When it comes to selling your home, you know there’s a lot to do… but just how long does it actually take to sell a house?
Regardless of the current market trends, the steps for selling a home generally remain the same. The only difference is how long each step can take. In a buyer’s market, you may find it takes quite a bit of time to sell your home. While in a seller’s market, homes are getting snapped up by buyers super fast.
So how long does it take to sell a house? The general timeframe for selling a home ranges from as little as six weeks to as long as one year. It all depends on the state of your home and the agent you have helping you. To help you know what to expect, we’ve identified each phase of the home-selling process and noted the typical amount of time it takes to complete. Whether you’re planning to sell your home soon or are simply curious how long it would take, this complete timeline for selling a home will help you prepare and plan accordingly!
Wondering how long it takes to buy a home? Discover the complete timeline for that process here.
Timeline for Selling a House:
- Find a listing agent: 1-3 weeks
- Evaluate your home: 1-2 weeks
- Renovate & update (optional): 1-6 months
- Prep your home for sale: 1-3 weeks
- List your home on the market: 2-7 days
- Schedule showings & open houses: 2-4 weeks
- Wait for offers & negotiations: 1-4 weeks
- Accept an offer: 1-2 days
- Wait for the home inspection & appraisal: 1-3 weeks
- Move out: 1 month
- Close: 2-4 weeks
Step 1: Find a Listing Agent
Average timeline: Two days to several weeks. Or zero days if you check out our team of agents here.
Once you’ve decided you want to sell your home, but before you start anything else, you should find a real estate agent to help you through the process. They can help you evaluate your home as-is, as well as identify the renovations and repairs worth doing before listing the house (if any).
Finding a listing agent shouldn’t be a snap decision—a good agent can ensure you not only sell your house at the best price as quickly as possible, but also that you have an easy time doing it! Luckily, you’re allowed to “interview” agents and request listing proposals to learn more about their strategies and experience. For example, all of the agents with Texas Living Company have excellent track records with listing homes, and present pristine strategies in their presentations.
An agent will be your most trusted resource during the process of selling your home, and they’ll help you save time and money in the long run. Plus, if you find one you really love, they can help you find a new home to buy or lease at the same time!
If you’re planning on selling your house to move into a new one, then the home-buying process should also be started during this phase or the next one.
Step 2: Get a Home Valuation
Average timeline: Ten minutes to two weeks
Arguably the most important part of selling your home is figuring out how much to sell it for! There’s a few “fast” ways to do this, but the most accurate and credible way is to have your listing agent evaluate your home. Real estate agents use a current market analysis combined with comparable property data and your specific home’s condition to come up with an accurate sale price.
While the “fast and easy” online tools are excellent starting points if you’re still on the fence about selling your home, using your listing agent’s expertise to come up with an accurate price is the best way to sell your home faster.
Step 3: Home Renovations & Repairs
Average timeline: Two weeks to several months
At the fastest, it typically takes at least two weeks to a month to get your home ready for sale (unless it hasn’t been lived in very long). But it really depends on the condition of your home, how much you want to invest in repairs up front, and how quickly you need to move out.
Obviously, smaller or easier repairs don’t take very long (about a day or two—maybe less if you’re handy and don’t have to hire anyone). However, if there are larger or more extensive repairs needing to be done, like fixing a leak or foundation corrections, you’re looking at a few weeks or even months. If you’re unsure about what things even need to be repaired, you can always get a “pre-inspection” before beginning the process of selling your home. Not to mention, it can help mentally prepare you for the buyer’s home inspection later down the road.
If your home is older and outdated, then you’ll also need to consider making updates and renovations if you’re wanting to sell your house quickly. This can be as simple as landscaping updates to minor cosmetic updates, such as new light fixtures or faucets. to bigger projects like new wall paint or a new roof.
Just know it pays (literally) to do some pre-sale home prep! Something as simple as a new garage door can add an additional $3,000 to your home’s value, while new flooring can add anywhere from $5,000 to $7,000 to your home’s resale value.
You can find some ideas for quick and easy home updates that won’t break the bank here.
Step 4: Prep & Prime Your Home for Sale
Average timeline: One hour to one week
Staging and priming is not a step you should skip if you’re trying to sell your home quickly. Making your property look its best will increase its appeal to potential homebuyers. In fact, staging a home can help it sell 73% faster and for as much as 5% more than the asking price! However, depending on your lifestyle and schedule, decluttering can take time… especially if you’ve been living in your current home for a long time. Most professional cleaners recommend spending a week on each room organizing, cleaning, and prepping to make sure your house looks flawless for potential buyers. Of course, if you’re super organized or keep up with your spring cleanings, this may not take nearly as much time.
Staging a home can be done quickly with the right professionals—typically between five and 10 hours to fully stage an average size home. But if you’ve already moved out of your home, staging can actually take longer as it takes more time and furniture to fill up empty spaces.
Do you have to stage your home to sell it? Technically, no. You don’t have to stage your home to sell it. But it’s highly recommended. You want potential homebuyers to be able to see themselves living in your home, to picture their dream lives there. Thankfully, our listing agents have an extensive network of home staging companies you can trust to get the job done right!
Step 5: List Your Home for Sale
Average timeline: Two days to two weeks
Luckily, this step isn’t one you need to worry about yourself when selling a home—your real estate agent will put together a top-notch listing for you! They’ll compile beautiful listing photos, get all the specs and data for your home, and write an intriguing listing description to attract as many buyers as they can. Listing your home for sale typically doesn’t take more than a few days, but you can sometimes experience delays if the photographers and/or videographers are busy and need to be scheduled further out.
Step 6: Schedule Showings in Your Home
Average timeline: One to four weeks
Once your house hits the market, you’ll probably get a ton of showings scheduled in the first few weeks. These tend to thin out the longer your home sits on the market. If you’re looking to sell your home quickly, you’ll want to be super open and flexible with scheduling these showings. However, you’re working on the potential buyer’s timeline, so there’s not a whole lot more you can do to speed up the process.
Another home-selling tactic is hosting open houses. Usually, you’ll want to hold an open house one or two weeks after listing your home, especially if you aren’t getting a lot of attention. The most important thing with open houses is making sure you give potential buyers and their agents enough notice to actually show up.
Step 7: Get Offers & Negotiate the Best Deal to Sell Your Home
Average timeline: Two days to a month…or more
The market is always changing and every area is different, so there’s no real formula for how long it will take to receive an offer on your home. But if you’ve done your due diligence in the previous steps and have an excellent listing agent, you can expect offers to come sooner rather than later. Sometimes, you end up with multiple offers!
Step 8: Accept an Offer on Your Home
Average timeline: One hour to one week
Once you’ve received an offer you like, accepting it takes very little time. The actual act of accepting the offer on your home simply requires your signature and submitting it to a title company and closing attorney. So, where can the delays come from? Well, you! If you’re fully ready to accept an offer, don’t sit on it. You don’t want to give the buyers time to back out or for other things to go wrong.
Regardless of the offer, the market, or the home you’re selling, don’t ever feel pressured to accept it immediately. It’s always a good idea to review it with your real estate agent and come up with a game plan.
Step 9: Wait for the Home Inspection & Appraisal
Average timeline: One to three weeks
Now that you’ve accepted an offer on your home, the buyer is allowed some time to do their due diligence and request a home inspection and home appraisal. This is something you don’t want to rush or skip. While it’s mainly for the home-buyer’s benefit, it’s good to get one done and have official records of the home’s condition.
Usually, the home buyers are given a full week to conduct a home inspection, but the exact time frame is something outlined in your purchase agreement. If the buyers change their mind or the home inspection isn’t stellar, they’re allowed to back out of the purchase during this week. Otherwise, everything moves forward with selling your home!
If the buyer is financing the property purchase with a home mortgage loan, the home appraisal happens next, which can add another two or more weeks to this phase. It all depends on the availability of appraisers and the area you’re in. However, if you’re looking to sell your home faster than that, you do have some options… Make sure to talk with your listing real estate agent about a faster close with fewer contingencies.
Not sure what “closing contingencies” are all about? You can ask one of our real estate professionals for help!
Step 10: Move Out
Average timeline: 30 days
You’ve almost sold your home! One of the last things left to do is to move out. Of course, if you’ve already moved out of the home, then you don’t even need to worry about this step. Sellers are usually given until closing to fully move out of the house. If you know you’ll need more time, a home seller can request this upfront in the purchase agreement. Just remember not to extend it too long, as your home buyer will want to be in their new home as soon as possible! The seller can also ask for a “Seller’s Temporary Lease Back” from the home buyer, which allows you to stay in the home for up to 60 days after closing. This is usually requested by sellers who haven’t found a new home yet or aren’t able to move into their new house right away.
Step 11: Closing
Average timeline: 10 to 45 days
Congrats, you’ve sold your house! The final step to selling your home is closing with the new owners. The biggest reason closing on a home can take longer is the lender. But once the lender has finalized everything, they’ll give the “clear to close” authorization and you can finally schedule time for all the paperwork to be signed by you and the home buyer!
On the other hand, if you’re lucky enough to have an all-cash buyer, a deal can close as quickly as 10-14 days. Plus, cash-sales are usually more certain than financed sales—this is one reason why cash offers are almost always preferred by home sellers and accepted over others.
Selling your home is not a simple process and there’s a lot of variables to factor in when planning out a timeline. However, with the right real estate agent listing your home and helping you at every step, you’ll have a much smoother experience!
If you’re ready to start the process of selling your home, our team of experienced real estate agents would be happy to help—contact us today!
Alexis Feezel is a results-oriented Marketing Coordinator responsible for developing, implementing, and overseeing all promotional strategies and activities to effectively market clients & listings and maximize sales.