You’re ready to list your house. Immediately, you start scanning the listings and packing boxes for the big move. How long does a house sale take, though, and are you really ready to make a deposit and move forward within the next few weeks? Probably not. In fact, the average house sale period recently has been about 114 days. In busy spaces like Edinburgh, it may take just 45 days. In slower markets like Aberdeen, though, you can expect to spend as many as 150 days working through the sale of your home. In fact, the sale of your home can take a lot longer than you ever imagined.
The Timeline
What takes so long? Take a look at what you can expect.
- The Initial Decision to Sell: There’s likely something that will help you make your initial decision to sell your home. Maybe you’re expecting a new baby, and you need something bigger. Maybe you’ve just sent your child to university, and you need something smaller. Perhaps you and your significant other broke up, and you’re moving toward separate lives. No matter what the reason, deciding to sell your home can take weeks.
- Choosing an Estate Agent: This process can be fairly long as well. Typically people take as many as two weeks to select an estate agent. Often you’ll spend quite a bit of time researching online and talking to others who have recently sold their homes, and you may talk to ten or twelve agents before you select the right one for your home.
- Preparing Your Home: Once you’ve chosen an estate agent, he or she will suggest several steps you can take to make your home more attractive to potential buyers. This could mean deep cleaning your home, painting a few rooms, or even changing your furniture around to better meet the needs of potential buyers. Depending on whether or not you’ll be handling these changes on your own or waiting for contractors, this stage could take as long as four weeks.
- Scheduling Viewings: Once your home is ready for viewings, it’s time to actually schedule them. Fortunately, your estate agent will handle most of that process for you. Unfortunately, you may need to make other plans quickly. Estate agents may book viewings at inconvenient times for you and your family, so be ready to change your evening plans on a regular basis. Your home will sit in this phase until it actually sells, which could take as long as fourteen weeks.
- The Offer: Once a potential buyer loves your home, he or she will make an offer on the property. You can accept that offer or make a suggestion (called a counteroffer). When the two of you agree on a price, the paperwork begins. From the time the offer is accepted until you sign the papers, you’ll wait an average of nine weeks.
- Closing: The final step in the process is closing the sale, and that typically takes about two weeks.
Increasing the Pace
Not sure you have that much time on your hands? You’re not alone. If you’re looking to sell your home, but you need to move quickly, there is a faster way – GoodMove. At GoodMove, we could complete the entire process in as little as seven days. We’re cash buyers looking for properties across the UK, and we’re ready to make an offer on yours. If you love it, we’ll handle all of the fees and inspections, then draft a final offer. From there, it just takes a visit to the solicitor’s office to close the deal. In just a matter of days, your home could move from “for sale” to “sold.”
Ready to skip the wait and work with GoodMove? Visit our website and enter your post code for a preliminary offer within 48 hours. If you love the offer, we’ll connect and prepare to purchase your house. There’s absolutely no obligation when you work with GoodMove. If you need a fast home sale and you don’t want to wait, there’s no better way to handle the process than to work with us. Learn more when you reach out to us today.
