How long does it take to complete a house sale?

chrisp2281

Hi All,

If I have a bid accepted today, how long does it normally take to complete the sale of a house?

Thanks,

C

ProudDUB

No more than a few weeks if there are no complications on either side, such as an issue with the title deeds of the house or your financing or a bad engineers report comes back. If there are complications, than its anyone's guess really. It also helps if the estate agent and solicitors are on the ball and eager to get things done. Best person to ask is the estate agent. They will be in touch with the other side and can best advise you if there are any potential hold ups on the horizon. They should be able to give you an idea of a possible closing date better than we can.

ShadowHearth

chrisp2281 wrote: »

Hi All,

If I have a bid accepted today, how long does it normally take to complete the sale of a house?

Thanks,

C

From 2 weeks to 5 million weeks.

I tried to buy a house twice last year. It took almost a year on two properties and both deals were droped BECOUSE of seller **** ups. Bouth were repossed properties and sold by bank thought .

It all depends from you , your solicitor then seller and his soliciter. The way contract written and if you and seller are both happy.

I presume of everything goes very lovely and no fix ups if can take around 1-2months.

Bigcheeze

2-3 months on average.

It can be done in less but it would be unusual to close in less than 2 months.

Solicitors communicate with each other by post.

chrisp2281

Thanks for the info all.

Considering the approval in principle is for e months only, you would think they would have figured out a way to hurry this process along

ProudDUB

True, but there are a lot of variables that can slow things down, and I don't think that there is one magic cure all that can speed things up.

We sold a house last year. It was 5 weeks and 2 days from when we accepted the buyers offer, to when we signed final contracts. It would have taken even less if the sale period hadn't straddled two bank holiday weekends. The buyer was eager to buy, we were eager to sell, and we both had great solicitors and estate agents who responded well to gentle prodding from both of us to get a move on.

If for arguments sake, the buyer dragged his feet on finding a property and making an offer and he had to reapply for financing as his 6 months were up, there is no magic cure all for that. If we had put the house up for sale when there was an issue with the title deeds to it, that would have been a hold up that there is no magic cure all for. If the engineers report came back with an opinion that the house is an utter kip and we dug our heels in and refused to budge on the asking price, there is no magic cure all for that.

killers1

chrisp2281 wrote: »

Thanks for the info all.

Considering the approval in principle is for e months only, you would think they would have figured out a way to hurry this process along

The aip is valid for 3 months which means you need to have a loan offer issued in that time not close in the 3 months! (thought we had this conversation! lol) The length of time is dependent on a lot of variables.... All you can do is concentrate on what you need to have in place for the loan to issue i.e. your life cover, home insurance, DD Mandate, Survey & Valuation.. Then it is up to your solicitor to tackle any pre-contract enquiries in a timely manner (provided they receive contracts in a timely manner in the first place!) before they allow you to sign. A closing date is then agreed between the 2 parties. The vendor generally controls the speed at which everything happens so the timescale may depend on their plans i.e. are they waiting to move into a house currently under construction, is the house vacant etc etc... The typical length of time is 6-8 weeks but if you have a willing seller & willing purchaser & competent solicitors it can be done in 2 weeks from sale agreed to getting your keys... (doesn't happen very often!) A 3 month AIP is plenty of time if you have an idea of where/what you want to buy before you obtain mortgage approval..

chrisp2281

killers1 wrote: »

The aip is valid for 3 months which means you need to have a loan offer issued in that time not close in the 3 months! (thought we had this conversation! lol) The length of time is dependent on a lot of variables.... All you can do is concentrate on what you need to have in place for the loan to issue i.e. your life cover, home insurance, DD Mandate, Survey & Valuation.. Then it is up to your solicitor to tackle any pre-contract enquiries in a timely manner (provided they receive contracts in a timely manner in the first place!) before they allow you to sign. A closing date is then agreed between the 2 parties. The vendor generally controls the speed at which everything happens so the timescale may depend on their plans i.e. are they waiting to move into a house currently under construction, is the house vacant etc etc... The typical length of time is 6-8 weeks but if you have a willing seller & willing purchaser & competent solicitors it can be done in 2 weeks from sale agreed to getting your keys... (doesn't happen very often!) A 3 month AIP is plenty of time if you have an idea of where/what you want to buy before you obtain mortgage approval..

@killers1 I have found my house and submitted the details to the bank. Do they just come back to me now with a valuation report to give to them?

I'm nervous that the AIP isn't worth the paper it was written on although it was only subject to submitting the details of the house.

My AIP was for €276,000 but I found a house for €265,000 so I am only borrowing €243,800 now.

killers1

chrisp2281 wrote: »

@killers1 I have found my house and submitted the details to the bank. Do they just come back to me now with a valuation report to give to them?

I'm nervous that the AIP isn't worth the paper it was written on although it was only subject to submitting the details of the house.

My AIP was for €276,000 but I found a house for €265,000 so I am only borrowing €243,800 now.

Hi Chrisp2281
Congrats on having your offer accepted! An AIP which is only subject to the property details is the most concrete approval you can have. It means all the underwriting has been completed and no further credit related paperwork like bank statements, income documentation etc are required. Also the fact that you require less than you were approved for means that the loan offer is a mere formality once the valuation report is in order. If you applied directly through the branch they may give you a list of their approved valuers and you pick one from the list to carry out the inspection. From my side of things I always instruct the valuer on behalf of my clients. Where abouts are you buying? If you need a valuer let me know....

chrisp2281

killers1 wrote: »

Hi Chrisp2281
Congrats on having your offer accepted! An AIP which is only subject to the property details is the most concrete approval you can have. It means all the underwriting has been completed and no further credit related paperwork like bank statements, income documentation etc are required. Also the fact that you require less than you were approved for means that the loan offer is a mere formality once the valuation report is in order. If you applied directly through the branch they may give you a list of their approved valuers and you pick one from the list to carry out the inspection. From my side of things I always instruct the valuer on behalf of my clients. Where abouts are you buying? If you need a valuer let me know....

Thanks for coming back to me Killers1. Sounds like I should be OK so. Can't help but feel nervous given how the banks are these days . . .
I haven't picked a valuer so if you know someone on the AIB list of approved valuers, i'd be happy to give them the business given how helpful you have been. I'm buying in D.16

killers1

chrisp2281 wrote: »

Thanks for coming back to me Killers1. Sounds like I should be OK so. Can't help but feel nervous given how the banks are these days . . .
I haven't picked a valuer so if you know someone on the AIB list of approved valuers, i'd be happy to give them the business given how helpful you have been. I'm buying in D.16

No need to be nervous, I can categorically say that if the loan approval is only subject to property details you have been fully approved! Sending you a PM with the valuers details....

chrisp2281

killers1 wrote: »

No need to be nervous, I can categorically say that if the loan approval is only subject to property details you have been fully approved! Sending you a PM with the valuers details....

Thanks Killers1. Trying not to get so nervous but it's tough ha ha

No PM yet but i'll use the person you recommend once i get the form from the bank

killers1

chrisp2281 wrote: »

Thanks Killers1. Trying not to get so nervous but it's tough ha ha

No PM yet but i'll use the person you recommend once i get the form from the bank

No need to be nervous! Trust me it's a done deal!

pawnacide

Killers .. isn't it possible that it could fall on the valuation, I know it happens. he should ensure he knows what the valuation is going to be before he allows the agent to return the form.. assuming he's happy to pay more if the valuation comes in under agreed price .

I've seen it happen. There was a time the sale agreed price was seen as the value of the property but that day's gone. Banks are a lot stickier and have advised valuers to be more realistic and return to bricks and mortar valuations.

killers1

pawnacide wrote: »

Killers .. isn't it possible that it could fall on the valuation, I know it happens. he should ensure he knows what the valuation is going to be before he allows the agent to return the form.. assuming he's happy to pay more if the valuation comes in under agreed price .

I've seen it happen. There was a time the sale agreed price was seen as the value of the property but that day's gone. Banks are a lot stickier and have advised valuers to be more realistic and return to bricks and mortar valuations.

To be honest the sale agreed price is still seen as the value of the property (property values are subjective & value is what someone is willing to pay etc..). The only difference nowadays is that banks look for the valuers to list 2/3 comparable properties that recently sold in the same area to justify the valuation. So the valuation on a purchase is still pretty much straightforward and 99.9% of purchases are signed of on the agreed price being the current market value. When the valuation has been instructed by the broker or client the valuer would always come back to say they were unhappy signing off at the sale price prior to sending a report to the lender. I've only ever had 1 of these cases where the valuer refused to sign off. He suggested I try a different valuer but instead we managed to use that as a tool to reduce the purchase price successfully.


The valuation where someone is looking to release equity/move lender is where the valuers get nervous about being removed from a lenders panel as the lenders are all over these reports. This is where there is more scrutiny place on the reports.