Some of the most confused buyers I work with are people who have bought a home before. They're experienced, organized, and ready to move quickly. They've just never bought one in Massachusetts.

If you've purchased in California, you're used to one long purchase agreement, a neutral escrow company that holds the money and coordinates everything, and an escrow officer who walks the deal to the finish line. Buyers from the Midwest have seen a mix of title companies and attorney reviews, depending on the state. Then they arrive on the North Shore, ask "who's our escrow company?" and get a puzzled look.

That's not because anyone is doing it wrong. Massachusetts simply does it differently. And if you ask an AI tool or a national website "how does escrow work in Massachusetts?" you'll often get an answer written for some other state. So let's walk through how a purchase actually unfolds here, step by step, in plain English.

The Short Version: Two Agreements, Then an Attorney Closing

Buying a home in Massachusetts typically involves two separate signed documents. First comes the Offer to Purchase, a short form that locks in the price, the key dates, and the basic conditions. Then, usually 10 to 14 days later on the North Shore, buyer and seller sign the Purchase and Sale Agreement (everyone calls it the "P&S"), which is the full, detailed contract. At the end, the closing is handled by attorneys rather than an escrow or title company.

If you're new to the process altogether, our Massachusetts home buyer overview is a good place to get your bearings before we go deeper.

Step One: The Offer to Purchase

The Offer to Purchase is usually just a couple of pages. It names the property, the price, and the deposit. It sets the deadline for signing the P&S and a target closing date. It also spells out the conditions the deal depends on, most commonly a home inspection contingency and a mortgage contingency. Your agent will typically include a pre-approval letter from your lender so the seller knows you can actually finance the purchase.

Here's the first surprise for California buyers: the deposit with the offer is small. On the North Shore, the typical deposit with a signed offer is $1,000. It isn't wired to a third-party escrow company. It's normally held in the listing brokerage's escrow account until closing. In Massachusetts, when people say "escrow," that's usually all they mean: the account where your deposit sits, not a company that runs the transaction.

Don't let the small deposit and the short form fool you, though. That brings us to the part most out-of-state buyers never hear about.

Yes, Your Signed Offer Can Be a Binding Contract

In a lot of places, the first signature is seen as an opening move. In Massachusetts, a signed Offer to Purchase can be a legally binding contract on its own, even though everyone expects to sign a P&S later.

The case that established this is McCarthy v. Tobin, decided by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court in 1999. The seller in that case had signed a standard offer form, then accepted a different buyer's offer while the P&S was still being negotiated. The court held that because the offer contained all the essential terms, it was an enforceable contract, and the P&S was essentially a more polished version of a deal that already existed. The original buyer was entitled to the house.

There's an important flip side. In 2025, the Massachusetts Appeals Court decided McCarthy v. Young, a case the law firm Bowditch & Dewey wrote about under the fitting title "Sometimes an Offer to Purchase Is Just an Offer to Purchase." There, the sellers raised a significant issue (an easement they wanted to keep) that never made it into the written offer. The parties couldn't agree on it in the P&S, and the court found the offer wasn't enforceable because a material term was missing from it.

Put those two cases together and the practical lesson is simple. If the important terms are in the offer and both sides sign it, you should expect to be held to it. If something important comes up that isn't in the offer, it needs to be addressed in writing, and quickly. Many of the standard Massachusetts offer forms also carry language warning that the document creates binding obligations, so read yours before you sign.

The Window Between the Offer and the P&S

This is where the North Shore timeline catches relocating buyers off guard. In California, buyers often have a contingency period after signing the purchase agreement to complete inspections. Here, the home inspection typically happens before the P&S is signed, during that 10-to-14-day window after your offer is accepted.

That means you'll want an inspector ready to go the moment your offer is accepted. If the inspection turns up issues, this is when they're usually negotiated, whether that's a repair, a credit, or a price adjustment. Whatever you agree to gets written into the P&S.

Meanwhile, the attorneys go to work. In common practice, the seller's attorney drafts the P&S and the buyer's attorney reviews it and negotiates changes. If you're buying a condominium, this is also when the condo documents and association information get reviewed. Your lender is working on the loan in the background, and your agent is keeping all of those pieces moving on schedule.

If you're still at the "trying to understand the whole timeline" stage, our interactive home buyer guide lets you see where you are in the process and run the affordability and down payment numbers. It's built for first-time buyers, but plenty of relocating buyers find it useful too.

Step Two: The Purchase and Sale Agreement

The P&S is the full contract. It covers everything the offer did, in far more detail: the mortgage commitment deadline, what happens if the seller can't deliver clear title, what stays with the house, how the property must be delivered at closing, and what happens to the deposit if the deal falls apart.

At P&S signing, the buyer adds to the deposit. On the North Shore, the total deposit is typically about 5% of the purchase price, and your original offer deposit counts toward that amount. On a $900,000 home, for example, a 5% total deposit is $45,000. If you put down $1,000 with your offer, you'd add $44,000 at the P&S. That money is typically held in the listing brokerage's escrow account and applied toward your purchase at closing.

One of the most important dates in the P&S is the mortgage commitment date. That's the deadline for your lender to issue a written loan commitment. Your financing protection is tied to that date, so your attorney, your lender, and your agent will all be watching it closely.

California and Midwest Buyers: A Side-by-Side Look

Every state has its own forms and customs, and the Midwest in particular varies a lot from one state to the next. But this comparison captures the differences that most often trip people up when they buy here.

If you're coming from Illinois or another state where an attorney reviews a single contract after it's signed, the attorney involvement here will feel familiar. The two-document structure and the binding nature of the offer usually won't.

For a broader look at what changes when you move to the area, including commuting, seasons, and older housing stock, see our North Shore relocation guide. And you can browse current North Shore listings to get a feel for what's available in Beverly, Salem, Danvers, and the surrounding towns.

How We Help Relocating Buyers Get It Right

When someone is moving from across the country, the most useful thing I can do is make the process predictable. Before you ever make an offer, we sit down, in person or by video, and go through this exact sequence: what you'll sign, when the money is due, when the inspection has to happen, and who's doing what. That's what our buyer consultation is for, and it's free.

We also work as a team at the Armstrong Field Group, so someone is always available when a deadline is coming up, which matters a lot when you're juggling a move, a job change, and a closing from two time zones away. My grandmother, Lillienne Field, started selling real estate in Salem in 1944. The tools have changed a great deal since then. The goal of making sure clients understand what they're signing hasn't changed at all.

If you want to keep reading, our buyer guides cover everything from making a competitive offer to what to expect at closing.

Frequently Asked Questions

Jim Armstrong

REALTOR® · SRES® · ABR® · GREEN · Massachusetts Certified Real Estate Instructor

Jim has been licensed in Massachusetts since 2000 and leads the Armstrong Field Group at Aluxety Real Estate. He grew up in Danvers, lived in Salem for more than 30 years, and now lives in North Beverly. His family's real estate roots go back to 1944, when his grandmother, Lillienne I. Field, founded Field Real Estate in Salem. Jim also teaches real estate, and he brings that same education-first approach to every buyer and seller he works with.