How long does it take to sell a house?

How long does it take to sell a house?

How long do you want it to take?

Most people want to spend as little time with their home on the market, and for good reason. Let’s face it, it’s inconvenient! All those people traipsing through your house!

But, the amount of time your home is open for showings can be one of the shortest parts of getting your home sold! How well your home is prepared for the market, and how well it is priced can make a big difference in how long you have to wait for a good offer.

The chart below represents a fairly typical timeline for a home to sell in the Raleigh market. Let’s look at it section by section.

1. Preparing Your Home for Market

2-6 Weeks

Prepping your home for the market can be one of the longest parts of selling your home. But, it doesn’t have to be (if you’re in a hurry, you might be interested in our 3 Days to List Program)!

Preparing a home for sale is kind of like painting a house. If you put the time in to prepare your walls, your tools, and tape things off right in the beginning, the painting goes pretty fast. In the same way, a home that is properly prepared for the market will generally sell much faster and at a higher price that poorly presented homes.

First we meet with you to get to know you and your home, and to allow you to get to know us. We’ll talk about what services you want from us and we discuss the fee structure. We take all the info we have gotten from you and a tour of your home and run an analysis to determine at what price your home is likely to sell. We also look at possible improvements to your home that could net you a positive ROI.

Once any improvements (if any) are made, it is time to clean (and I mean really clean), declutter, and stage your home for photos. Our professional photographer will make your home look like a magazine cover. We do one last market analysis to see how the market has changed since we fist spoke, and recommend a listing price. If you are OK with that price, we set your home up in the Multiple Listing Service, and begin marketing your home.

2. Showings

1 Day to 1 Month

Our goal is to generate as much pre-showing excitement for your home as possible. Once it goes live, we want people eager to come and see your home. Often this means that we will list it as “Coming Soon” so buyers will be aware of your home and make plans to view it once showings are permitted. Generally, we like to make a listing active on a Friday so we can have a good full first weekend.

During that first weekend, be prepared to be elsewhere, but available! You don’t want to make it difficult for potential buyers to view your property. We all know that sometimes schedules just can’t be adjusted, but do your very best to make your home as available as possible. Your future buyer is also working around a crazy schedule!

When we first go active, we will be able to tell you how long your home is likely to remain on the market. We can’t make promises, but we know the market well and can make a pretty good guess.

3. Receiving an Offer

1 Day to 1 Week

Our goal is to prepare and price your home in such a way as to generate as many offers as possible. The more offers there are, the more options you have. And, of course, multiple offers almost always means a higher sale price.

Responding to offers in a timely manner is very important! Buyers are nervous and we’ve seen times (on the buyer’s end) where our clients have gotten very antsy at the lack of communication from the seller and actually pulled their offer even before the seller had made a decision.

When you receive an offer (or offers) we will go over the pro’s and con’s of each offer. We’ll consider the timeframe the buyer is proposing, the amount of earnest money and due diligence they are offering, and even the lender they are using. You will decide which offer to pursue and whether to accept it as presented or to make a counter offer. Of course, we will guide you through all of those decisions.

4. Under Contract

1 Day to 1 Week

Once all parties have agreed to terms and signed the offer to purchase and contract, we communicate that acceptance to the buyer and they will deliver the agreed upon due diligence fee along with any earnest monies that are due.

5. Due Diligence

2-3 Weeks

This is probably the most stressful part of the transaction, for both buyer and seller. During this time period (that was negotiated in the contract, but usually between 2 and 3 weeks), the buyer has the right to inspect the property, and you have an obligation to make the property available for inspection. In most cases a general inspection will be performed. This inspection will last for several hours. In addition to this general inspection, the buyer may also inspect the HVAC system, the well and septic (if applicable), and the water supply. A pest inspection will likely be completed, along with a Radon test.

Once the buyer receives the results from the inspection, they will likely negotiate for repairs. We will advise you on your possible courses of action. Every transaction is unique. Sometimes it might make sense for you to have some repairs done, or sometimes to offer a discount on the sale price, or sometimes to not negotiate at all. Again, it all depends on the particulars of the transaction. We look out for your best interests. Before the due diligence date a buyer may walk away from the transaction without incurring any cost beyond what they have already paid.

If you agree to make repairs, there may be another inspection to confirm the repairs.

During this time, the buyer is also getting their financing in order, and of course, you are packing up for your own move.

6. Preparing for Closing

about 30 days from Contract Acceptance

Once the Due Diligence period has passed, you are mostly concerned with packing. The buyer is working with their lender (and we as your agents are checking up on them).

7. Final Approvals

Sometimes a buyer’s loan doesn’t come through in time. Currently in North Carolina the law states that a buyer has an automatic 7-day grace period to close on the home. But after that, you as the seller can decide if you want to give the buyer additional time to close or if you want to make the house available to other buyers.

Assuming that all has gone well, the closing attorney will receive the packet from the lender and let all parties know that closing has the green light. As the seller, you will have much fewer documents to sign and will not need to be at the attorney’s office for very long. Generally, you and the buyer will sign at different times and you won’t see the buyer at the closing table.

On the day of closing, the buyer will do a final walkthrough of the home. If you have left things behind, they may refuse to close until you have removed all personal items from the home.

8. Closed!

Once the transaction is finalized at the attorney’s office, the attorney will file with the Register of Deeds and disburse the monies from the transaction according to your instructions.