How Long Does It Take to Sell a House? The Process Explained

Selling your home isn’t always as easy as you might think, but exactly how long does it take to sell a house?

When you decide to sell, there’s a lot you’ve got to get in order. Between fixing and staging it for your open house to finding a buyer and settling all the paperwork, it could be many weeks before you’re able to transfer the home to a buyer.

There are also numerous outside factors that affect the timeline, like location, the housing market, and the time of year. All-in-all, it can be difficult to predict how long it’ll take for your house to sell.

In this post, we’re going to discuss the process of selling a home so you can get a better idea of the timeline you’ll be dealing with.

What You Have to Consider When Selling a House

On average, in the US, homes spend 25 days on the market in 2020. This is down from previous years, but the number alone doesn’t tell the whole story.

There are so many factors that go into selling a home, all of which can be time-consuming, so you have to be organized and efficient to sell in a timely manner. Even when you do everything right, it could take longer than you think. Here are a few things that affect the timeline for selling a home.

Prepping the Home

To get the best price for your home, you need to make any necessary repairs. You’ll need to work with a realtor to help show the home and maybe even a home stager to give it curb appeal. All of these things take time before you even list the house.

Your City

How fast you’re able to sell depends a lot on the housing market. If you’re in a hot market, like Chicago, Toronto, or San Francisco, you might sell in just a few weeks. In smaller markets with less interest, it might not happen right away.

Your Asking Price

Part of the reason your house could be taking so long to sell is that your asking price is too high. Of course, you want to get the best price possible for your home, but you need to be reasonable. The longer a house stays on the market, the less desirable it gets, so set an asking price that’s in-line with market demands.

The Location

The location itself is also really important. You might live in a city with a booming housing market, but outside the most desirable neighborhoods, it can be more difficult to sell quickly.

If you’re looking to sell fast, you can look online to get some quick tips.

Closing

Even when you find the perfect buyer, you may need to go through a back-and-forth with them to iron out the little details. Don’t be surprised when it takes another 30-40 days to actually close on the house after you’ve found a buyer.