How long does it take to sell a house?
It depends on where you live and what’s happening in your local housing market. If it’s a seller’s market, home sellers will have an advantage. There will be lots of buyers competing for a limited number of homes. The opposite is true in a buyer’s market, when homebuyers have the upper hand.
Selling a house usually doesn’t happen overnight — even in the hottest of markets, and timelines can vary greatly from sale to sale. Factors such as the time of the year you’re listing your house, conditions in your local housing market (e.g., buyer demand, job market, etc.), and the type or condition of the home being sold will all affect how quickly you’re able to attract a buyer.
Your sale timeline will also depend on your estate agent’s listing strategy (pricing, marketing, networking, negotiating) and the buyer’s financing situation (i.e. the amount of time it takes for them to secure approval for their loan or whether they’re a cash buyer). However, according to recent data from Zoopla, on average it takes about 25 weeks to sell a home and can take longer depending on the circumstances.
The Home Selling Process
Selling a home is a lengthy process with multiple steps involved. At the start, you’ll need to find a local estate agent and prepare your home for marketing and viewings. Once you accept an offer you’ll then need to instruct a solicitor or conveyancer to handle the transactions.
If you’re not sure how long your house will take to sell, the following guide can help you prepare for the home-selling process. Understanding how each of these steps works can help you approach your sale as efficiently and effectively as possible and it will give you a better idea of the length of time it will take to sell your house.
Requesting Valuations and Finding the Right Estate Agent
The first move you need to make is to request valuations to determine the value of your home. it’s always a good idea to request a few valuations before selecting an estate agent to work with. Remember, don’t choose the agent that values your home the highest as this can have negative consequences down the line if it’s not based on fair market value.
Finding the right estate agent is an importance step. While you don’t have to work with an agent to sell your home, it’s highly recommended. An experienced agent is your ticket to a stress-free, speedy, and profitable sale. You need to find an estate agent who’s not only experienced, in tune with your local market, and highly motivated, but also has the personality and working style you’re looking for.
Getting Your House Ready to Sell
You’ll next need to prepare your home to sell. First, clean, declutter, and depersonalise your home. Next, clear out your closets and donate any unwanted items to a local charity, and rent a storage unit to stow away anything you’re not actively using.
You should also talk to your agent about what other steps they recommend. Depending on what your home’s current condition is, they may recommend making repairs, painting, updating certain features, or doing some landscaping before listing your house.
Listing, Marketing and Conducting Viewings of Your Home
Your next step is to get professional photos taken from your home. Your agent will typically coordinate these, and once they’re ready, they’ll list your home on their own website and property portals such as Rightmove and Zoopla, and possibly social media platforms.
For the most part, your agent will handle the bulk of this step, though you will want to work with them closely on determining your asking price. Pricing your home reasonably from the get-go is crucial if you want to sell the property fast.
Once your listing is live, prospective buyers will often send an enquiry to your agent and request a viewing. Viewings will then be scheduled to showcase your property to potential buyers.
Receiving and Accepting Offers
If all goes well, you should start receiving offers from interested buyers within a few weeks.
There’s a lot to consider when going through offers, from the price the buyers are offering to the conditions they are imposing and the buyer’s financial situation.
Make sure you’re looking at the full picture of each offer (not just the price), as well as how it plays into your goals and ideal timeline for selling. Conditional offers have the ability to delay or prolong your sale, so make sure you talk these over with your agent before accepting any offer.
You may also receive a few cash offers along the way. If the offer is significantly lower than your asking price, it could mean that an investor is looking to snag the property for as little as possible, and renovate and flip the house for a profit. However, the perk of cash offers is that you don’t have to wait on the buyer to go through the mortgage process. Cash buyer sales are usually a few weeks faster than those that hinge on financing.
In most cases, a cash offer is only your best bet if you need a really fast sale, are willing to take a hit on your profits if the offer is much lower than the asking price, or if your home is in need of significant repairs or refurbishing that may cause it to be down-valued by a surveyor.
Conveyancing
Conveyancing is often considered the lengthiest part of the buying and selling process because it requires the buyer solicitor to conduct multiple searches (i.e. Local authority searches, Land Registry searches, water and drainage searches, environmental searches etc.).
On average, it can take anywhere from 12 to 16 weeks and will require regular contact with your chosen solicitor or conveyancer. However, different circumstances or factors can cause a delay during conveyancing. For example, leasehold properties tend to take longer to sell because the transaction is more complex. Properties with a chain can cause a whole chain to collapse if one party pulls out of a transaction. There may be delays with arranging a mortgage for the buyer or a survey may reveal issues with the property.
To speed up this process, it’s important for you to find the right solicitor or conveyancer to instruct and to have regular communication with them on the progress of the transaction.
Exchange and Completion
Exchange and completion are the final steps of the house selling process.
When contracts are exchanges, the sale becomes legally binding and if both parties are happy with the terms of the contract, the transaction will proceed to completion. The exchange and completion process will often take about 1 to 4 weeks.
Are you Considering Selling Your House in Liverpool?
If you’re getting ready to sell and are wondering how long it’s going to take (or what kind of price you can expect), your best bet is to speak to an experienced, local real estate agent.
Lavelle Estates can assess your situation, set realistic expectations, and offer advice on how to sell your house fast — and for a great price.
Contact our Liverpool agents today!
