transaction-timeline-management

name	transaction-timeline-management
description	Run contract-to-close as a dated deadline checklist: reconstruct every contingency and deadline from the effective date (inspection, appraisal, financing, title, closing), track each to resolution or the required notice, and surface at-risk items before they forfeit a remedy. Contingency periods are jurisdiction- and contract-specific — verify-at-use.

Transaction Timeline Management

Contract-to-close is a dated checklist generated by the effective date, not something you carry in your head.

The loop

1. Anchor to the effective date. Every contingency and deadline counts from the executed-contract effective date. Reconstruct the full calendar immediately — a date you didn't calendar is a date you will miss.
2. Lay out the standard milestones. Earnest money delivery, inspection period + response, appraisal, loan/financing contingency, title commitment and objections, walkthrough, and closing/funding. Exact periods are contract- and jurisdiction-specific — flag them [verify-at-use] (see the reference). Traverse the offer & counter tree in ../../knowledge/residential-brokerage-decision-trees.md when a contingency response is itself a negotiation.
3. Track each item to resolution or notice. A contingency is "done" only when it's satisfied, waived in writing, or its required notice is delivered on time. Silence past a deadline can waive a right or forfeit earnest money.
4. Surface at-risk items early. Flag any milestone whose upstream work is late (inspection report not in, appraisal not ordered, loan conditions not cleared) with the next action per party — buyer, seller, lender, title. See ../../best-practices/contract-to-close-is-a-deadline-checklist.md.

Metrics

Metric	Reads	Note
On-time close rate	closed by contract date / total	Slips -> a milestone was tracked late
Deadline-miss count	contingency notices missed	Target zero; each is a forfeited remedy
Fall-through rate	contracts that don't close	Cluster by cause -> fix the process

Anti-patterns

• Tracking the closing date but not the contingency deadlines that gate it.
• Treating a contingency as resolved without a written waiver or timely notice.
• Discovering a slipping loan the week of closing instead of at the conditions stage.

See also

• ../listing-launch-and-marketing/SKILL.md, ../commission-split-and-cap-economics/SKILL.md.
• Template: ../../templates/transaction-timeline-checklist.md.
• Command: ../../commands/manage-transaction-timeline.md.
• Best practice: ../../best-practices/contract-to-close-is-a-deadline-checklist.md.