Many people ask: "How long does it take to buy a house?" to which the answer is always "well, it depends". Below is a quick outline of the process Pamela and I went through to give you at least one real-life example.
I would say that for us, the time it took to find a house was extremely short. We certainly were looking online a lot, but we really only did two days of actual house viewings before we put in an offer.
Our Timeline
Spring and Summer 2011 - Thinking about rent vs. buy
Summer 2011 - Start casually visiting Zillow, Bankrate, and other sites to look at houses and learn more about the process
July 2011 - Really looking in earnest at what is out there and ask friends for referals
July 21st - Filled out a pre-qualification application on a major bank's website
July 21st - Called a Realtor who was referred to us and subsequently called a mortgage broker
July 24th - Looked at houses online, visited a few houses with our Realtor, then did drive-bys of houses for sale and their respective neighborhoods
July 25th - Viewed more houses and visited more open houses - found the home of our dreams
July 26th - Put in an offer on the home of our dreams
July 27th - received counter offer, countered the seller's new offer, our offer was accepted!
July 28th - went to house and performed the inspection
July 29th - received memorandum of sale; contacted and hired lawyer
August 1st - received first draft of sales contract
Early August - sending financial lives to mortgage broker for mortgage application
August 9th - received executed contract of sale
August 24th - received mortgage commitment with conditions
Late August - sending financial docs to mortgage broker to answer remaining questions / fulfill conditions; called around for home insurance quotes
Mid September - more document requests; purchased home owner's insurance
September 20th - received "clear to close" from mortgage broker; scheduled closing for one week
I would say that for us, the time it took to find a house was extremely short. We certainly were looking online a lot, but we really only did two days of actual house viewings before we put in an offer.
Our Timeline
Spring and Summer 2011 - Thinking about rent vs. buy
Summer 2011 - Start casually visiting Zillow, Bankrate, and other sites to look at houses and learn more about the process
July 2011 - Really looking in earnest at what is out there and ask friends for referals
July 21st - Filled out a pre-qualification application on a major bank's website
July 21st - Called a Realtor who was referred to us and subsequently called a mortgage broker
July 24th - Looked at houses online, visited a few houses with our Realtor, then did drive-bys of houses for sale and their respective neighborhoods
July 25th - Viewed more houses and visited more open houses - found the home of our dreams
July 26th - Put in an offer on the home of our dreams
July 27th - received counter offer, countered the seller's new offer, our offer was accepted!
July 28th - went to house and performed the inspection
July 29th - received memorandum of sale; contacted and hired lawyer
August 1st - received first draft of sales contract
Early August - sending financial lives to mortgage broker for mortgage application
August 9th - received executed contract of sale
August 24th - received mortgage commitment with conditions
Late August - sending financial docs to mortgage broker to answer remaining questions / fulfill conditions; called around for home insurance quotes
Mid September - more document requests; purchased home owner's insurance
September 20th - received "clear to close" from mortgage broker; scheduled closing for one week
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