How Long Does It Take to Sell a House?
This previous year has seen one of the most active housing markets in living memory. Low interest rates brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic (as well as a healthy dose of cabin fever) drove a lot of homeowners to put their homes on the market.
Eager investors snatched up these properties, and in some areas, houses were selling in a matter of hours.
A market like this is very exciting, but how long does it actually take to sell a house anyway? Read on to learn more about the home selling process and how long you can expect to wait from the list date to the closing day.
Prepping Your House
Before your house goes on the market, you must prepare it for sale. There may be certain repairs you need to make to bring your house up to code to pass inspection.
It’s also a good idea to stage your house for pictures and tours and improve your curb appeal. Here are a few ideas:
- Repaint any brightly-colored rooms to a neutral color.
- Remove personal items and clutter from view – this can help your house sell for more money.
- Trim back your bushes and put mulch down on flower beds.
- Make repairs to torn window screens or hanging gutters, and refresh any peeling paint.
In addition to packing, this prep work can take anywhere from 1 to 3 months.
Timing Your Listing
Once your house is prepped for sale, you’ll be ready to put it on the market. However, certain times are better to list a house than others; waiting for a period until the market is moving can help you get more money for your house, and reduce the time your house spends on the market.
The real estate market is the most active in the late spring and early summer months. If you want to sell your house in the late fall, you should wait until the spring to start working on house preparations.
Again, how much time this takes will depend on when you decide to move, and whether you want to wait for the optimal market season.
Waiting for an Offer
Your house is prepped, pictures are taken, you’ve decided on your list date, and your house is officially on the market. The next step in selling a house will be waiting on an offer (or offers) from interested buyers. During this time, you will have potential buyers touring your house occasionally.
The time you have to wait for an offer depends on several factors; how you have your house priced, what area you’re in, the state of the market, and how you list your house can all change how long your house is on the market. As of September 2021, houses spent an average of 43 days on the market.
Negotiating
Once you get an offer, you may feel that your house-selling process is over. Unfortunately, you’re only halfway there.
You must, now, start the negotiation process. During this stage, you and the buyer will go back and forth to determine terms for the transaction that are acceptable to both of you.
Most buyers will start by offering lower than your listing price to see what kind of deal they can get. You may counter back with another price, and so on, until you agree on a final purchase price. This process can take anywhere from a day or two to a few weeks or more, depending on how responsive each party is.
Managing Inspections
After you and your buyer agree on a purchase price, they’ll likely need to inspect the house. If you’re working with a cash buyer, they may choose to buy the house as-is; this can dramatically shorten your sale process since you don’t have to deal with any mortgage processes or inspections (we will discuss this later).
In most cases, however, your buyer must have at least one inspection performed on the house. After this inspection, you’ll go through some additional rounds of negotiations to determine who will be responsible for making what repairs. The house’s purchase price may change during these negotiations, and the whole process can take anywhere from a few weeks to a month or more.
Getting Mortgage Approval
Assuming your buyer isn’t paying cash for your house, they’ll have to get approved for a mortgage. While this step isn’t something you’ll have to work on, it will impact your selling timeline; you may be required to leave the house during extra inspections and/or allow small repairs to be made.
Depending on your specific buyer, a mortgage application process can take a few weeks to a few months. Other than the time on the market, this will be the longest section of your mortgage process.
Once their mortgage is approved, you can set a closing date and complete the house’s final sale.
Conclusion
In general, selling a house can take three to six months, depending on market conditions and your own situation. Working with a cash buyer can make the process much quicker, especially if they agree to buy your house as-is.
Making sure to list your house at the right time of the year, and doing the work to prepare your house for sale can be quite helpful in reducing your selling time.
At Selling.House, we guarantee to offer you a fair deal for your home without any pressure to sell. Our streamlined selling process is there to make the selling experience as quick and stress-free as possible, so that you can easily move on to another milestone in your life.
Contact our friendly team today and sell your house as-is with no fees in as little as twenty-four hours!
