some more information

Our Realtor called yesterday to let me know he had talked with the selling agent and had a few of our questions answered. We are in the number one position (great news). Since we put in the same offer as the one that the bank was already working on, the sellers had to submit a change of name form and that was supposed to have happened yesterday. Essentially it allows the same "sale" to go through instead of having to start the whole process over. When that form was submitted, the listing agent was going to change the MLS status to "pending" to discourage other offers. There is only one loan on the house, through Wells Fargo Bank, and the BPO has been completed, although we're not sure when.

So, it was all very encouraging, but I wish there was some magical formula that said, ok, steps 1-5 have all been completed, you should expect to go under contract in such and such many days. We're still optimistic and excited about the house, but will be even more excited when the bank has approved everything and given us a closing date.