25 updates to send your client from contract to keys
Oct 24, 2026 · 11 min read
It's 9:40 on a Tuesday night and your buyer texts: "any word on the appraisal?"
You know the answer. It's no. The appraisal was due Friday, the lender now says Thursday, and you have meant to tell her since lunch. Knowing what to say was never the hard part. Writing it well, after a day of showings, for the fourth client this week, is.
So here are the words. Twenty-five messages, grouped by where the deal is, each short enough to send as a text or a two-line email. Brackets are yours to fill. The note under each one says when to send it, or what to leave out.
One rule under all 25
Every update ends with when they'll hear from you next. A day, a time, or the event that will trigger it.
That line does more work than the news above it. A client who knows the next update comes Thursday doesn't text on Wednesday night. Our bet is that most of the 9:40 texts you get are the missing second half of an update you already sent.
Two more things before the list. It leans toward the buyer, because the buyer is the one waiting on a lender, and a seller gets words of their own only where they need different ones. And if a transaction coordinator (TC) or an assistant sends some of these for you, decide who owns each client's thread before the first message goes out. Two voices on one deal is how a client ends up with two different signing times.
Offer accepted
1. Within the hour (text)
We're under contract on [street]. The next two dates: earnest money of [amount] to [holder] by [date], and the inspection period ends [date]. Full timeline by email tonight.
Leave out "it's yours." It isn't yet, and you'll be taking it back if the appraisal comes in low.
2. The same evening (email)
Subject: [street], every date in your contract
Hi [first name], here is every deadline in the contract, in order: [list]. The ones that need something from you are marked. If a date moves, I'll send the whole list again, not only the date that changed.
Take the dates from the executed contract, not the offer you wrote. To check the chain, the contract date calculator runs it from the contract date and your day counts.
3. Before any money moves (text)
One rule for this whole deal: never follow wiring instructions that arrive by email, even if the email looks like it came from me or [title company]. Before you send money, call [title company] at [number]. Save that number now.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) tells buyers to verify wiring instructions in person or by a phone number agreed in advance, and never to follow instructions contained in an email. Give them the number in the same message as the rule. The longer version, to forward as a checklist, is the wire fraud checklist.
Earnest money
4. The day before it's due
Reminder: your earnest money of [amount] is due to [holder] by [date]. Call them at [number] to confirm how they want it before you send anything.
Leave the instructions themselves out of it. Message 3 is why.
5. When the holder confirms
[Holder] confirmed they have your earnest money. Nothing else is due from you until the inspection on [day].
Send this when the holder confirms, not when your client says it went out. Sent and received are different events, and you want the second one in writing.
Inspection
6. To your seller, once the buyer books it
The buyer's inspection is [day] from [time] to [time]. Please plan to be out, and make the attic hatch, the electrical panel, the water heater, and the crawlspace easy to reach. I'll send you their requests as soon as I see them.
Send it the day the inspection is booked, not the night before.
7. When the report lands (buyer)
The inspection report is in. It's long, and most of it is the list every house gets. I've marked [n] items I think are worth raising. Can we talk for 15 minutes before [day]? Our window to ask for repairs closes [date].
Never forward the report with nothing on top of it. Read alone at night, every line looks the same size.
8. When the sellers answer the repair request
The sellers agreed to [items] and said no to [items]. We have until [date] to respond. My recommendation is [x], because [one line]. Call me once you've read this.
What a buyer can do at this point depends on the form you're using, so point them to the contract language, and to an attorney where it's close. Nothing here is legal advice.
Appraisal
9. In at or above the price
Good news: the appraisal came in at [value], at or above our price. That's one contingency off the list. Next is loan approval, which [loan officer] expects by [date].
The lender has to give your buyer a copy promptly upon completion, or three business days before closing, whichever is earlier, unless the buyer waived that timing. Tell them a copy is coming instead of reading out numbers from a report they haven't seen.
10. It's late
No appraisal yet. It was due [date]. I've asked [loan officer] for a firm date and I'll tell you what they say by [time] tomorrow. It isn't a problem yet. It becomes one if it's still out on [appraisal deadline], and I'm watching that date.
The fix for a late appraisal is rarely in your hands. The update is. Give a time and keep it, even when the news at that time is still nothing.
11. It came in low
The appraisal came in at [value], [amount] under our price. There are a few ways through this, and we have until [date] to choose. Can you talk at [time] today? I'd rather walk you through the options than text them.
Send the fact the day you learn it. Save the options for the call. A list of choices by text reads like a list of problems.
Loan approval
12. The lender wants more documents
[Loan officer] needs [documents] to keep the loan moving. Can you send them today? And until we close, check with [loan officer] before you open a card, finance anything, or move money between accounts.
Repeat the second sentence in every one of these. It costs you one line.
13. The loan deadline is going to slip
The loan commitment is due [date], and [loan officer] now says [new date]. I'm asking the sellers' agent to extend our deadline to [date] so you stay protected. You'll have the extension to sign by [time].
Don't guess at the cause in writing. Whether a missed financing deadline puts earnest money at risk depends on the contract, so read it before you send this. If the closing moves too, Before you agree to push the closing has the words for the other side and what the new date can cost you.
14. Clear to close
[Lender] has issued clear to close. If your Closing Disclosure hasn't come yet, it will, and it has to reach you at least three business days before we sign. Read it next to your Loan Estimate and send me anything that looks different.
The three-business-day rule is federal. For this count Saturday is a business day, and Sundays and federal holidays are not. In the CFPB's own example, a Thursday closing is met by a disclosure received the Monday before.
Any week nothing happens
15. The no-news update
No news on [street] this week, which is what we want. Nothing is waiting on you. The next thing that happens is [event], around [date]. I'll message you then, or sooner if anything changes.
The one we'd argue matters most, and the easiest to skip, because it feels like there's nothing to report. There is. Nothing is wrong, and your client can't know that unless you say so. Every Friday a deal goes quiet.
Title
16. The search comes back clean
The title search on [street] came back clean. Nothing for you to do there. [Title company] will be in touch about the signing.
Short is right. Nobody needs a lesson in title insurance to hear good news.
17. The search turns something up
The title search found [a lien / an old easement / a missing signature] that the sellers need to clear. That's their job and the title company's, not yours. I'll tell you by [date] whether it affects the closing date.
Say whose job it is, in the message. A buyer who reads "lien" with no owner attached can easily assume it's theirs.
Closing week
18. The Closing Disclosure arrives
Your Closing Disclosure is in. Check your cash to close, your interest rate, and your monthly payment against the Loan Estimate. If the rate or the loan type is different, tell me and [loan officer] today.
A few changes restart the three business days: the annual percentage rate (APR) becoming inaccurate, a change of loan product, or a new prepayment penalty. Caught this week, one is a phone call. Caught at the table, it moves the closing.
19. The wire
Your cash to close is [amount]. Before you send it, call [title company] at [the number from message 3] to confirm the wire instructions. If anything in them has changed, stop and call me.
Message 3 again, now with a dollar amount attached. Send it even if message 3 went out six weeks ago.
20. The final walkthrough
Final walkthrough is [day] at [time], and it takes about [30 minutes]. We're checking that the house is in the condition the contract calls for and that the agreed repairs are done. I've asked for the repair receipts.
Send it two days out. The receipts line tells the buyer what the walk is for.
21. Closing is moving
Closing is moving from [date] to [date] because [one-sentence reason]. What this changes for you: [rate lock / lease / movers]. I'm handling [x]. I need you to [y] by [date].
New date first, reason in one sentence, their to-do last. Your own reasons for caring about the date never go in this one.
Closing day
22. The morning of
Today's the day. Signing is at [time] at [address]. Bring [photo ID] and [anything title asked for]. Keys come once [it funds and records], which can take until [afternoon].
Keep the key time loose if you don't know it. A buyer told "keys at noon" who gets them at four spends four hours sure that something broke.
23. It's recorded
It's recorded. [Street] is yours. [Key handoff details].
The only message on this list where "yours" belongs. When possession passes depends on the contract and your state. Send this when it has.
The week after
24. The papers
One piece of housekeeping: save your Closing Disclosure and settlement statement somewhere you'll find them when you sell. [Title company] will mail the recorded deed in [time frame].
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) says to keep records that support your home's basis for as long as you own it, and for a period after you sell. The settlement statement is one of them. That's as far as this goes; tax questions belong with their accountant.
25. One week in
One week in at [street]. Anything not working that should be? [Home warranty] covers [items], and their number is [number]. If it isn't covered, I can probably point you to someone.
Day seven, not day one. By then they have found what a walkthrough doesn't, the slow drain, the breaker nobody labeled. The next message is a year away, on their closing anniversary.
Where the retyping stops
You will send message 7 to every buyer this year, and 18, and 24. Retyping them is where the last line, the one about when they'll hear next, quietly drops off.
In KeyFlow, the longer ones become email templates in your Buyer or Seller folder, and the brackets that are facts on the deal turn into fields: first name, street, closing date, the earnest money amount, holder, and due date, the end of the inspection period, the walkthrough date, and the home warranty. Pick the template in that deal's Email Composer and they fill in from that deal. A field the deal doesn't have yet comes back blank, and the composer names it above the message before you send.
The judgment brackets stay brackets. [My recommendation is], [n items]. Those are the part your client reads the message for.
Nothing sends because a deal changed stage. No rule fires a template on its own, and for these messages we think that's right. An email goes from your own Gmail when you press Send. KeyFlow never texts your client: its texts go only to you and teammates who added their own number and opted in, so every text on this list goes from your phone.
On a paid plan, the client portal shows your buyer the same closing path you work from, each milestone marked done as you mark it. It answers "where are we?" between messages. It won't explain a low appraisal. That's still message 11, and still yours to send.
This week
Open your quietest deal, the one with no news since last Friday. Send it message 15 today, with a real date in the last line.
Sources: Consumer Financial Protection Bureau: what is a Closing Disclosure? · Consumer Financial Protection Bureau: Regulation Z, 12 CFR 1026.19, certain mortgage and variable-rate transactions · Consumer Financial Protection Bureau: official interpretation of 12 CFR 1026.2, business day · Consumer Financial Protection Bureau: Regulation B, 12 CFR 1002.14, rules on providing appraisals · Consumer Financial Protection Bureau: mortgage closing scams, how to protect yourself and your closing funds (archived) · Internal Revenue Service, Publication 530: tax information for homeowners
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