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Selling house how long from offer to completion?
I have seen conflicting timescales from offer to completion on a usual mortgage type deal. 2 weeks to 8 weeks have been suggested, Whats your experience, whats the reality.?

Posted by Curly Top on 02/13/08
Total Answers: 9

Answers-

it depends on how fast the lender can get the loan for the buyer. Usually 4-6 weeks.

Answer posted by Real Estate Guy on 2008-02-13 11:20:44

I would say a month from the time you have an accepted offer until closing is pretty standard, but between 2-8 is a completely reasonable range.

Answer posted by Dizzy_Lizzy on 2008-02-13 11:21:30

I would say 4 to 5 weeks is to be expected.

Answer posted by frak1a12345 on 2008-02-13 11:22:45

This depends on many factors. Could be as little as 30 days, or it could be never! As long as it is not a "contingency" sale (example: the buyer will buy your house only after finding someone to buy his house) then the main thing is to have all inspections turn out favorably (termite, etc) and then the big one - the person buying the house must actually and FACTUALLY come up with the money and sign the loan documents. Before that buyer has been qualified for the loan and actually signed the loan documents, anything can happen. This is often why homes "fall out of escrow" and the seller is as square one trying to find a new buyer again. Hopefully your buyer is earnest and well qualified and ready and willing. If so, it should take about 4 - 6 weeks if everyone is doing their jobs. Good luck!

Answer posted by Center on 2008-02-13 11:31:49

About a month for a "normal" sale. But a cash buyer could probably get the deal done in two weeks and a problematic buyer could easily drag it out to 8 weeks.

Answer posted by Brian A on 2008-02-13 11:32:29

It depends, mainly upon the status of your buyer; i.e. are they part of a chain and thus dependant on the sale of their own house. We moved just over three years ago and were in such a chain, on whose closure the sale of our house depended. The time from offer to completion was thirteen weeks. Two house earlier (I moved a lot in my job) we sold to a company who owned and developed Retirement Homes. The time from offer to completion was three weeks. In six other house sales we have never achieved less than eight weeks.

Answer posted by kaygee on 2008-02-13 11:36:09

30 days is pretty standard, but if there are any problems with the buyer submitting docs to the lender, or with the title or appraised value...anything that has to be worked out...that time will increase. Also, some states just take longer because of bizarro state laws...see NY about the goofy MIP. Sometimes it takes the title company a while to get the seller's payoff from their lender. Sometimes the buyer takes a long time to arrange for the inspections. In other words, if everything falls into place, and everyone cooperates and does their parts, and no one has lied about anything...it should take 30 days or less. I'm assuming that the sales contingency from the buyer, if there is one, has been fulfilled.

Answer posted by daeve930 on 2008-02-13 11:57:35

I have closed transactions in as little as 3 days to closing almost a year later. The range can be quite a bit due to circumstances involving the transaction. Read your Purchase Contract and at the bottom you should see an approximate date for closing. That said if your Buyer has not been approved for a loan (this can go down to the wire by the way), if title is not clear,if termite report is not clear, if Buyer waives home inspection, if there are any contingencies(clauses)in the contract,etc. Also there can be amendments and addendums added along the way, if their is a lien it will need to be cleared and that takes time for the banks to clear. Also if repairs or replacements need to be done that will take time too. The reality is every transaction is different,doesn't always go as planned and some fall out of escrow.

Answer posted by hollywoodmelody on 2008-02-13 18:33:30

You should realistically plan on 6-8 weeks. However the key is to understand what type of mortgage your buyer has to take out, if it is not a standard mortgage i.e. they have to go to a niche lender then it can take 12-16 weeks for approval. If on the other hand their mortgage is very small compared to the value of the property i.e. less than 50% loan to value, then approval can be very quick.

Answer posted by Steve on 2008-02-14 08:58:54

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