DeedSpring
Timelines · Free tool

Closing timeline simulator

Lay out every contingency, the appraisal, loan approval and the Closing Disclosure's 3-business-day wait from contract to close, see the critical path, then make one thing run late and watch what moves.

“How long does it take to close?” has a one-number answer (NAR's median has been about 30 days) and a real one: it depends on which chain of work is longest. This simulator lays out the contingencies, the appraisal, loan approval and the Closing Disclosure's 3-business-day wait as a timeline, marks the critical path, and shows how many days of slack every task has before the closing date moves.

Then make something run late. Drag the end of a bar, or pick a task and a number of days, and the rest of the timeline re-schedules: which deadlines are now missed, which ones clash, whether the Closing Disclosure still arrives in time and where closing lands. The link carries the whole scenario, so you can send a client or a lender the exact “what if the appraisal is five days late” picture.

General information, not legal advice. Your own contract and your lender govern the real dates; check them with your agent, broker or attorney.

The contract

Prefills the periods and counts them the way the form does.

Day 0. Defaults to today.

Calendar days after acceptance. NAR's recent median is 30.

Applies to every period.

Contingencies

Tick the ones in your contract and enter each period in days after acceptance.

Lender planning assumptions

Our planning defaults, not published averages. Use your lender's estimate.

Calendar days after acceptance.

Calendar days after the appraisal is in.

Enter the contract date to see the timeline.

How this is calculated

Contract deadlines are counted from the acceptance date. Pick TREC 20-19, the C.A.R. RPA or FloridaRealtors/FloridaBar ASIS and the inspection (TREC option period), appraisal and financing deadlines go through the same engine as our contract deadline calculator, with that form's defaults, day count and weekend and holiday roll. TREC 20-19 and ASIS have no separate appraisal deadline, so those presets start with it off. The generic preset, and the title, HOA and sale-of-home periods under any form, count in calendar or business days as you choose, with no roll. The 10-day generic inspection period matches the median printed default among the state forms in our Contract to close, 2026 dataset. Contract deadlines never move when the work runs late.

The work is scheduled forward. A contingency's work is planned to use its whole period. The appraisal arrives a set number of days after acceptance and loan approval follows it after underwriting: 12 and 7 days for a conventional loan, 14 and 8 for FHA, 18 and 8 for VA. Those are our planning assumptions, not published averages; replace them with your lender's estimate. The lender issues the Closing Disclosure the day after loan approval. A cash purchase drops the appraisal, the loan and the Closing Disclosure.

The Closing Disclosure rule. For most mortgages the buyer must receive the Closing Disclosure at least 3 business days before closing (12 CFR §1026.19(f)(1)(ii)). For this rule a business day is every day except Sundays and federal public holidays, so Saturdays count. The simulator also skips a holiday's observed weekday, which can only make the wait longer. A CD received on a Sunday or holiday counts from the next business day. It assumes the buyer receives the CD the day it is issued, in person or with proof of receipt; without that, the rule treats a mailed or emailed CD as received 3 business days after it was sent, which adds those days.

Critical path and slack. Closing happens on the contract date unless the work cannot be finished by then, in which case it moves to the first weekday after the work is done that is not a federal holiday. Slack is worked backward from the contract closing date: how many days a task can run late before closing moves. The critical path is the chain with the least slack, followed back from closing.

Risk notes flag a task that now finishes after its contract deadline, deadlines that fall on the same day or after closing, critical tasks with two days of slack or less, a closing date on a weekend or holiday, and the CD cutoff. The delay figures come from NAR's monthly REALTORS® Confidence Index, as collected in our research. They describe the market, not your deal.

What this does not do. It does not read your contract, and it does not know your form's notice rules, cure periods or what happens to the deposit when a deadline passes. The “usual fix” lines are general information about how many contracts work, not legal advice. Your own contract, your lender and your local practice govern; check them with your agent, broker or attorney.

Rule sources

Further reading