Average Timeline for Buying a Home

purpleXdandelion

Hi ladies! I'm new to the board...and TN in general...usually on TB or TK. Anyways, DH and I would like to purchase/be moved into a house (at least enough to sleep and cook food) by June 2013 when our current lease is up. So I'm wondering when we need to get serious and focus on getting pre-approved, finding a realtor, etc. I feel like I am so deer in headlights and don't know where to start or what to do. Help please. TIA!

PurrBox

I don't have much to say on this except that it would be a good idea for you both to check your credit scores. Do a little bit of research on what kind of credit you need to get a good mortgage.

If it turns out you guys don't have great credit, then research ways to improve credit. Maybe you can boost your credit scores a little within almost a years time.

meg_2006

We started the process in July and are closing next week hopefully.   A lot of it depends on what's available on your market and if you can find something that suits your needs.  Finding the house itself took the longest.  From the time we made an offer to getting the loan, it took one month (without hitting any bumps).

toothpastechica

we closed 4 weeks from the first time we saw the house (3 weeks from putting an offer in). But honestly, with this economy and a lot of houses in short sale in a lot of areas of the US, I don't think you can really estimate an average...it could be a month, it could be 6-8 to 12 months before you find, offer and move into a new house. I would start watching listings now and figure out what you can afford, get rid of any consumer debt etc now and then get pre-approved in the spring.

LoveKiss

I agree with the PP who suggested checking your credit reports and scores as a first step. Clean up any incorrect information and improve your scores, if necessary. Then take a hard look at your budget and savings. After holding back your 6 month emergency fund, how much cash do you have for a downpayment and closing costs? Is that enough? Then talk to a real estate agent or 3 to get a sense of what the market is like in your desired area. How fast are houses moving? Are they going for asking price? Are there a boatload of short sales (they take much longer to close, IF they close at all)? Then start stalking real estate websites. Are you finding houses in your general price range that you'd actually want to spend money on? How choosy are you, and do your standards match your budget and the currently available housing stock? All of this will affect how quickly you will find and close on your home. Mr. LK and I are an outlier. It took us 18 months. We had 3 failed contracts before finally closing on deal #4. Part of it was dealing with 2 failed short sale contracts, but most of it was because our budget was about $200-250k less than the average sale price for a home in our target area that met our criteria. So we had to be very patient and wait for the right house to come on the market. We kept trying to be flexible about location or home style, but in the end we wanted what we wanted, and we could not justify spending $500k on a house that we didn't love.

Ksahlberg

LoveKiss:

I agree with the PP who suggested checking your credit reports and scores as a first step. Clean up any incorrect information and improve your scores, if necessary. Then take a hard look at your budget and savings. After holding back your 6 month emergency fund, how much cash do you have for a downpayment and closing costs? Is that enough? Then talk to a real estate agent or 3 to get a sense of what the market is like in your desired area. How fast are houses moving? Are they going for asking price? Are there a boatload of short sales (they take much longer to close, IF they close at all)? Then start stalking real estate websites.

This,

I'd been pre-approved for a mortgage on my own, but, kept renting. Fast forward 2 years and DH and I want to buy, I didn't even realize my credit was in the dumps due to an unknown medical bill. It took months to repair my credit. Only now are we actively looking, but, it's taken a while to save the amount of $ needed for downpayment, closing costs, repairs, etc.

My advice: check your credit, work with a real estate and/or mortgage broker a year + out just to get an idea of where you stand, look at houses you want and can afford and above all Start Saving $$

purpleXdandelion

Thank you all for your responses, it's been a big help! We'll have to check our credit pretty soon here, thankfully we've been saving awhile for a downpayment so hopefully we'll be good there. Ah I feel like I have so much to learn.

vpine

Make sure your credit scores are good, if you plan to get FHA loan, the down payment is 3.5% of price. Allow yourself 4-6 months before June 2013 to get pre-approval letter (so you can know how much you can afford) and then get a realtor. It can take months to a year to find the house, get offer accepted, etc. You do not want to rush into buying a house because your lease is almost up.

Make sure to have enough funds saved for the home inspection and pest inspection (amount varies by area - we're in Houston and total for both inspections was $395). When your offer gets accepted, you will give a cashier's check or personal check for the earnest money (around $1,000) so you need to have that on hand. Closing costs can vary, around $5-7,500 that you will be responsible for (on top of down payment) unless you ask the seller in your contract to assist with some closing costs - which I strongly recommend you do. Make sure not to open more lines of credit, that your finances are in order (they will check your past 30-90 days of bank statements, employment history and pay). Good luck and happy saving !

Here's link to required documents: http://www.fha.com/fha_requirements_checklist.cfm

 

HarleyKins

The time frame can vary on a purchase. Generally the banks these days would like at least 30 days to prepare everything and get it funded. Cash offers will work faster.

Check out my website - www.keithandkinsey.com under Buyer Resources for a How To Guide on Buying your first home. We work with may first time home buyers, so email if you have any questions.

chrisandsarahwedding

It took us about 4 months just looking to find one in Cali. We put in so many offers. Then we waited about 30 days on a foreclosure. If we had gone with the short sale one we also liked, our realtor estimated it could be 6+months for us to get. And this was only 7 months ago when we bought our house. 

 

We actually asked about a house when we first started looking, and it supposedly had a sale pending. We ended up living a couple houses away from it...and it still doesnt have any people living in it. This market is so darn weird.

chelwig89

You're on a very close time line to us! Our lease is up at the end of March... We have a narrow area we're looking in and should have a pretty easy time finding a home. We just want one we can afford, that doesn't need much work that isn't cosmetic, and that we can spend a lot of time in (we're picturing 10 years down the road)... which kinda sounds like a lot typing it out, but there are a lot of houses that meet this criteria where we're looking

 

Anyway, we were going to wait until December to go get pre approved but we realized that with us currently living in a city an hour away from where we are moving and with me completing school and student teaching in the spring, we should probably allot more than 2 months to finding a home and a month to close in.... so we're getting pre approved/applying for loans now and starting to look as soon as our stuff comes back. It's still a short time period, though. I know a lot of other people take a year or even a couple looking for a perfect home. But know that it CAN be done in a few months.

 

 

 

toptieragent

I tell clients 6-8 weeks from the time they find the house is a good plan.  It can be done in 2-3 weeks, but it's messy.  Start talking with a mortgage professional soon so that you know that financially everything is in order.  Spend the occasional weekend out looking at neighborhoods and open houses.  Talk through what you like/dislike about the houses.  For a June closing I would start looking in March.  Good luck!

 

If you need a local agent I would be glad to help you find someone.  I'm a Realtor and just like attorneys and doctors we know how to identify a good professional within the industry.  Good luck.