Deadline calculator.
Enter the effective date. Get your option, earnest money, financing, title commitment, and Closing Disclosure dates.
The commitment clock runs from this date, not from the effective date.
How the counting works
Days are calendar days, not business days, and counting starts the day after the effective date. The effective date itself is day zero.
The weekend and holiday rollover is narrower than most people assume. It applies to the delivery of the earnest money and option fee, where a deadline landing on a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday extends to the next day that is none of those. Other deadlines are counted as straight calendar days, so this calculator does not roll them forward. When a date lands awkwardly, read the contract rather than assuming it moves.
The option period ends at 5:00 p.m. local time where the property is located, unless your contract says otherwise. Under the revised forms, notices are effective when sent to the party or their agent, and the delivery methods now include overnight courier. Send it before 5:00 p.m. and keep proof of when you sent it.
The revised contract also adds a definition of legal holiday, which clarifies how deadlines and performance periods are calculated. If you have ever argued with someone about whether a particular day counted, that definition is worth reading once.
The title commitment runs on its own clock: twenty days after the title company receives a copy of the contract, which is not the same as twenty days after the effective date. If it is not delivered on time, that deadline can extend, and the buyer may have a right to terminate if it still is not delivered. That is a conversation to have with your escrow officer rather than a date to calculate.
This tool is a planning aid, not a substitute for reading the executed contract. Paragraph numbers, timeframes, and delivery requirements change when the promulgated forms are revised, and your contract may include an addendum that changes any of these dates. Confirm the form revision you are working from against the current promulgated forms on the TREC website. When a deadline matters, confirm it against the contract in front of you.
Other dates the calculator does not compute
These do not run on a simple day count, but they belong on your calendar for every file.
- Seller's Disclosure Notice. Required before closing. Late delivery can give a buyer a limited right to terminate.
- Special district notices. Required when the property sits in a taxing or assessment district.
- Lead-based paint disclosure. Required for homes built before 1978, delivered before closing.
- Addendum deadlines. Environmental assessments, propane service, and 1031 exchange addenda carry their own timeframes.
The dates that catch people
- The effective date is not the date you signed. It is the date the final party's acceptance is communicated back to the other side. Get this wrong and every deadline below it is wrong.
- Option fee and earnest money have their own clock that runs from the effective date, separate from the option period itself.
- Financing deadlines usually live in an addendum, not the main contract, and they are easy to overlook.
- A holiday rollover can push a deadline past a weekend entirely, which changes the picture more than people expect around Thanksgiving and Christmas.