Timetable for Selling a House

Timeline for Selling a House

One of the main questions asked by people who want to sell their home is, “How long does it take to sell a house?”

To sell a home in the Boston area and specifically in the suburbs of Newton, Brookline, Wellesley or Needham can take one month or even a few months, and usually follows a set home sales timeline. As any real estate seller agents and seller realtors from Boston, Newton, and Wellesley Real Estate firms can tell you, sellers and buyers alike are usually much more relaxed about the selling process once they understand just how long a sale typically takes. Any experienced Realtor will explain that there is quite a bit to do before the selling process even begins. For any help with buying or selling your home in Brookline, Newton, Needham or the surrounding areas, call Osnat Levy.

Here is a timeline to help guide sellers through the process of selling a home:

Two months before Listing

Find a real estate agent – This is the most important decision you’ll make in the whole home-selling process. You want to find an agent who is credible and trustworthy. Ask around and look at Osnat Levy’s references and you will find she is one of the highest ranked and most experience realtors in the area.
Evaluate your finances and budget
Collect key documents including your title, survey, mortgage and insurance documents as well as any other paperwork related torenovations and improvements you might have made to the house in recent years.

Six weeks before listing

Handle any large repairs or upgrades – pay particular attention to areas that are sensitive to buyers – the kitchen and the bathroom. If you know of any major issues, get them repaired because it will be easier to find the right repair service at a reasonable cost now rather than after the home inspector finds the problem and you need to fix it in a rush to avoid losing the sale.
Do some painting – the front door, any visibly shabby areas – make the place look bright!
Get rid of clutter – dump the junk, send some big items to storage, pack and move what you can – less stuff makes the house look bigger.
Empty cabinets – makes it look like the house has lots of storage when the cupboards are not full
Make sure your front and back yards look attractive. You might want to invest in landscaping.

Two weeks before Listing

Your realtor (Osnat Levy) will bring a professional stager to do the final touch up to the house. Then she will get photographs taken and a floor plan for the house drawn professionally.

One week before Listing

CLEAN – get a professional cleaning company in to do a deep clean, maybe even clean the carpets.
Make those last touch up of the front and back yard.

Listing Day

Osnat will take it from here, she will work with brokers, buyers, and you until an offer is received that is accepted and then the formal sale process starts.

Day 1

Offer accepted and signed
Buyers pay first deposit (usually $1000), money is deposited into Escrow account with your seller agent’s company (Osnat Levy at Unlimited Sotheby’s International Realty)

Day 2

Find an attorney

Day 3-8 (7 days from acceptance of offer)

Buyers perform home inspection
Negotiate any outstanding issues that may arise from the inspection and agree of final timeline for closing.

Day 14 (14 days from acceptance of offer)

Sign purchase and sale
Buyers pay second deposit (usually 5% of the purchase price), money is deposited into Escrow account with your seller agent’s company (Osnat Levy at Unlimited Sotheby’s International Realty)

Day 45 (3 – 4 weeks from signing of the P&S)

Buyers get mortgage commitment from bank
Seller should get any approvals required for closing (Osnat Levy will do this – get a smoke detector compliance certificate and a 6D certificate for condos)

1 Week Before Closing

Get oil/gas reading, Electricity reading and final water/sewer readings and inform service providers of change
Disconnect cable/internet service.

Day of Closing

You should have moved out of the house, cleaned it and left the house in the condition you agreed upon in the purchase and sale agreement.
Buyers final walkthrough

Closing

Buyers and sellers meet with attorneys and sign all paperwork for mortgages and transfer of deed,
Seller brings keys to the house, remote controls for the garage, paperwork for appliance, service providers, etc.

Congratulations on the Sale

We hope this timeline for selling a house helped you.