Wednesday, May 19, 2010

How Long?

You all were so helpful on the house vs. condo discussion so I am coming back for more advice. Garth and I are just one month in to our house hunt, but our lease will be ending soon and we need to decide how long we want to sign for. So, I want to know:
How long did it take for you to find a house? And then once you found the house, how long did it take to close?
Thanks for your help, you guys seriously ROCK!

37 comments:

Mary Michal said...

I'm selling a house on Friday. From the time the buyers put in an offer to the closing day will be 6 weeks. I believe the buyers were pre-approved. I hope that helps some. Good luck on your search for the perfect home!!

Jenny Strickland said...

We started looking for houses in Nov 2008... We finally found the one we wanted in May 2009... But it took until July to close on it! It stayed in underwriting for all that time... But realator made sure that we kept our intrest rate that we signed for! And she was right we did!


Good luck with everthing! Oh and looking for houses becomes an addiction! I still go to websites and look at houses! Only to get ideas on decorating and stuff!!!!

Unknown said...

We found our house in a week and closed in 30 days...but only because we had sold our condo and had to be out of there! When we bought the condo it took us about a month to find and about a month to close

Jen McCrady said...

Our whole process went SUPER quickly. We were "looking" for about 2 weeks before we saw the house we loved and JUMPED to put an offer on it! Hang in there... It can go super fast once you find what you're looking for!

Melissa said...

I came across my house the day it went on the market and fell in love. I had been looking for about a month. Once we went back and forth with numbers and settled on a price, it took about a month to close and get in! Have fun house shopping!!

Jules said...

We found our house after looking for about 4 months and then went to settlement about 60 days after our offer was accepted. I would say 6 months total.

Charbelle said...

I think it varies, I would suggest doing what my friend and her husband did they had the lease on the apartment extended. They have purchased new construction and so they're waiting for it to be finished. I love love love their new house, it's awesome!!
For me I had looked at places and then my part time hostessing gig at the restaurant I worked with a bartender whose full time job was graphic design. He had created the sales folder for my condo community. I looked, loved what I saw, he put me in touch with the realtor. I went in and saw the model. Then I saw my little shoe box (it's like 700 square feet) it was a total dump, horrible carpeting, holes in walls, disgustingly dirty. However, I knew what it was going to look like and I was sold. I had my parents come back and look and they approved so I put the deposit down. This was January 2005 and I closed end of May 2005. Then I got to be the model for the creative loafing ad with my caption about buying in the community, that was a fun experience =)

A said...

We were very picky so we looked from May-November. Found it mid-November and moved into the house Jan 9. The sellers chose a farther out closing date though because they had not found a place yet.

Anonymous said...

We looked for about 3 months, and had a couple of houses swept out from under our feet. Then we finally found our house that we're in now, and it took about a month or so to close.

The Shabby Princess said...

We were in a very rare and very lucky situation: we were already approved for the money up to X amount and we didn't look at any homes over X. We looked at houses for about a month and then we found "the one". The sellers needed someone to close on or before a certain date and since were already approved, we said "go". We signed the paperwork on March 17th and closed on everything on April 15th. We didn't move in for a few weeks because we had painting and wallpaper hell to deal with. For us, it was basically 4 weeks, but, that's might be abnormally fast....?

Good luck!!

5th Belle Avenue said...

Goodness, it really depends! Will your apt allow you to do a month-to-month lease for a little while until you get more of a feel? That way you're not locked into anything and if the perfect house/condo arises then you can go for it!

Ginger said...

we started looking for houses in December 2009 found one in February 2010 and closed end of March 2010.

Nancy said...

It took us a month and then another month to close. If you are pre-approved- it makes the process a little easier as you know how much you can afford. If you are buying a home from a bank (repo or short sale) then the process can take longer. Be prepared with all your financial information- paystubs, W-2s, and bank statements. Usually the most recent 2 months bank statements and a paystub that shows 30 days worth of pay (ie an LES), and then the last two years' W-2s. Make sure you do not have any large deposits showing on your bank statements or you will have to account for them (the bank wants to makes sure you haven't borrowed money)- also make sure there aren't any NSFs or negative balanes on your bank statements. If you are getting a VA loan then your Hubby will need his VA certificate as well. I hope that helps (I used to work as an underwriter and processor.) ;)
Oh- someone probably already told you this- make sure you get an inspection!!

Autumn said...

We only looked for a few weeks, maybe less, and found "the one." We closed in a month, maybe a little less. We had gotten preapproved, so we knew what range we could work with. I lived in an apartment at the time, and had been doing 3 months at a time on my lease, and it happened to end the month we moved, so it worked out perfectly. You might try month to month. It generally costs a little more, but is worth it since you aren't tied down. I can't imagine it would take you guys too long to find something, especially since you know kinda what you are looking for. Good luck! :)

Minnesota Girl said...

Before I bought my house, I was in an apartment for two + years. After the two year mark, my lease turned into month to month. I suggest seeing if your apt place will do that. I still had to give 2-months notice, but that worked out perfectly. I had been looking for houses for almost a year, and I finally found one that I loved. The time between when my offered was accepted and when I closed on the home was roughly two months. As soon as my offer was accepted, I put in my two-month notice for the house.
Closing dates vary for every seller/buyer. It depends on a mulitude of factors, the number one being has the seller found a house and if they've set up a closing date on that new property. It's a lot of moving parts, but it's easy to negotiate.

Rebecca Jo said...

My husband took me to the country & had me look at houses for YEARS... I refused to move out that far... but then he took me out to see a house & it was like the movies - I saw hearts & blue birds flying & heard bells - I fell in love with it! We had to sell our house - but was in our home in 3 months... good luck!!!

Natalie said...

It took us one day to find our house, no joke. It was the perfect home for us, the right location and had every single "must have" we wanted. I know that is really rare but when you know, you just know! It took about 6 weeks to close and it was kind of a nightmareish process for us but once we finally got in I didn't care anymore. I love our home! Good luck!

Annie said...

i think it will very with every person. when i bought my townhouse almost 8 years ago (gosh that was SO long ago), it only took me about a month to find it and we closed within 30 days. everything happened really quick!

Annie said...

p.s. best of luck with your searching hun!!

Jamie said...

We probably searched for about 6 months! We weren't in a huge hurry so we took our time. When we finally found the perfect one, it probably took about a month to close. The closing kept getting pushed back but it finally happened :) Good luck with everything!

Tasha said...

We bought our house in San Antonio after looking at houses for two days. We're crazy, but we didn't have time to look for very long. We closed on it 9 weeks later. We already went through the pre approval process with our lender to be sure we could get the house we wanted. We wanted to delay our closing since we can't move until this summer. I've heard of people closing within 30 days of the acceptance of the offer so it can be much faster! Good luck to you guys!

Lauren said...

It took us about 2 months to find the place we wanted to be & actually ended up building a spec house in a new neighborhood. So the closing time is a little off, but it was about 30 days until closing & we were pre-approved for the full loan amount! Good luck!

Jennifer said...

It really can vary. We found our house in February and closed March 30th. Do you have the option to go month to month?

Amey said...

It took us about 4 months to find our house and a month to close on it. Our lease was up on our apartment too, we decided to go month to month. We had to pay extra to do month to month, but it wasn't nearly as bad as breaking our lease.

Jen Caputo said...

It took us about 2 months to find a house and a little over a month to close.

Anne @ Sincerely, Britches said...

We're living in my grandmother-in-law's house and haven't had to go through these decisions yet. I hope you get something figured out soon.

God know. . .

Hang in there!

Gwen said...

We looked for a few months but we had plenty of time. No leases running out or anything. As far as closing we had our keys 30 days after the seller accepted our offer. I just know you'll find the perfect place soon. I can feel it!!! XOXO

Jessica said...

The house kind of fell into our laps without us even looking(long story) but it probably took around 2 months to close. The banks like to take their sweet time! ha! It was kinda frustrating, because we weren't expecting it to last that long. We had to break our lease, but our landlord really didn't have a problem with it. He just made us pay the rent until it was rented out to someone else. Which luckily happened very quickly.

Brandi said...

I think I looked around for a month or so but my house had only been on the market a week when I found it and put in an offer. I knew when I pulled up I was going to love it! After that it took awhile to close but no more than 6 weeks I believe. To be safe on your lease, I would sign a month to month in case you run across your dream house!

Heather @ Simple Wives said...

I took me all of one week to find a place that I wanted, but closer to a month to move in. But that was for a duplex...could be totally different for a condo or house! :) Good luck with it!

Mrs. S. said...

It took us about a month to find a house (we also had a lease going on at the time and we wanted to have a house bought before it was up) and it took us a month to close. It can differ depending on how long it takes you to find a house. Most people I have talked to have taken on average, about a month to close.

Good luck!

RN Mama said...

Hmm...this is a hard question! My guess would be anywhere from 2-6 months, depending on how fast you find your dream home! Good luck!

P.S. What about Dawson's house? Did you go through it yet?

Kim @ NewlyWoodwards said...

It took a month for us to close, but it can vary. I cannot wait to see what you chose.

BonBon Rose Girls Kristin said...

It took us 2 months to find our house. Getting pre-approved definitely speeds up the process!

Unknown said...

It took us about a year to find our home and 3 months for closing...but Husby was SUPER specific in what he was looking for in a new home.

Domestically Deficient said...

It took us 6 weeks to close. We talked about looking and browsed online for a while. But once we seriously started looking, we only dedicated two weekends to it. So the whole process was just under 2 months. Good luck!

sanjeet said...

Have a nice week..
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