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Curious from start to finish

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NowIcare
Regular Contributor

Curious from start to finish

I have been actively looking to buy a house since mid June and just curious as to how long this process from start to finish took you? our problem is that the majority of available properties in my area (California L.A) are short sales and well I was told to be patient but wow it is a very stressfull process.
Anywho just wondering how long you guys took from start to finish and was it worth all the stress? LOL sometimes I just feel like giving up.
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Message 1 of 10
9 REPLIES 9
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Curious from start to finish

I started researching in March and looking in April.  lost a few bids and never messed with short sales.  We were suppossed to get final clear to close form LO today but they were backed up a bit and should get it tommorrow for a close tommorrow and moving this weekend.
 
 
Message 2 of 10
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Curious from start to finish

When I bought my house it was 6 weeks from starting to look at houses to close. I looked at multiple houses over 2 weekends, and ended up buying a house I looked at the first weekend. After my offer was accepted, I closed 4 weeks later. (Things can move fast in small town MN if they want to!) A co-worker of mine and her DH put in an offer on a house and closed 3 weeks later!
Message 3 of 10
NowIcare
Regular Contributor

Re: Curious from start to finish

Yeah I have asked several family members and friends some say from a couple months to my parents who said 9 months, wow I hope it doesnt take that long but so far it has been 3 months its good to hear that its not just us. LOL
 
We have seen so many houses I think upwards of 40 and I would say 75% are all short sales while the other 25% are REO and those get scooped up fast.
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Message 4 of 10
FL_N8iv
Valued Member

Re: Curious from start to finish

My situation may be a bit different from yours, but to give you some idea...
 
I've been researching since early spring, but serious  search from my "short" list didn't start in earnest until June.  Signed my contract in July, got my final loan approval in Aug, and I'm set to close next month.  So in all....4 months for me.

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Message 5 of 10
Lel
Moderator Emeritus

Re: Curious from start to finish

We spent about 3 months getting a feel for our market (SF Bay Area) in late 2006 to early 2007 before making an offer on a house. Once we placed the offer (one of ten total offers on the house), it took two days for the seller to choose our offer. After that, it was a 21 day close. We got preapproval for the loan before placing the offer.

Short sales are an entirely different story, as you will discover if you read some of the other threads here. Short sales can take several months to close. Sometimes you might place an offer on a short sale, wait 4 or 5 months, and then have your offer rejected. You have to be prepared to be really patient.
Message 6 of 10
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Curious from start to finish


I started my pre-approval in February, started looking for houses in April and am finally going to close next month. I was pretty picky about my search, though. I was only looking for bank-owned properties in a specific zip code.

Patience will pay off but I don't recommend this process for the faint at heart!

Message 7 of 10
athensguy
Valued Contributor

Re: Curious from start to finish



@Anonymous wrote:
I started researching in March and looking in April.  lost a few bids and never messed with short sales.  We were suppossed to get final clear to close form LO today but they were backed up a bit and should get it tommorrow for a close tommorrow and moving this weekend.
 
 





Congrats!
So did you get your clear to close today?
Message 8 of 10
deniel560
Member

Re: Curious from start to finish

Hello!
 
I was pre-approved at the end of April and began looking, I only looked at foreclosed homes. I made several offers and was outbid on most. In June I made an offer on a home and they ended up accepting it a month later(the other buyer fell through). From the time they accepted my offer to the day I got my keys was about 2 months...There were several delays on the sellers side seeing as how it was bank owned. I just moved in last weekend!
 
It is very stressfull and at times it seemed like it would never happen, but try not to let it get you down!!!  It will happen...just takes time  :-)
 
 
Goodluck!
Message 9 of 10
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Curious from start to finish

We started thinking about maybe possibly starting to think about figuring out whether we might just have the slightest chance of qualifying for a mortgage, oooh, sometime around the beginning of this year.

We talked to a loan officer in the last week of April (April 27, in fact - yep, he called us back to get all our details on a Sunday!) to see if he could have a look at all our info and see what, if anything, we might be able to get prequalified for, as we had no idea whether we had any realistic chance of being able to get a mortgage. On April 29, he called us and said he'd run everything and got us preapproved (woohoo!) - my husband then called a buyer's agent we'd had recommended, and she arranged to show us round a few houses in our price range the following evening, just to give us a feel of what was out there in the area we were hoping to buy in.

So, April 30th, we looked around 6 or 7 houses... and put in an offer on the first one we saw (we'd admired it from outside a few days before, just after seeing it newly listed on a local realtor's site). We were under contract on May 1 (we also switched to a different lender that day, in a mad rush of eventfulness!)... and closed May 29. Moved in on May 31.

So, um... rather quick, in our case. Longest four weeks of my life, mind you! We LOVE our house, and being homeowners... best thing we ever did! Smiley Happy

Message Edited by fevmlo on 09-19-2008 09:17 PM
Message 10 of 10
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