Offer to Closing - Time Estimate (lawyers, new house, neighborhood)

[2tnvols]

How long does it typically take, once an offer is made on a house, to close? I'm currently in Arizona, and our realtor said we should allow a month from the time we get an offer on our house, to the time we actually close. Does it take that long in NOVA? It seems too long to me.

Thanks!

[msjack]

I think it depends on the seller. Or really both. If both of you could do the close in 2 weeks then I wouldn't see why it couldn't happen. I think a whole lot of factors (financing, buyer selling their house, seller's new house etc.) come to play when you pick a closing date. Have your realtor ask the seller's agent when is the earliest they can close? He might have told you a month as a generalization.

[DavidS827]

30 days is fairly standard. You can get them done faster, but if you don't have to, I wouldn't.

[vanyali]

It depends on how fast you can get your financing together, get all your inspections scheduled and done, whether you find anything wrong at the inspections and try to re-negotiate with the seller, and when you can get all the agents, lawyers (if you use them, not necessarily typical in NoVA), and closing attorney together to do the deal. It's more logistics than anything else, and yeah, all that can take 30 days or more, depending on the situation.

[twinmma]

yes, 30 days is standard...there are quicker and longer. I think a lot has to do with the bank involved...if they have everything ready.

[HEATHER72]

Too many variable to give a definite answer. Simply put ... it just depends on the situation.

We got an offer on our Florida house on a Sunday. We closed FOUR days later. I think the buyer did not need financing and we were leaving the next Saturday for Japan no matter what. What timing!

On the last house we sold in New Mexico, the offer and counter offers took awhile. Ugh. He gave us an offer which we turned down. Then he wanted his fiancee to see the house... ?!?! And then his friends and his family and his extended family. Throughout the process we were afraid he was going to change his mind. We closed on the house about a month after his offer was accepted by us. It was just the time frame that was good for us. He didn't move into the house until a couple of weeks later though.

[vanyali]

There's a house in my neighborhood that has had a pending contract on it for a year. The sellers won't move out until their new house is ready for them, and made their buyer accept that as a term of the deal. Completely insane, but as they say, truth can be stranger than fiction.