How Long Does it Take to Sell a House?

Many people have the misconception that selling a house is smooth sailing. If you choose not to sell your house for cash to a cash buyer, you must go through the lengthy process of selling your home on the market. 

Selling a house can take time, and many key processes need to happen.

It can be challenging to go into selling a house blind, and without a timescale for when all the necessary processes will be completed, it can be challenging to plan around it. 

At Faster Property, we think it’s important that everyone should go into selling a property with all the necessary information, so here is a rundown of the house-selling process and how long it should all take. 

Listing a House and Getting an Offer - 12 Weeks

Without even talking about property valuation, checking your mortgage documents and all the other tedious initial steps of selling your house, you are looking at around 12 weeks between listing your house and getting an offer. 

You must remember that buying a house isn’t something people easily rush into. It’s a huge commitment, so you can’t expect people to jump at the chance to spend so much money. You must also remember the associated fees with buying and selling a house, which can be substantial. 

You also need to consider the number of houses currently on sale in your area right now, the market is flooded with properties that people are desperate to sell, so you have to contend with a lot of competition. 

Initially, it is a bit of a waiting game, and it can take a long time before someone considers purchasing your property. 

Ways that you can expedite the process

If your house has been on the market for some time and you are worried about the lack of interest, there are some ways that you can make the process quicker. 

First, you can ensure that your property is clean and attractive to buyers. Every buyer accepts that they will likely have to do some work on their chosen property, but nobody wants to deal with an unclean and worn-down house. 

Taking the time to make minor repairs on the property could lead to the property being snapped up quickly. 

How you advertise your property could also impact how long it takes to sell your house, so be sure that you are using good pictures and attractive descriptions. Ensure that you are also honest in your listings, as buyers can find exaggerations of fabrications off putting.

The Conveyancing Process - 12 Weeks

Once you have found someone ready to buy your home, you must start the conveyancing process. Conveyancing is the legal process of transferring the property from the seller to the buyer. 

The process starts when the offer is initially accepted and continues until the keys are collected and the selling process is complete. So, the 12 weeks represent the whole process rather than any individual step in it. 

Conveyancing solicitor

Before most of the house-selling process can take place, you need to hire a conveyancing solicitor, as they will help you understand all of the legal aspects of selling your home.

There is the option to DIY the conveyancing process, but unless you have a background in law, we would strongly recommend against that, as any mistakes will only prolong the house-selling process.

How long a house takes to sell really depends on the speed and efficiency of your conveyancing solicitor, so be sure that you take the time to shop around before fully committing to one conveyancing solicitor. 

Contract Exchange and Completion - 4 Weeks or More

Once you have a conveyancing solicitor that you trust, contracts will be drafted and sent to the buyers. They will be working with a solicitor too, so don’t be shocked if you receive any objections to the contract you send. 

Remember, buying a house is a big deal, so it makes sense that it will take time to ensure the contract caters to what they want out of the home.

There will likely be some back-and-forth, or you could even get lucky and complete the full contract in one day. This process usually takes around four weeks, but it can change depending on circumstances.

You've officially sold your house once contracts are signed and keys are collected.

Total Time

Remember that these times are not set and can differ from case to case. Overall, you’re looking at it taking at least 24 weeks to sell your home, but this can change depending on circumstance and, more often than not, luck.

It’s also worth noting that 24 weeks is our safe estimate, and it can take even longer if the processes do not go smoothly, so this is worth considering if you’re willing to wait for the sale.

What Can Delay a House Sale?

If you are worried that selling your house may be delayed, here is a look at some of the reasons why a house sale could be delayed, so you can have an idea of whether it may affect you. 

Some reasons a house sale may be delayed include:

• Problems with the property. 
• The location of the property.
• The state of the housing market. 
• Whether or not a buyer requires a mortgage. 
• The length of the house-selling chain.
• The efficiency of the involved solicitors. 
• Problems with the estate agent.

As you can see, there are many reasons why a house may take a long time to sell, and if you are set on selling your property through the traditional route, you have to accept that it might take a while. 

Identifying the issue with traditional selling. 

When you consider all the reasons why selling your home may be delayed, one factor is waiting for a third party to complete the process. 

For example, waiting for an estate agent to find a buyer or waiting for a solicitor to draft contracts, it’s all just one big waiting game. 

The bigger the chain, the longer the process will take. In this situation, you can’t help but hit a wall.

However, there is a way to overcome this issue, and if you choose to go down that route, you won’t constantly ask yourself, ‘How much longer is this going to take?’

Selling Your House For Cash

Selling your house faster requires reducing the chain of people involved, and the best way to do this is to contact a company that buys your home for cash, such as Faster Property. 

Selling your house for cash has many benefits, the biggest of which is the speed at which you can sell it. 

Using a cash-buying company is an excellent choice. Cash-buying companies such as ours cut out the middleman, as you don’t need to sign reams of paperwork to get your property sold. 

When it comes to buying a property with cash, the process takes you from A to B without the involvement of any third parties. 

With us, you can sell your house in less than a week and receive the money in less than four weeks - which is a lot faster than 24!

If you are eager to sell your house quickly and without the middleman, contact us today to discuss how using a cash buyer can make the house-selling process easier.