when an individual purchases a first home the sale occurs when the closing documents are signed money exchanges hands and the new owner gets the key 
however many activities lead up to that final legal exchange of money for property these include the would be buyer s contacts with a realtor and with a representative of a lending institution to obtain financing additional sales can extend from the initial sale process for example once a home loan is made to the buyer the lending institution may then sell that loan to another institution as an investment the mortgage may eventually wind up in a bundle of similar investments called mortgage backed securities which are then sold on to other investors 