How long does it take for a house to sell?
This is a common question asked by thousands of home sellers across the U.S. every day. After all, you need to know how long it will be before you can move on with your life.
Unfortunately, there is no single answer to this question. The home selling process is intricate. It can take anywhere from a couple of weeks to several months.
Keep reading for all the factors that determine how long selling a house takes.
Image by Paul Brennan
The Real Estate Market
“How long does it take to sell a house?” can partially be answered based on the real estate market.
If you’re selling a home traditionally, the real estate market will play a huge role in how long it takes. For example, if you’re in a seller’s market, there will be fewer homes available and plenty of motivated buyers. In this case, you might get an offer on your house on the first day.
However, in a buyer’s market, there will be countless homes for sale and not many buyers. Not only will it be more difficult to sell your home in this environment, but you’ll likely need to drop the price to remain competitive. So, whether you are in the seller’s market or buyer’s market, the professionals at Tech Realtor Spencer Hsu recommend hiring a real estate agent to streamline the process.
How You Sell Your Home
The answer to “How long does it take for a house to sell?” also depends on how you sell your home. If you’re selling your home traditionally, several factors come into play, such as the real estate market as noted above. However, you must also consider:
- Scheduling an appraisal
- Scheduling an inspection
- Making necessary repairs and updates
- Deep cleaning the home
- Showing the home and waiting for offers
- Negotiating with buyers
This process can take several weeks to several months.
On the other hand, you can sell your house to a cash home buyer. They will inspect the home and give you an offer, usually within 24 to 48 hours. But how do you find one? You can do a quick search like ‘we buy houses philadelphia pa‘ and choose from the results.
You won’t have to get an official home inspection or appraisal. Additionally, this option allows you to sell your house as-is, which means no expensive and time-consuming repairs and updates. Check out URB for more information on selling a house for cash.
The Closing Process
Finally, let’s talk about the closing process. Learning how to sell a house traditionally means understanding the major role the bank/lender plays.
The closing process usually takes anywhere from six to eight weeks. During this time, the sale can fall through for multiple reasons.
For example, if the buyer hid something in their finances that comes out in underwriting, they could be disqualified. If the buyer makes any financial changes (getting a new job, taking out a loan, spending money on their credit card), it could also disqualify them. The buyer could simply get cold feet and decide to back out.
Any of these issues would mean you are starting over from square one.
Alternatively, if you sold to a cash home buyer, you could avoid all of this. These sales are usually close in as little as seven days.
How Long Does it Take for a House to Sell?
As you can see the answer to “How long does it take for a house to sell?” depends entirely on you. If you’re trying to sell your house traditionally and get every penny you can out of it, the process will likely take several months. If you’re having trouble finding a buyer, it can take even longer.
Selling a house to a cash home buyer, on the other hand, can be completed in under two weeks. However, going this route will likely mean accepting a lower offer for your home.
Ultimately, you must do what’s best for you and your circumstances. And if you’re looking for more tips on homeownership or selling property, check out our other articles before you go. Our site is full of great content created for people like you.
