how long does it take to sell a house

How Long Does It Take to Sell a House on Average?

As of August 2020, houses for sale remained on the market for an average of 56 days. What if you don’t have that kind of time? Sometimes you have to sell your house because of unforeseen life circumstances or changes. Divorce, job layoffs or transfers, or the death of illness of a loved one are examples of these situations. If you’ve made the decision that you need to sell your home quickly, you’re likely searching for the answers to “How long does it take to sell a house?”

Keep reading to learn about the factors that influence the home selling process and how to sell a house fast.

Factors That Influence The Selling Timeline

Once you’ve listed a house for sale, several factors can impact how long it will take to capture a contract. These include a buyer’s financial situation, the condition of your home, pricing, and more.

State of the Market

When planning to sell your home, you must take note of the current market forces, as well as supply and demand. Unfortunately, this is a factor you can’t control.

Doing your research and talking with local real estate agents can help set your expectations based on the available inventory in your area and estimated days on the market.

Home Defects

Is your home overdue for standard maintenance or repairs? If you’ve opted to skip renovations, your house will likely sit on the market for a more extended period.

Most buyers are looking for homes that are “move-in ready.” Uncovering previously unknown poor home conditions can also trigger price concessions and negotiations.

Pricing

How you price your home will also affect how long it’s listed on the market. If you overprice it, you may not get any offers. If it’s on the market for a longer period, this could lead to price reductions that sink lower than market value.

Even if you do get an offer for a higher price, your home better stands up to this price when it’s time for the appraisal. If the offer is higher than the appraisal, a bank may not approve a loan.

Buyer’s Financial Situation

According to the 2021 National Association of Realtors report, 87% of recent home buyers financed their purchase.

Even if everything seems to align, a buyer’s loan could fall through or become delayed.

Real Estate Contract Contingency Clauses

If you’re trying to sell your home fast, you should avoid contingency clauses in your contract at all costs.

These clauses allow buyers and sellers to exit the contract if either party isn’t meeting specified conditions. Typically, these clauses skew towards the home buyer. They’re the opposite of what you need to happen if you’re selling your home fast.

Let’s take a look at common contingencies to most real estate contracts.

Title

Title defects can potentially prevent a buyer from reselling the home in the future. For this reason, realtors perform title searches to expose potential ownership disputes or property liens.

Inspection

A home inspector must survey the home and present the results to both parties. Buyers can bail out of a contract if the house doesn’t pass inspection or you don’t agree to certain repairs.

Appraisal

If a buyer is financing their purchase, the home must be appraised before a bank will approve the loan.

Mortgage

A mortgage contingency states that buyers must obtain approval for a mortgage to purchase the house before the sale can go through.

Sale of Another Property

Sometimes buyers are trying to sell their home while purchasing a new one. This is a scary contingency for sellers.

If your buyer cannot sell their house within a specified time frame, they can back out of your contract and recover any earnest money. Then you have to restart the process to find another buyer.

In a traditional broker-managed real estate transaction, it’s nearly impossible to avoid all of these contingencies written into your contract.

Benefits of a Cash Buyer

The only way to avoid all of the above contingencies is to find a cash buyer for your property. Usually, cash buyers purchase homes as-is, so there is no appraisal or inspection required.

There’s also no loan or mortgage or the sale of another property that can hold up your sale.

Quick Close

Accepting a cash offer is favourable to conventional financing methods or FHA loans. A validated cash offer can close more quickly because there are fewer hurdles to face during the process.

A home buyer’s financial situation can change for a variety of reasons. No matter the reason, these changes can trigger contract contingencies and enable them to back out of their deal—and take their earnest money with them.

If a buyer backs out of your contract, you’ll have to relist your home and secure another buyer, delaying the process even further.

With a cash offer, however, you don’t have to worry about financing-related contingencies. Often an inspection is required, but once that is completed, you can close in as few as seven days.

Save Money

Not only is the process quicker, but selling your home for cash can actually save you money. This is because you don’t have to concern yourself with closing costs or real estate commission.

When working with an individual investor, you have the option of working with a real estate agent as well. In this situation, you can likely negotiate a lower commission, split it with the buyer’s agent, or settle on a paid fee.

However, most investors who buy home as-is prefer to work directly with you and without the involvement of a real estate agent.

When selling your home as-is, there’s little effort involved compared to going the traditional route.

How Long Does It Take to Sell a House?

If you’re open to selling as-is for cash, it may not take as long as you think.

Selling a home as-is gives you the flexibility required to accept an offer on your home quickly while avoiding the cost of repairs as well as most of the closing costs.

Instead of continuing to ask, “How long does it take to sell a house?” get your free, no-obligation offer from David Buys Houses. Contact us to sell your house today.