What happens after you connect with an agent

Connecting is the beginning of a working relationship. Your agent helps you turn your goals into a search and guides the purchase. A lender handles your mortgage. Sill shows your relationship stage and keeps your conversation and sharing controls in one place. This guide walks through the usual steps of buying a home and shows where each one falls in the five stages Sill displays. The exact order and pace depend on your market, your loan, and your agent.

Start with a first conversation

Use Message to start a private conversation with your agent. Share your target area, budget, timing, questions, and what matters most in a home. Ask how they prefer to communicate, how fast homes are selling in your area, and what they recommend doing next. Sill doesn't schedule the first meeting for you. If you connected through the marketplace and your agent hasn't reached out within 7 days, you can choose End connection from Home.

If you connected through the marketplace, you and the agent both chose to connect after an offer. If your agent invited you, you're connected when you finish signing up with their invite link or enter their referral code in Sill. Either way, Your Team shows who you are working with and how to reach them.

The path to closing, stage by stage

Sill shows five relationship stages: Connected, Agreement in place, Actively searching, Under contract, and Closed. Your agent updates the stage as things move forward; you can't change it yourself. The stage is a shared status indicator, not a guarantee that a task is complete or that a date has been set. Check with your agent when the displayed stage or next step doesn't match what you know. Sill may email you now and then to ask how it's going.

Connected: get your financing lined up

This is the best time to talk to a lender, if you haven't already. A pre-approval is a lender's written statement of how much it is prepared to lend you, based on a review of your income, assets, debts, and credit. Most sellers expect to see one with an offer, and it tells you and your agent what price range is realistic. A pre-qualification is a lighter estimate and usually carries less weight with sellers.

• Talk to more than one lender. Compare the rate, fees, and closing costs on each lender's Loan Estimate, a standard three-page form that makes offers easy to compare side by side.
• Ask about loan programs that fit you, such as conventional, FHA, VA, or USDA loans, and about any down payment assistance in your area.
• Gather the documents lenders usually ask for: recent pay stubs, W-2s or tax returns, bank and investment statements, and details of any debts.
• Bring the picture you built in Sill. Your readiness and verified numbers help you walk into that conversation prepared. Sill doesn't pre-approve anyone; only a lender can pre-qualify or pre-approve you.

Your agent may know lenders who work in your area, but the choice of lender is yours. Use this stage to agree with your agent on your must-haves, your budget, and how you'll hear about new listings.

Agreement in place: know the terms you signed

Many agents ask buyers to sign a buyer representation agreement before touring homes, and in many states it's required. This stage means your agent marked that agreement signed. The agreement is handled outside Sill, through the agent and their brokerage. Before you sign, make sure you understand how your agent is paid, how long the agreement lasts, which areas or homes it covers, and how either of you can end it. Ask for a copy for your records.

Actively searching: tour homes and make an offer

Your agent sets up listing alerts, schedules showings, and shares what nearby homes have sold for. Tell them what you liked and didn't like after each tour; that feedback sharpens the search. Keep your pre-approval current, since many expire after 60 to 90 days.

When you find the right home, your agent writes an offer to the seller. This is your purchase offer on the home, which is different from the agent offers you compared on Sill. Your agent can explain each part of it:

• Price: what you'll pay, informed by recent sales nearby and how competitive the market is.
• Earnest money: a good-faith deposit, usually held by a title or escrow company and credited toward your purchase at closing.
• Contingencies: conditions that let you back out or renegotiate, such as an inspection, appraisal, or financing contingency. Ask what you risk if you waive one.
• Timeline: when you'd close and when you'd move in.
• Pre-approval letter: shows the seller your financing is credible.

The seller can accept, reject, or counter. It's normal to go back and forth a few times, or to lose a home and keep looking.

Under contract: inspection, appraisal, and final loan approval

Once the seller accepts, the home is under contract and the deadlines in your contract start running. Ask your agent for a list of the dates that matter and who handles each step. A typical sequence:

• Deposit your earnest money by the date in your contract. Confirm wiring instructions by phone with the title or escrow company, since wire fraud is common in real estate.
• Schedule a home inspection, review the report with your agent, and decide whether to ask the seller for repairs or credits.
• Send your lender the signed contract and any new documents it asks for. The lender orders an appraisal to confirm the home's value and moves your loan through underwriting toward final approval.
• Ask your lender when to lock your interest rate, if you haven't already.
• Choose a homeowners insurance policy; your lender will need proof of it.
• Avoid new debt, large purchases, or job changes until after closing without checking with your lender first.

Closed: signing day and beyond

At least three business days before closing, your lender sends a Closing Disclosure with your final loan terms and closing costs. Compare it with your Loan Estimate and ask about anything that changed. Shortly before closing, do a final walkthrough to confirm the home is in the condition you agreed to. At closing you sign the loan and transfer documents, pay the remaining funds, and get the keys. Once your agent marks the purchase closed, Sill may ask you to review your agent. Reviews can't be edited after you post them.

Where can you see an accepted offer?

For marketplace connections, Home and Your Team can show the agent offer you accepted alongside the relationship. An agent invite alone does not create an accepted marketplace offer. Sill may also display an agreement record on Your Team, including whether your agent has marked it in progress or signed; that record is informational, and you do not sign an agreement in Sill. If an offer detail looks wrong, email support@usesill.com and ask your agent about the agreed terms. Sill shows an offer summary, not the agreement itself.

Keep control of what you share

Open Your Team in Sill to review your agent connection and sharing level. You can change the agent's profile access and the financial detail they can see. At the fuller sharing level, your agent sees your buying power, readiness, and credit range — not your exact income, savings, or debts. You can share less at any time.

Need help or want to disconnect?

Choose Remove on Your Team if you no longer want to work with that agent on Sill. For a marketplace connection with no outreach after 7 days, Home also offers End connection. Once you disconnect, the agent no longer has access to your profile. You can view past messages, but you can't send new ones. For an incorrect record, a message problem, or another account question, use Send feedback in the app or email support@usesill.com. For questions about an agreement or transaction, speak with your agent or an appropriate professional.