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Planning to Buy a House? This Timeline Can Help!

How long does it actually take to purchase a house? It’s one of the most important questions that people who hope to find their dream home always want their real estate agents to answer. This is especially important if you’re rental lease is almost up, or you’re about to close on the sale of your current home. Well, any realtor will tell you that timing home buying varies, depending on different factors, too.

Many agents estimate the home-buying process to take at least four months. That long, eh? Yes, but there are a lot of reasons why it takes a while. To help you understand what goes behind every real estate purchase, here is a timeline with the important stages that you need to go through:

MORTGAGE PRE-APPROVAL STAGE

We know you’re psyched to go to those open houses. But your first trip should be to a mortgage broker, and the earlier you can do this, the better. Why? For starters, it takes some time to complete all the documents necessary for a loan. If your finances are in good form, you can request for a pre-approval, which guarantees that you will be able to get a loan for a certain amount of money from the bank. If you have a poor credit score, or your finances are generally less than ideal, it might take you months to clean up everything. That’s why it’s important that you take care of this as early as possible, if you’re really planning to buy a house.

HOUSE-HUNTING STAGE
This is the fun stage, right? Well, we say only partly. You’ll soon realize that actually looking at houses is a lot different than checking out online listings. You can’t just pop in at a house you’re eyeing anytime you feel like it. Often, you have to wait for an open house, or ask your agent to schedule an appointment for an individual viewing. And even when your schedule and that of the seller matches, you might find that the property isn’t at all that exciting than you thought it would be… and you’re back to square one.

 

CLOSING THE DEAL

You finally found a house and you’re offer has been accepted! It’s all done, right? No. In fact, the waiting game has only just begun. Usually, you’d have to wait for around 50 days for a loan to be closed, from the pre-approval period for your mortgage application to the day you receive your new set of keys as you sign the documents.

Now you see how crucial it is to get pre-approval, right? Please take note, too, that securing the finances is the most common culprit behind holdups when buying a house.

While you’re waiting, don’t just sit around idly. Make sure that you check the seller’s disclosure statements for any declared flaws, and hire a professional inspector for a thorough checking of the house.

You might be discouraged, thinking that house-buying is such a tedious process. We’re not going to lie to you and tell you that it’s not. It really is. But we can also assure you that it gets easier with the help of reputable agents – The Right Wans! We’ll guide you and be there for you every step of the way and make sure that you move in to your dream house with a smile on your face.


 

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