In Part 1 of the Home Buyer Guide, I stressed the importance of shopping your financing options and getting approved for a loan.  Once buyers are qualified they are usually excited to go shopping but they need to make sure they are ready to buy before they waste any time looking around.

In Part 2, we explored when it would be a good time to go shopping for your first home.

In Part 3, we chatted a bit on how you should go about interviewing and hiring your Buyer’s Agent.

Now we will learn about time frames it takes to purchase certain types of homes along with financing as we continue the journey of purchasing your Home!

Buyers often want to time their transaction to close *perfectly* when they are purchasing a home (this could be true for a first time buyer or move up buyer.)  UNFORTUNATELY there are too many things that can go wrong with a transaction – especially a financed transaction – these days to make any sort of promises.

Las Vegas home purchase transactions can be derailed by a myriad of scenarios that could delay closing:

• Inspection (eek!)
• Appraisal (coming in low)
• Burglary/Theft During Escrow (happened to me three times in one year)
• Financing Issues (extra documentation)
• HOA Demands (not being ordered on time or HOA liens in collections)
• Lender Required repairs (sellers being stubborn with fixing items required by lender)

Here is my current timeline for closing a financed transaction (provided nothing UNUSUAL goes wrong!)

• Standard Sale:  30-45 days
• Short Sale:  2 Months – 2 Years (Average around 6 months)
• REO:  45-60 days
• New Construction:  Usually on expected completion.  30 days if standing inventory.
• Probate:  2 weeks after court date is set.  Court date is usually 45-60 days after executed contract.

In this environment of well priced inventory, buyers may be competing with multiple offers when submitting an offer on a home.  A first time buyer definitely wants to make sure they interview potential agents to see if they have an aggressive strategy & experience to overcome the multiple offer issue.

This environment is definitely a “hurry up and wait” environment for a home buyer.  When they are expected to perform, they are expected to perform yesterday.  Then the buyer is expected to wait for the seller, lender or title to perform – sometimes for long periods of time.

To keep things moving along, when someone asks you for something, make sure you can produce it quickly.  Many buyers get caught up in asking “why is the lender asking for this?” in a last minute meltdown.  Many lenders ask for things because you may fall in some sort of “risk” category and they need extra documentation to the underwriter.  With the amount of foreclosures that have happened in the last several years, EVERY financed buyer falls in some sort of risk category and odds are you will be asked for the blood of your first born child (wild analogy  )

To keep your transaction moving smoothly be prepared to:

Act quickly

Cry two times (my rule, haha!)

Hit bumps in the road

Experience a WILD ride!

HAVE ALTERNATIVE LIVING ARRANGEMENT AHEAD OF TIME in case things are delayed ~ which they very well could be!  If you want it bad enough, you can make it happen