How long does buying a home take?

The best time to buy or sell a home is whenever it is the best time for you and your family. The first step is to talk to a lender about how much you are pre-approved for. There’s nothing a Realtor can do for you until you know your price range, which can also determine when is a good time for you to get out there on the house hunt.

If you are selling and buying then you want to start with your Realtor to see what your current home is worth, and what price range you would be looking at after selling.  Then you go to your lender to get pre-approved.

One of the questions Realtors get a lot is how long the home buying process takes. The home buying process is sometimes very short, and sometimes very long. On average, most people write an offer on one of the first six homes they see in their price range after getting pre-approved. Sometimes the search can take longer because it can depend on the time of year. The real estate market ebbs and flows and runs on a pretty cyclical nature. There are times of the year where it’s better to be a seller, and times of the year when it is better to be a buyer. How long it takes to get a home under contract really depends on these factors.

Once we have a home under contract with an accepted offer, that home goes pending. This is when things really start moving. A copy of the signed around purchase and sale agreement goes to your lender and to the escrow/title company. The escrow company opens escrow on the home and does a title search. Then the lender will call you to come in and sign your lending documents. Now that you have a home under contract, the loan application, and process can begin. You and your Realtor have 10 days to complete the home inspection and request any repairs. Once the inspection process is complete, the appraisal process begins. While the home inspection is for your information, the appraisal is for the bank’s information. Once the appraisal is in, the file goes to the underwriters again for their approval. When the underwriters approve, then closing documents are ordered. After receipt of the closing documents you have three days before you can sign at the title company. During that time the title company balances the papers, numbers and information with the lender to verify everything is correct. That is when you will be contacted for a signing appointment.  Signing and closing are different though. Signing is when you meet with the title officer at the escrow office to sign acceptance of the loan, and of the property you are purchasing. Then you wait for closing which is when all the paperwork goes back to the underwriters to sign off on, and then to the lenders to fund.  Once funding happens all the information goes back to the title company and the title company then sends the necessary information to the courthouse to record your sale. Once this is complete, the home becomes yours and you can meet your Realtor to get the keys. This whole process can take anywhere from three weeks to six, with an average of about 40 days.

Tracie DeMars 360-903-3504
traciedemars@aol.com
www.traciedemars.com