How Long Selling Your House in Oklahoma City Will Take

How Long Selling Your House in Oklahoma City Will Take? Selling your house can be a large feat. When hiring an agent, the process will likely take much longer than a direct sale, and can also end up costing you more in the long run! Keep reading to see how the time it takes to sell will affect you financially.

While there is no way to determine how long selling your house will actually take when listing your house with a Oklahoma City agent, you can plan ahead if you choose to sell directly. In our latest post, we will look at how long selling your house will take and the common things that can cause delays.

If You List…

Getting It Ready For The Market

If you decide to list your Oklahoma City house, you will likely need some time to get it ready for the market. You’ll want to clean up, remove personal belongings, make repairs and possibly stage the house for showings.

Before dropping a bundle to repairs and upgrades that may or might not pay off, the seller would be wise to do their homework. Firstly, a home needs to be in line with the community level in order to succeed in the local market. If the average home in your price range and area doesn’t have a lot of costly upgrades, such as granite countertops and high-end appliances, then you’d be wasting your money to make a lot of high-end upgrades.

Pack up your personal photos, family heirlooms, and other items and clutter that could distract potential buyers and damage potential sales. You want to show an impersonal, sterile atmosphere to buyers so that they can envision a home that could be decorated with their own photos, furniture, and art objects. Depersonalizing your home makes it easier for prospective buyers to see how the home could look filled with their own things.

Real estate agents also recommend that sellers “stage” their houses. This basically means that you remove unnecessary furniture, personal possessions and unsightly objects from your home while you’re on the market, and organize rooms for optimum flow and function. If you’re in a slower market or you’re selling a luxury home, investing in a professional stage could help you stand out.

Finding The Right Agent

Choosing an agent can take some time as well. You aren’t going to want to work with the first agent you meet. Instead, you will likely do some research, talk to friends and family who have recently sold, and speak with a few agents before deciding who to hire.

The Internet makes it easy to discover the sales history and professional designations of real estate agents so that you can select the best person to work with. Look up the online profiles of real estate agents to see how long they have been in the industry, how many transactions they have made, and what names they may have received. Pay attention to how and where they advertise their listings, and whether or not they use professional images.

A lot of websites will refer agents to you, but that’s not quality assurance. The agents they refer are also simply those who have paid a fee to the site owners to be included in their directories.

Real estate agents are not equal; they are different. Each of them has its own marketing strategies and promotional budget. By selecting an agent with a large advertising budget and company dollars to match it, you can gain greater exposure to a larger number of buyers. This is advantageous since having a larger number of potential customers is equivalent to a higher chance of getting a decent offer.

Waiting For A Buyer

Once the house is listed, you are at the mercy of the market. There is no guarantee you will find a buyer right away or that you will get the price you are asking for. Your property could sit on the MLS, only to receive offers lower than you had expected. You never know how long this part of the process will take, which makes planning ahead difficult.

Often there’s no rational explanation how long it takes to sell a property. It could happen unexpectedly out of sheer luck — the buyer is just in the right spot at the right moment. Your house could be on the market the same day that a particular buyer is looking to buy the house you ‘re offering for sale.

More likely, though, this depends on one or more factors.

The Inspection Process

So you listed your house, found a buyer, and approved the purchase price. The selling of your house is almost finished, but it’s not yet time to pack the moving boxes – you still have to do it through your home inspection.

Once an offer has been made, your buyer’s lender will require an inspection and appraisal. If it doesn’t appraise for what they are lending, the loan won’t be funded. If there are problems with the property you will need to either make additional repairs or negotiate the price with your buyers. When pricing your home, be sure to prepare for this step. The value of your home can change greatly once it has been inspected. Some sellers even opt to pay for an inspection themselves before putting it in the market. This will ensure that there aren’t any surprises after an offer has been made.

But first, what is the home inspector doing? During the inspection, the properties are inspected from top to bottom, with focus on the evaluation of roof , walls, base, plumbing system , electrical system and HVAC system. Inspectors can also monitor the operating capability of installed systems, such as garbage disposal and carbon monoxide detectors, as well as leakage, mold , mildew and other signs of water damage.

As a seller, it’s normal to get tense during the home inspection process. You don’t want the sale to go through, nor do you want to be left with the cost and responsibility of repairs if your buyer asks for them as a contingency.

Escrow

The amount of time escrow can take will vary depending on the agreements made between the buyer and the seller. The buyer may ask for repairs before signing off on contingencies and the lenders may take some time to fund the loan. Typically escrow takes 2-4 weeks+.

Escrow starts when both you and the seller have signed an agreement to sell your home and have appointed an escrow or title agent to serve as an intermediary to make the transaction happen. At that point, a lot of people will come into action.

Your most important tasks will include making your home available when necessary for inspections and evaluations, preparing different forms and statements (such as disclosures if you have not already done so, and any other forms needed locally, such as a smoke detector certificate), and meeting any other contingencies that you have agreed to in your contract within the period specified (such as obtaining a smoke detector certificate)

More generally, as problems occur, you’ll need to be accessible and attentive. For example, if the title search results in a connection to your property put by a contractor who believes that you have not paid the bill, you will have to pay or otherwise deal with it to clear the title of the property. Or if the inspection determines that your house does not have enough smoke detectors and that this is the fault of the seller, you will have to buy and put in additional ones.

Closing

Once the escrow process is complete.

Another often ignored contingency that is likely to be in the contract is the final walk-through. As one of the last moves in the days or hours leading up to the sale, the walk-through allows the buyer and the buyer’s agent to visit the house to make sure that you have left it in an acceptable physical state.

Finally, the buyer and seller will need to arrange a mutually agreed upon date to sign the paperwork.

Paperwork is crucial to the completion of a property contract. Given the fact that there is a stack of papers packed with complicated legal terminology and jargon, you should read it all yourself. If you don’t understand something, consult a real estate attorney. Your lawyer can also help to make sense of any complicated legal terminology. You will meet at the title company, review all paperwork and finally… sign on the dotted line.

When You Sell Directly…

Get An Offer

When you sell directly to Local House Buyers , you will get an offer right away. It is then up to you to decide if it is the right choice for you. We understand you might need some time to think or run the numbers. We will never pressure you into a sale.

Sold

If you choose to accept our offer, the closing can take place in a matter of days. With a direct sale to Local House Buyers , you will avoid all costs of listing (repairs, commissions, closing costs, etc.) and be able to plan ahead by knowing exactly when the house will close. For many properties in Oklahoma City, a direct sale is a faster and more cost-effective solution. You will not need to make repairs or hire an agent in order to sell. Before you decide to list, find out if a direct sale is right for you! There is never any commitment!

Thinking about selling your house in Oklahoma City? Get in touch with Local House Buyers before hiring an agent! 405-395-2085

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