“How much time does it take to buy a home?”

The answer to this question largely depends upon how much time have you spend shopping for your home. Buying a home is a lengthy process since it involves a number of steps. What seems like just finding the right home to buy and some paperwork, is actually a long, intricate process that can take anywhere between 30-60 days.

In this post, we will take a look at all the steps involved in buying a home so that you can get a clear idea of the time it can take to buy a home.

How long does it take to buy a home?

Here are the different steps involved in buying a home, with an approximate time it may take to complete those steps:

1) Getting a pre-approved loan

One of the first things that you need to when you are seriously considering buying a home is get a pre-approved loan. Not only does it indicate that you are a serious buyer, but it also ensures that you don’t have to face any problem at the last minute with the approval or documentation process after finalizing the deal.

A common mistake first time home buyers make is to begin their home search based on pre-qualification of a loan. However, pre-qualification not always guarantees that you are pre-approved for the loan. Therefore, for a speedy home buying process, you must get a pre-approved loan.

It can take somewhere between 5-8 days to get a pre-approved loan, since it will require you to produce a number of documents like proof of income, tax returns, bank statements. You can get in touch with a lender to know the details of the process, and the exact documents required.

2) Home-shopping

Getting a pre-approved loan would also mean that you know the amount that you can spend on buying a home. So, once you have a pre-approval letter in hand, it is time to start looking for homes.

It is always a smart idea to take professional help when searching for a home because they can always make the process faster and easier. You can choose from the list of real estate agents available in your vicinity and begin your search.

Here’s a blog on how to choose a real estate agent that will certainly help you in the process.

Time taken in this process depends entirely upon your requirement and how well has the real estate agent been able to understand those requirements.

It can take anywhere from a few days to a few months in this step. For instance, it can take 8-10 weeks to view an average of 10 median homes.

3) Negotiation And Making An Offer

If you have found the home of your choice, the next step is to negotiate the price.

This is where an expert like Negotiator Recognized Partner can prove to be your best friend. They will negotiate on your behalf and get you the best deal for the home that you have selected.

As soon as the negotiations are completed, your real estate agent will put in an offer. The real estate agent will guide you through all the paperwork, and also the contingencies to be put in the offer to protect you in case you have to back out from the offer in any circumstance.

It can take somewhere between 1-7 days for this step.

4) Home Inspection

If the buyer accepts your offer, the next important step in the deal will be a thorough home inspection. Hire professional home inspectors, who will take a thorough look at the property and provide you with a report of their inspection.

Inspection will help you find out any damage or signs of wear and tear in the property. in case, something major pops up you can always renegotiate the deal or ask the seller to carry out the repairs done before signing the final contract (this is where the contingencies come into play).

The home inspection scheduling, depending upon the availability, can take anywhere between 1-10 days, and it takes not more than a few hours for the inspection to be carried out.

If no problem pops up in the inspection, you are good to go for the closing process. However, if something serious pops up, it can cause delays depending upon the seriousness of the issue.

Don’t forget to check out our post on common traps to avoid when buying a home for the first time.

5) Closing

The closing process involves the lender ordering an appraisal for the home that you are buying. The appraisal is basically a final assessment by the lender about whether the home can be financed or not.

Once this assessment has been carried out by the lender, you will get a closing disclosure enlisting the details of your loan, terms and conditions, and the fee involved in the process.

Once this step is done, you can sign the paperwork on the closing day, pay the closing fee and that’s about it.

The appraisal process can take anywhere between 5 to 10 days to be completed.

Conclusion

If you calculate the time taken in all these steps mentioned above, one can reach the conclusion that buying a home may take up to 50 days. However, this can easily go up by a few days since there are a number of factors involved, which are beyond your control. So, it is advisable that you complete the steps that involve the factors that are within your control beforehand, like finding a real estate agent, preparing your financial documentation, or getting a pre-approved loan. We hope that this post will make it easy for you to plan to buy a home.

All the best!