Video Transcription:
What is the average closing time on a house? Well that’s what we’re talking about today and we are starting right now. Hey everyone, welcome back to my blog. I’m Karin Carr, a Realtor in Savannah Georgia with Keller Williams.
So what is the average closing time on a house? Well typically it’s like 30 days, it could be a little bit less, it could be a little bit longer, just depending on what you write into your contract. Do you want to close in 30 days? Are you trying to close sooner? Do you need it to be stretched out to more like 6 or 7 weeks? It all depends on what you and the seller decide upon. But just keep this in mind – the closing date can change. It’s somewhat fluid. If the buyer’s lender calls to do their final verification of employment right before the closing and they find out some sort of surprise… maybe you made less money than they thought you were going to make, or you made more money than they thought you were going to make and then you decided to pay off a bunch of credit cards. There could be a little fly in the ointment. It’s gonna take them a while to go back to underwriting and get that stuff straightened out.
We’re trying really hard to close on that scheduled date but just know that there may be a little wiggle room. I have a client in contract right now where we asked to have the flooring replaced because it had some water damage and the seller said, “Sure, we will pay to have the flooring replaced.” We were a little bit nervous that we weren’t going to make the closing date because the last time I went over to the house they hadn’t even started on it yet. But luckily it looks like everything is going to be closing on time. So that’s awesome. It’s something to keep in mind. If you’re gonna close on a Friday don’t go get on a cruise on Saturday morning and be gone for ten days in Antarctica. You’re probably gonna want to be around a little bit after that scheduled closing date just on the off chance that it does not close on time. Here in Georgia we have a form called the unilateral extension of closing which means one party can request an extension for a week and just say, “I need an additional week to close. I’m telling you we’re gonna do it,” and unfortunately the seller doesn’t necessarily get a say in the matter.
If the buyer exercises their one-time unilateral extension request then we’re stuck extending it, the same way if there’s not a clear title on the house the seller cannot convey the property to you. There has to be a clear title on the house and if suddenly a lien pops up that was previously missed or unaccounted for then the seller’s gonna need time to clear the title in order to give you the house. So one party can ask for an extension. It doesn’t happen frequently but it is a possibility. So again, try to have some room around that scheduled closing date just in case you need an extra three or four days that you’re not going to be in the mountains in Nepal completely incommunicado. That would probably not be a very good situation.
Now you know the average time for closing on a house. Are you curious what goes on at the actual closing? I did a video about that a couple of weeks ago. What happens at the actual closing? What you need to bring with you and what you should be ready for. Thank you so much!
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About the Author: The article above, Moving out of State, was provided by Karin Carr, an authority on Savannah area real estate and a leader in the field of real estate blogging and vlogging. Karin has helped literally helped hundreds of families buy and sell homes since 2005.
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I help people buy and sell real estate in the following Savannah areas: Rincon, Guyton, Pooler, Richmond Hill, Savannah, and the islands.
