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Key Dates & Financials

Every transaction has dates and dollar amounts that need to be tracked carefully. DocJacket keeps the closing timeline and financial summary organized on the transaction Overview.

Key dates​

The closing timeline on the Overview shows your most important transaction dates and deadlines:

  • Contract date — When the contract was executed
  • Closing date — The target closing date
  • Inspection deadline — When inspections must be completed
  • Appraisal deadline — When the appraisal is due
  • Financing deadline — When the buyer's financing must be secured
  • Possession date — When possession transfers
  • Final walkthrough — When the final walkthrough is scheduled
  • Other key dates — Any additional dates relevant to the deal

Some dates are governed transaction dates, also called canonical key dates. A governed key date has a standard Key Date Type, such as Closing Date, Effective Date, Inspection Deadline, Financing Deadline, Final Walkthrough, or Possession Date. These standard types make tasks, reminders, calendar sync, reporting, smart fields, and Playbook rules use the same anchor date.

Custom key dates are one-off dates for a specific deal. They can still appear on the timeline, link to tasks, and use reminders, but they do not replace governed transaction date fields.

Why the timeline isn't in date order — and how to fix it​

The closing timeline is in manual order, not date order. It keeps whatever order you arranged by dragging rows, which is deliberate — it lets you group related dates the way your office thinks about them.

The side effect is that the timeline can look out of chronological order. This usually shows up after dates shift: a Playbook sets the original order, then a deadline moves, and the row stays where it was rather than sliding to its new place in the sequence. Nothing is wrong with the dates themselves — only the display order.

To put everything back in date order, click Sort by date above the timeline. It reorders every key date earliest first, sends undated rows to the bottom, and saves the new order, so it sticks until you drag something again.

tip

If key dates look like they're in the wrong sequence, try Sort by date before assuming a date is wrong — the dates are usually correct and only the manual ordering is stale.

Editing dates​

Use the transaction edit page for governed transaction dates. On the timeline, a governed row may show Edit on Transaction Details instead of Delete. That means the date belongs to the transaction's canonical date fields; edit or clear it from the transaction details so DocJacket keeps the transaction record and timeline row aligned.

Use the key-date drawer for custom or Playbook-generated timeline dates. You can update the due date, the time, status, notes, reminders, linked tasks, and portal note visibility. Reminders here can go by email, text message, or both — and when you save the deal as a Playbook, these reminders are captured (texts included) and re-created on future deals you apply it to. A row with no date shows a Needs date chip. Expand the row in the Key Dates list, or open the key date, to see why:

  • Missing anchor — the date this one is calculated from isn't set yet. The list shows "Missing anchor — Waiting on: date name". Fill in that date and this one follows.
  • Not calculated — the date it depends on is set, but this one hasn't been calculated from it yet. Click Recalculate (read-only seats don't see the button).
  • Needs a date — there is nothing to calculate it from, or you typed a date and then cleared it. Open the key date and enter a date. If you had typed it and then cleared it, you can also choose Overridden — reset to calculate it again.

Effective Date and Acceptance Date never show Missing anchor, because nothing sits behind them. Rows that are Completed, Waived or N/A show none of these.

Adding the appointment time​

Time (optional) sits just under the due date. Use it when you know what time the appointment is actually scheduled for — the 2:00 PM inspection, the 9:00 AM closing.

It is blank until someone types it, on every date. DocJacket never guesses a time and never fills one in from the contract, because the appointment is usually scheduled after the contract is signed.

Once a time is set, text reminders about that date say it:

Inspection Deadline for 123 Main St is due August 30, 2026 at 2:00 PM.

Leave it blank and the reminder reads exactly as it always has, naming only the day. Clear a time you no longer want with Clear next to the field, and the texts stop mentioning a time.

A few things worth knowing:

  • The time is the appointment's, not the reminder's. When a reminder goes out is set separately, in the reminder itself.
  • It doesn't move the date. A 2:00 PM time on an August 30 date is still an August 30 deadline everywhere else in DocJacket — the timeline, the calendar, and the day-before appointment text all still work off the date.
  • It survives your other edits. Re-applying a Playbook, moving the date, or a new contract coming in through extraction all leave a time you typed alone.
  • Appointment confirmation texts don't include it automatically. Those use your own wording, so add {{appointment_time}} to them in Settings > SMS if you want it there too.

What closing a key date stops​

Marking a key date Completed, Waived or N/A, or deleting it, cancels the reminders and scheduled emails for that date that haven't gone out yet. Reopening the key date doesn't start them again; add a new reminder if you still want one. Once a date is closed, an email for it that was dismissed or is being held for approval can't be restored or approved.

Calendar invites that have already gone out aren't cancelled when you complete a date. Waived and N/A ask whether to cancel the invite. See Calendar Invites.

Financing dates on cash deals​

DocJacket treats a deal as Cash when it is marked cash or its Financing type contains "Cash". A blank financing type never counts as Cash.

On a Cash deal, DocJacket won't add Appraisal Deadline, Financing Deadline, New Loan Terms Deadline or Loan Application Deadline on its own: not from a contract upload, not from contract date rules, and not from a monday.com import. The extraction review lists each one as "Not added: this deal is recorded as Cash." If you fill in a loan or appraisal period yourself on the deal, the deadline it produces is still added.

If you add one of these dates by hand (Add Key Date, or the deal edit page), you'll see "This deal is recorded as Cash." and the date saves normally. Dates already on the deal are never removed.

When you move a key date, DocJacket may show a cascade preview before saving. Review the affected tasks, downstream key dates, manually overridden dates, completed dates, and missing-rule items before applying the change. For why some dates recalculate automatically and others don't, see Recalculating Deadlines.

If a date came from extraction, review it before saving so downstream tasks, reminders, scheduled emails, and calendar events use the correct anchor. In extraction review, extracted dates only become timeline key dates when you opt them into Add to timeline?.

Financial summary​

The financials section gives you a quick snapshot of the money side:

  • Purchase price — The agreed sale price
  • List price — For listings or listing-side reporting
  • Earnest money — The deposit amount and who's holding it
  • Additional deposit — A second earnest-money or deposit amount when applicable
  • Loan amount — If the buyer is financing
  • Down payment — Calculated from price minus loan amount
  • Seller concession — Seller-paid credits or concessions, in dollars or as a percentage of the price (see below)
  • Appraisal gap — Any appraisal-gap amount tracked on the deal
  • Home warranty amounts — Buyer-paid or seller-paid home warranty amounts
  • Financing type — Cash, financed, or other financing category

Editing financials​

Use the transaction edit page to update financial fields. If you used AI extraction to create the transaction, these fields may be pre-populated from the contract — just verify they're correct before saving.

Seller concession as a percentage​

Many contracts state the seller concession as a percentage, such as "3% of the purchase price". To enter it that way, open the transaction edit page and use the $ / % switch next to Seller Concession:

  • $ — type the dollar amount. This is the default.
  • % — type the percent the contract states, such as 3. DocJacket works out the dollars from the purchase price, or from the list price when there is no purchase price yet. The dollars appear under the field as you type.

The financial summary shows a percentage the way you entered it, with the dollars beside it, for example 3% ($8,940). If the purchase price changes later, the dollars update to match the new price. Emails, forms and the portal that use the seller concession get the dollar amount.

Switching back to $ keeps the dollar amount the percentage worked out to.

tip

If you're tracking commission splits or detailed closing costs, you can add custom fields in Settings > Custom Fields.