What happens after you get a term sheet, step by step

What happens after you get a term sheet from me is a short, fixed sequence. You accept it in your borrower portal and sign the copy I email you. You fill in the closing details: date, title company, insurance agent and the other people on the deal. You order the appraisal through the link I post. You upload the documents the deal needs. Then title clears, insurance binds, your LLC paperwork checks out, and the loan closes.

What decides whether it takes a week or a month is how fast each of those steps gets done, and almost all of them sit on your side of the table. This post walks through each one the way it actually appears in the portal, then covers what slows closings down.

A term sheet is not the finish line

A term sheet is my written statement of the loan I am prepared to make: the amount, the structure, the term, and the conditions that have to be met before it funds. It is not a closed loan and it is not money in an account. The conditions on it are real, and clearing them is the work this post describes.

Most of what you will read online about term sheets is about startup venture funding, where the next steps are lawyers, diligence on the company and a board vote. A real estate loan is simpler and more mechanical. The questions are about the property, the title, the insurance and the entity borrowing, and every one of them has a definite answer.

As an investor myself, I have sat on your side of this. Closings run on time when title is open, insurance is quoted and the entity is in order before anyone asks.

What happens after you get a term sheet: the steps in order

1. Accept the term sheet, then sign it

The term sheet appears in your private borrower portal. Read it all the way through, including the conditions. If it matches the deal you want, type your name and click Accept. That tells me to move.

I then send the term sheet to you for signature by email. The signed copy is what closes out this step. Until it is signed, nothing downstream starts in earnest, so this is the one to do the same day.

If something on it does not match what you expected, say so before you accept, not at the closing table. A question asked on day one costs nothing.

2. Fill in the closing details

The portal has a section called Closing details. This is where you tell me who is involved in the deal and how to reach them. Depending on the transaction it asks for:

• The closing date you are working toward
• The title company, with the title officer's name, email, phone and the file number
• Your insurance agent
• The closing attorney, where one is used
• Your current lender, on a refinance, so a payoff can be ordered
• Your contractor, on a rehab
• The real estate agent or wholesaler, where one is involved
• A property access contact the appraiser can call to get inside

Every field saves as you type. You do not need to finish it in one sitting, and you do not lose anything by closing the page. Fill in what you know now and come back for the rest.

This section matters more than it looks. A missing title file number or an appraiser with no way into a vacant house can quietly cost several days, and nobody notices until the date is close.

3. Order the appraisal

When the deal needs an appraisal, I put the appraisal order link in your portal. You order it there, then click "I've ordered it" so I know it is in motion.

Order it as soon as the link appears. The appraiser's schedule is outside both of our control, and the access contact you gave in Closing details is what lets them get in on the first visit rather than the third.

4. Upload the documents

I request the specific documents your deal needs in the portal. Each loan type starts from a standard package (fix and flip, BRRRR, construction and DSCR each have their own), and I add anything particular to the property or the transaction. You upload them directly, and the portal shows what is still needed at any moment.

That list is the honest answer to "what else do you need from me." If an item is on it, I need it. If it is not, I do not. For a rental loan, the full picture of what is and is not asked for is in DSCR loan documents.

5. Reminders until it is done

Anything still outstanding triggers an email reminder until it is complete. The reminders are not a judgment on you. They exist because a closing date slips one forgotten upload at a time, and a nudge is cheaper than a pushed closing.

6. Title, insurance, entity, then closing

Three things have to be true before the loan funds:

• Title clears. The title company's search comes back and anything it finds is resolved.
• Insurance is bound, with the policy in place for the property as it will actually be used.
• Your LLC documents are in order. Every loan I make closes in an LLC, so the entity has to exist, be in good standing and be authorized to borrow.

When those are done, the loan closes. Under the terms published on this site, a clean fix and flip loan closes in 5 to 10 days subject to title, and a DSCR loan closes in 14 to 21 days. The full sequence, with who controls each day, is in the hard money loan closing timeline.

What slows closings down, and how to avoid it

In my experience the delays after a term sheet come from four places, and the lending decision is not one of them.

Title issues. An old mortgage paid off but never released, a judgment against a prior owner, an estate that never formally closed. Each is solvable, each takes days. The fix is to open title the day you sign the purchase contract, not after the term sheet arrives, and to put the title officer and file number in Closing details straight away.

Insurance. A vacant property under renovation needs a different policy from an occupied home, and not every agent writes it quickly. Call your insurance agent the day you accept the term sheet, not the night before closing.

An entity not in good standing. An LLC that missed an annual report, or one still being formed, can stop a closing cold. Check its status with your state before you apply. If anything about the entity is unclear, your attorney or accountant is the right person to sort it out.

Missing documents. The most avoidable delay of all. The portal tells you exactly what is outstanding, and the reminder emails keep telling you. Upload items the day they are requested and this category disappears.

After closing on a rehab: draws

On a fix and flip, BRRRR or construction loan, the closing is where the second phase starts. Rehab money comes out in draws, and every draw reimburses completed work: you fund each stage, the work is inspected, and the draw is wired the same day. Nothing for the rehab is advanced up front, so plan your cash for the first stage before you close.

What a clean draw request looks like, and the paperwork that keeps it fast, is in what a lender needs before releasing a rehab draw.

Before you get to a term sheet

Everything above goes faster when it starts earlier. If you want to know where you stand before you are under contract, get pre-approved. If you have a deal ready now, apply here: written terms come back in 24 to 48 hours from a complete file, and from there the steps are exactly the ones on this page.