cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

How long does the home buying process take?

tag
salsa34
New Contributor

How long does the home buying process take?

Our apartment lease is up at the end of August.  When should we start the qualification process with lenders and/or start looking at houses?  Right now we are concentrating on paying down debt and saving up our down payment $$.

 

June?  July?

 

I know I should concentrate my loan shopping to a ten-day or so period to minimize the hit to FICO scores, so I want to wait until we are truly ready to move forward, but I don't want to wait so long that we can't close by the time our lease is up.

 

Is it better to shop for loans online or through specific lenders/banks yourself or to go through a broker?

Message 1 of 4
3 REPLIES 3
SonorityGenius
Established Contributor

Re: How long does the home buying process take?

Truly, I found the hardest part finding a home I really loved and that my offer gets accepted and is within my limits too! Lol

 

Second hardest is loan qualification and the mundane steps of providing docs, more docs, and scheduling everything apprasal, inspection than attorney in my case, than shopping for home owners ins AH the headaches..

 

I would say start hunting for a house in may-june, get your credit up to shape if you need to pull your scores from here and follow advice, read and post your info here to determine which loan type is best for you (FHA, USDA, conventional, VA etc etc)

 

It is a diffcult phase for first timers, and it involves alot of reading on processes we never knew existed before. The more you know the better (and less they pull tricks

Message 2 of 4
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: How long does the home buying process take?

I think it kinda depends.  If your credit is perfect and your scores are high and you'll have low DTI and sufficient income with 2 or more years at the same job, and so on, then it should be no problem getting qualified and you could hold off in that department.  If it's more questionable, it wouldn't hurt to start working with your intended loan officer as they might be able to give you some advice on how to optimize your chances.  You could even print off your reports and scores and see if they will take a look.

 

As for house hunting, I personally didn't bother seriously hunting till I was pre-approved.  I didn't want to fall in love with something I couldn't have.  I did start checking out open houses a few months ahead of time so I could form ideas about what you get for $xxxk in the areas I want to live in.

Message 3 of 4
WannaHouse
Valued Contributor

Re: How long does the home buying process take?

I agree with rmily. Both have great answers, but rmily goes into more depth as to circumstances that may make a huge time difference.
Message Edited by WannaHouse on 03-17-2009 07:58 PM

Kathy


We are finally homeowners!!

Closed May 5th-30 yr fixed at 5.25%.

Message 4 of 4
Advertiser Disclosure: The offers that appear on this site are from third party advertisers from whom FICO receives compensation.