Between the listing appointment and the day the keys change hands, a residential sale passes through the seller, the buyer, two agents, a lender, an appraiser or surveyor, an inspector, a title company or two conveyancers, and sometimes a chain of other sales. Each controls one piece. This free real estate transaction checklist is for listing agents, buyer’s agents, estate agents and transaction coordinators who need to keep the whole file moving. It covers opening the file, the listing or buyer representation, offer to agreed sale, then contract to close in the US or sale agreed to completion in England and Wales, and a post-close review with broker sign-off. Two questions at the start show only the phases for your side and your country.
This template follows the transaction from the agent’s desk. It starts before there is a contract, with the paperwork that lets you act for a client at all: a listing agreement or terms of business for a seller, a written buyer agreement in the US for a buyer. It ends after closing, when the commission is paid and the managing broker has reviewed the file. In between, the agent’s job is less about doing each step than making sure someone does it on time.
The contract stage itself, with its contingencies, surveys and title review worked through in detail for buyers and sellers, is covered by the Purchase and Sales Agreement Checklist. Use that one when you are a party to the deal. Use this one when you are running the deal for a client, especially if you are coordinating several at once.
The work on the two sides is different enough to need its own phase each. A listing agent is responsible for what the market is told about the property; a buyer’s agent is responsible for what the buyer agreed to before they set foot in it.
Seven phases run from opening the file to the broker’s review. Phase 2 appears only when you represent the seller and Phase 3 only when you represent the buyer. Phase 5 appears for US transactions and Phase 6 for sales in England and Wales, and the country-specific tasks in Phases 2 and 3 follow the same answer.
Answer the two scope questions first. They decide which side and which country’s phases this transaction shows.
Shown only when you represent the seller.
Shown only when you represent the buyer.
Shown only for US transactions.
Shown only for sales in England and Wales.
Most of what goes into a transaction file is set by the contract and by your brokerage’s own policies. A few items are set by regulation or by industry rules that changed recently, and these are the ones that cause trouble when they are missed. The table lists the main examples by stage. State law in the US adds its own disclosure forms and licence rules, so add those to the template for each state you work in.
| Stage | United States | United Kingdom |
|---|---|---|
| Acting for a client | Since 17 August 2024, under the NAR settlement practice changes, an MLS participant working with a buyer needs a written agreement before touring a home, in person or by live virtual tour | Estate agents must give clients written details of their terms, including fees, before taking instructions |
| Compensation | Offers of compensation to buyer brokers are no longer allowed on the MLS. The buyer agreement must state an objectively ascertainable amount or rate, not a range or “whatever the seller offers” | Fees are agreed with the instructing client in the terms of business |
| Property information | For housing built before 1978: the “Protect Your Family From Lead in Your Home” pamphlet, a Lead Warning Statement, known reports, and 10 days for the buyer to test unless both parties agree otherwise in writing | National Trading Standards guidance on material information: Part A (price, tenure, council tax), Part B (property type, utilities, broadband, mobile signal, parking), Part C where relevant (building safety, rights and easements, flood risk and others) |
| Offers | Set by state licence law and brokerage policy | Agents must pass on offers to the seller promptly and in writing, up to exchange of contracts |
| Mortgage disclosures | Loan Estimate within three business days of application; Closing Disclosure received at least three business days before consummation, with a new three-day wait if the APR becomes inaccurate, the loan product changes or a prepayment penalty is added | Set by the lender; the buyer’s conveyancer confirms the mortgage offer is in place before exchange, when the buyer becomes committed |
| After closing | Sellers and agents keep the lead disclosure documents for at least three years from the sale | In England, the buyer’s Stamp Duty Land Tax is paid within 14 days of completion and the buyer is registered at HM Land Registry |
Money-laundering checks in the UK. Estate agency businesses are supervised for anti-money laundering by HMRC and must carry out customer due diligence on both the buyer and the seller of a property, even where only the seller instructed them. Checks on the buyer must be completed before a binding contract is entered into. Record what you checked and when, and keep it with the transaction file, because HMRC compliance checks review those records.
Wire fraud in the US. The FBI describes real estate wire fraud as criminals getting into a transaction’s email and sending a buyer altered payment instructions just as closing funds are due, often posing as the agent or title company. Its advice is to verify any change to payment instructions in person or by phone with someone you already know. A warning task with a fixed date, a few days before closing, means every client hears it before the funds move.
A transaction coordinator running a dozen files sees each one’s progress and overdue tasks on one dashboard, instead of keeping the deadlines in a spreadsheet and their head. Contingency, exchange and closing dates sit on the tasks they belong to.
Two answers at the start decide the rest. A US buyer-side file never shows listing or exchange tasks, and a UK sale never shows earnest money, so agents work from one template without wading through steps that do not apply.
Agreements, disclosures and ID checks are attached to the tasks that required them, and the file closes only after the managing broker’s approval. The completion history shows who did what and when if a regulator or client asks.
Start with the client. The Client Onboarding for Real Estate Sales template covers the first meetings and paperwork, and the Purchase and Sales Agreement Checklist goes deeper on the contract stage. See how brokerages and agents use CheckFlow on the real estate industry page.
Selling a let property? The buyer inherits the tenancy, so hand over a current condition record from the Move-In / Move-Out Inspection Checklist and the rent review dates from the Lease Renewal Checklist.
Everything the agent or transaction coordinator must do or chase from the listing agreement or buyer agreement to the closed file: disclosures and marketing, offers, the accepted contract or memorandum of sale, earnest money, inspections, appraisal, financing, title or searches, the final walk-through, closing or completion, commission and the broker’s file review.
If they are working with an agent who is an MLS participant, yes. Since 17 August 2024, under the practice changes that followed the NAR settlement, the agent must have a written agreement with the buyer before touring a home, including live virtual tours. The agreement must state the amount or rate of the agent’s compensation, and the agent cannot receive more than that from any source.
For most US mortgages, the lender must make sure the buyer receives it at least three business days before consummation, which is usually closing day. A corrected disclosure restarts the three-day wait if the APR becomes inaccurate, the loan product changes or a prepayment penalty is added. Other changes can be disclosed at or before closing.
Information a buyer or tenant needs to decide whether to view or proceed, which agents must not leave out of a listing. National Trading Standards guidance groups it in three parts: Part A for every property (price or rent, tenure, council tax band), Part B for every property (property type, utilities, broadband, mobile signal, parking) and Part C only where it applies, such as building safety issues, rights of way or flood risk.
Yes. Under the money laundering regulations, HMRC treats both the buyer and the seller as the estate agent’s customers, so the agent must identify and verify both. Due diligence on the buyer must be complete before a binding contract is entered into, which in England and Wales means before exchange.
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