaining a deposit, a fresh statement, proof a card was paid off, the repair re inspection. Back to the underwriter for sign off. That is final approval. The file is clear to close.Where it breaksNew credit. Furniture on a store card, a leased car, a phone on a payment plan. The lender pulls your credit and checks your job again within days of closing. A car bought two weeks before the table can push your monthly debt too high against your income and kill an approved loan. Nothing new on credit until you are holding the keys.
The Closing Disclosure and the three day wait. You must receive the Closing Disclosure at least three business days before closing. Many lenders send it as soon as the numbers are firm, often before clear to close, so the clock is usually already running. Only three changes restart it: the APR moves outside a small tolerance, the loan product changes, or a prepayment penalty is added. A changed seller credit or a corrected tax figure does not restart it. Knowing that difference keeps a closing date from moving for no reason.Where it breaksCash to close changes late because a credit was added or a tax was figured wrong. And wire fraud. Never take wiring instructions from an email. Call your attorney at a number you already had before you move a dollar.
Walk through, sign, fund, record. The lender sends the closing package and the money instructions to your attorney and the title company. You do the final walk through. At the table you sign the note and the mortgage. The lender wires the money. The title company records the deed and the mortgage. Then the keys.Where it breaksThe lender funds late in the day and the recording office has closed, so the closing slides to tomorrow. Annoying, not fatal.

You do not track any of this. I do, with your attorney and your loan officer, and I tell you which stage you are in whenever you ask.

Call or text 631 528 5786

Your part: seven rules

Most of the stages above belong to other people. These are the ones that belong to you, and they are the ones that decide whether an approved loan stays approved.

Send the contract the same day.The signed contract goes to your loan officer the day it arrives. Your application window is short, and it is written into the contract.
Answer the same day.Every document request gets a same day reply. A file that waits on you waits on nothing else, and the commitment date does not wait with it.
Move no money.No large transfers between accounts and no big deposits from now until closing. Money that moves has to be explained, and a gift needs its letter and the giver's statement before it lands.
Open no credit.No store card for the furniture, no new car, no financed phone, no co-signing. The lender pulls your credit again days before closing.
Keep your job.Do not change jobs, and never move from salary to commission, until after closing. If a change is unavoidable, tell your loan officer before it happens, not after.
Lock with room.Ask what your rate lock covers and pick a term that reaches past your closing date, not just to it. An extension is money, and someone pays it.
Verify every wire by phone.Wiring instructions arrive by email all the time, and some of them are fake. Call your attorney at the number you already had, every time, before any money moves.

How long it all takes

The Long Island convention, not a rule: a commitment date 30 to 45 days after the signed contract, and a closing 45 to 60 days after it. The appraisal runs seven to fourteen days inside that. Your contract governs, and every one is different, so read yours with your attorney for the actual dates.

What moves the dates is almost always one of four things: a slow reply on documents, an appraisal problem, a title or permit problem, or new debt. Look back at the stages and you will see that two of the four are yours to prevent.

Co-ops, new construction, and portfolio loans change the order, and co-ops change it a lot. The building has its own approval, its own package, and its own calendar.

The mortgage tax, the cost that surprises people at the table

New York taxes the mortgage itself when it is recorded. In Suffolk the full rate is 1.05 percent of the loan amount, and on a one or two family home with a person borrowing, the buyer's share works out to about 0.80 percent less 30 dollars.

Loan amountFull tax at 1.05 percentYour share, one or two family
$400,000$4,200about $3,170
$500,000$5,250about $3,970
$600,000$6,300about $4,770

The 1.05 percent is three taxes stacked: a 0.50 percent basic tax, a 0.30 percent state housing tax, and a 0.25 percent transit tax. On a one or two family home with a natural person borrowing, the lender pays the 0.25 percent transit piece and 30 dollars comes off the housing piece. That is where the buyer's share comes from. Figures from the Suffolk County Clerk's mortgage tax schedule, checked September 2026. Nassau has its own schedule. Your title company confirms the exact figure on your file, and the Closing Disclosure shows it as a line.

A co-op is different again. A co-op loan is a loan against shares, not a recorded mortgage, so this tax does not apply to it. That is one of the few closing costs that runs in the co-op buyer's favor.

It appears here because it is the one closing cost people budget nothing for. The rest of your closing costs live on the Loan Estimate from stage three, and the full money at risk ledger in the buyer guide says what happens to each dollar if the deal dies first.

This page explains the loan process in plain words. It is not legal advice, and your contract is a legal document. Your attorney answers what your contract requires and what your contingencies cover. Your lender answers what your loan requires. The closing dictionary has the terms. Mohammed "Muds" Mudassir is a licensed real estate salesperson with OverSouth Real Estate, St James NY.

Call or text 631 528 5786 The full buyer guide The closing dictionary