You are ready to sell your house! Now what?
You’ve been weighing the pros and cons, looking around to see what types of houses fit into your new budget, and feel that now, at the beginning of 2020, is the perfect time for you to give yourself and/or your family a nice change of scenery!
Maybe it’s time for an upgrade. Maybe your family is expanding and you need some extra room. Maybe you’re having to relocate due to new employment. Maybe you recently inherited a house that you have no desire to move into. Maybe you’re tired of being a landlord and are ready to sell that house that you’ve been renting out for the past several years.
There are a number of reasons you might have decided that it’s time for a change. You already know that there are some things that have to be done before you sell your house, especially if you want the process to go smoothly. If you’re a little ahead of the curve, you might already know what some of the houses in your neighborhood have sold for and how long it took them to sell, and you might even know whether you’re in a highly sought after neighborhood or not and how the current housing market is sitting in your area. You might even have a good idea of what the value of your house is - maybe you went ahead and had an evaluation just to ensure that now really is a good time for you to sell.
With all that in mind, you do your due diligence, feeling pretty confident as you tidy up your home, polish out a few of the blemishes that might discourage buyers, and improve your curb appeal. Then you contact a real estate agent or two, (or three), pick one to move forward with, sign all the necessary paperwork, and get that sign posted in front of your house. You may have even already done some house hunting of your own and found the perfect house for you and/or your family to move into. All that’s left is to get the right buyer in the door and close on that house that you are so ready to be done with. But, that begs the very important question:
How Long Does it Take for a House to Sell?
According to Realtor.com, “the median home spends 65 days on the market” and that’s from the moment it’s entered onto the MLS until the moment you sign the paperwork and the chosen title company hands the keys over to the new owner. But that number is taking into account every city in every state across America. The market varies from city to city and from year to year.
In this article, we’re going to break down the necessary steps that every homeowner goes through when selling their home. This may give you a better idea of exactly how long it will take you to sell a house in 2020.
Here are the most common steps you’ll take when selling your home:
Choose a listing agent
Get your home ready to sell
Market your home
Show your home
Review offers
Counter and/or Accept offer
Go under contract
Schedule an appraisal and home inspection
Deliver seller disclosures and other paperwork
Negotiate requests for repair after inspection report is filed
Sign title and other documents
Close
Obviously some of those steps are going to take longer than others. Once you go under contract, a closing date is typically set anywhere from 30-60 days depending on the buyer’s preferred time frame. If you have a buyer wanting to speed up the process, that can help, but often you’ll be waiting at least 30 days for the official closing on your house.
Generally speaking, the longest of these steps are going to be marketing and showing your home, and then waiting for your closing date. These are steps that you don’t really have much control over. In some cases your perfect buyer is going to be the first person to walk through your front door. In other cases, it might be the twenty-fifth person, or the thirtieth. And once you find your buyer, they may need a little extra time prior to closing to get their own household in order, or they might be pushing you to move faster than you’re comfortable with.
If you’re wanting to sell faster than the average time it takes to sell your house, then there are a few things you can do to help speed up the sale of your house, so let’s go over those briefly, since you’re in a hurry.
Gather all the paperwork you think you might need for closing ahead of time.
You can ask your realtor and/or lender what types of paperwork you’ll need to provide them, your buyer, and the title company with and can begin working on that in advance. A quick Google search can also give you a list of the most common documentation you’ll need to provide.
Consider renting a storage unit so you can declutter your home and begin packing in advance
While this will add to your monthly expenses, it’s a great way to get some of your unnecessary storage and decorations out of your home. This will visually help buyers picture your house is a more neutral setting, allowing them to imagine their own belongings in the house. In addition, it allows you to begin packing far in advance as you can box up some of the items that you can do without for a couple of months.
Keep a wide open schedule for house showings
I know that this can be a real pain. But having a wider schedule for house showings makes it possible for more traffic to come through your doors. You don’t want a potential buyer to settle for another house because they weren’t able to see yours.
Enhance curb appeal - this will be the first and last thing potential buyers see
This is a simple one. Keep it clean and free of cobwebs and dirt. Consider adding some plants or flowers if it’s a good season for it. You could add a fresh coat of paint to your front door, hang a pretty and welcoming wreath, or even just give it a good scrub down and keep your lawn maintained to give your potential buyers a more positive viewing experience. A very simple, but critical, step!
Respond quickly to your realtor, filling out paperwork as it comes in instead of letting it stack up
Again, this is a very simple step. Keep an eye on your phone and email for any communication coming in from your realtor and/or lender. They might be asking you to update some paperwork, or they might have an offer for you to review. Regardless, staying on top of correspondence and any tasks they assign you is a quick and easy way to streamline and speed up the process of selling your home!
If you’re looking for some additional tips on decreasing the time it takes to sell your house, head over to Dave Ramsey’s website where he has a list of five ways to speed up the sale of your house.
So, How Long Does it Take to Sell a House?
Honestly, when it all comes down to it, how long it takes to sell your house on average depends on the amount of legwork you put into the property in advance (or the current state of your house), your price point, the determination of your realtor, the current housing market, and a little bit of luck when it comes to that perfect buyer who’s just as ready to finalize the process as you are.
So while the average is 65-68 days depending on which website and year you’re looking at, it’s really going to vary from property to property. It might take you less time and it might take you a little longer depending on the circumstances in your area. There isn’t a single cookie cutter pattern that dictates that “this process takes x number of days and this step takes y number of days.” Yeah, it’d be really nice if that was the case. But like so many questions in life, there is no straightforward and absolute answer to how long it usually takes to sell a house.
You can do your best to move the process along more quickly by being open to numerous house showings a day, keeping your home clean and decluttered, responding to your realtor and any paperwork that needs to be filled out in a timely manner, and being willing to move out as quickly as your buyer would you like you to. Maintaining flexibility and a cooperative nature will not only smooth the process out and reduce a few of your stress headaches, but will also speed up your timeline to its maximum efficiency, helping you make your move into a new home!