Moving by May?

JNCPro3130 · February 2013

I looked through previous posts and couldn't find anything about a timeline for moving into a house, so please excuse me if this has already been asked. I thought I about this, but couldn't find the post.

My husband and I are looking to buy our first home. We have been saving up and should be ready soon. We have a Realtor and a loan officer we are working with, so we are good on that point. We had thought about moving last year, so we know our credit is good and would get a good interest rate.

My question is how long does it take to get through offers, inspections, and closings? Our lease on our apartment is up on May 19th, so ideally we would like to be out by then. We could go over by a month, but we would have to pay extra to the apartment for that, so we would rather not. Can it be done?

LarissaB · February 2013

Typically once an offer is accepted closing can be as soon as 30 days after that but typically more near 45 days. A lot depends on your market and how many houses there are to look at. In our area, there is a lot out there and houses tend to sit so there's no rush and no need to start looking months ahead of time for the right house. When we did our search we wanted to move before our lease was up in July and our realtor recommended starting our house hunt in May. We were anxious and started looking on our own and going to open houses and ended up finding our house in late March. Fortunately the sellers were perfectly fine with a longer close date of mid-June. Earlier that we had planned but we didn't want to push it with a super long close period. But the offer/countering/acceptance took maybe 4 days and then if we had a normal closing probably would have moved in early/mid May. A lot depends on your market. Many people on the board here spend months or even years looking for the right house. If your market is slow and there isn't a lot of inventory it could take a long time. Your realtor would be the best judge on if your move date is possible.

TarHeels&Rebels · February 2013

We closed once in 11 days on a vacant property. Our loan officer, who we've used for multiple properties, walks on water

Go ahead and start looking and put in an offer. If homes aren't vacant, owners will need this much time to move out.

GeorgiaRiah · February 2013

I used a state down payment program so they told me a minimum of 45 days to begin with. It ended up taking closer to 60. This was last May when they were really tightening up on mortgages.

EllaHella · February 2013

We could have done it in 6 weeks but the property had tenants and we waited till their lease expired. We weren't willing to take on the property with tenants still occupying.

MommyLiberty5013 · February 2013

It all depends on what type of loan you are doing. Conventional bank loans typically take 30-45 days to close. Government loans like FHA, VA, and others take 60-90 days close.

Negotiating with a seller can take a few hours, days, or weeks depending on the home inspection and how motivated they are.

Moving by May?

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