Here is an article that Paula Siegel, a wrote, published in the For Buyers section.  It explains what happens from an escrow officer's point of view.  Of course, the Buyers will be conducting inspections and working with their lender or mortgage broker to obtain financing, too.  This article describes the escrow process

This entry was written by Paula Siegel, Escrow Officer with Fidelity National Title.  She can be reached at psiegel@fnf.com. 

"In early 2004, I decided to sell my house in San Francisco, which I had owned for over 35 years.  Jane impressed me with her knowledge, confidence and the fact that she wasn't pushy.  She helped me find the right people to paint and make repairs, get the house cleaned and ready (including a great gardener).  After I accepted a bid, she introduced me to movers, found hauling people to clean out my garage (remember, 35+ years) and had the house cleaned for the new owners.  She had answers to all of my questions (or researched and found them when she didn't know), and handled my moments

"Thank you, Jane for the very professional way you managed the sale of our home.  We are residents of Pennsylvania, so, out of necessity, you handled many of the details that we would otherwise do including the preparation of the house and grounds for sale.  You selected qualified people to do the work, including painting, stagers and gardeners and saw to the work getting done in a timely manner.  You kept us fully informed of the progress and always called when you said you would.

"Jane is an outstanding Realtor who helped us purchase our first home.  She is incredibly intelligent, thinks strategically, and exhibits very sound judgment.  Jane's past work experience as a principal at a management consulting firm, as well as her MBA from MIT's Sloan School of Business, enabled her to guide us successfully through the purchase of our first home.