Selling your house: How long did it take and in what season did it sell?

[snoopy30]

I know this is a tricky question since real estate varies so widely across the country but I'm just curious...how long did it take to sell your house and in what season did it sell? (i.e. spring, summer, etc)

Ours is going on the market in about a month and I'm expecting it to take at least a few months. We live in the south in a pretty solid market but I still worry about it selling!

Thanks!

[Secret_Squirrel]

It is so localized... my house went on the market last week and sold in 6 days (inspection tomorrow, knock on wood...). But 40 miles to the south of us, the average time is 4-6 months.

What does your realtor say?

[mindy75]

We sold our house last summer. It took about 2 months from listing to closing. We listed the house June 1st, had the contract in about 3 weeks, and closed July 28th. The market/county we're in saw a fairly good real estate boom last year. Everything moved fast and the market was more competitive than we expected. We were in a crunch to find our new house once we got the contract. We were the first people to see this house, so it was only on the market for about a month from listing to closing. We're in the south also (TN).

Good luck!

[villanelle75]

We sold ours 2 years ago in February (with an early March close) and it sold in less than a week, for slightly over asking, with multiple offers. When I say "sold", that's how long it took to accept an offer. IIRC, escrow was roughly 30 days so the whole thing took about 5 weeks.

[lee60657]

Our condo is under contract right now (as of last Friday) - we are set to close in 3 weeks:) We have our inspection on Tuesday. Our condo was on the market for a total of 10 days including the time it took to negotiate the deal - we had 2 offers the 8th day on the market. I actually thought it was going to much more difficult/take alot longer to sell than it did. Good luck!

[fuzzy]

We put out house on the market, then pulled it off to rent it (and eventually sell it) to my SIL. But, the house was on the market for three days (Friday, Saturday, Sunday) and by Sunday night, we had three offers, all above asking price.

This was 2 1/2 years ago. We lived in a relatively slow market-area, but our house was a bit different from the surrounding neighborhood (newer with different architecture). Because of that, I assumed it would either go really quickly...or really slowly.

[katiems118]

Condo was listed from 10/2006 and we got 1 offer finally 5/14/07. We're taking it, even though its $57,000 below where we started at in October. Closing in 30 days.

[EJM]

Our condo was under contract within a day (to renters who live in our building), but other units in the same condo association generally have gone under contract within 2 weeks of listing. We listed it in April and close in 2 weeks.

[laura]

We just bought a townhouse - listed 5/5/07 and closing 6/8/07.

[Natrat80]

less than 2 months, late january to early march

[WisWis]

We put our house on the market on March 16 (so we could be included in the monthly real estate mags) and we had received two offers over list price by the first week in April. That is incredibly quick in our area; houses often stay on the market for 6+ months. We won't be closing until the end of June, which makes moving easier for us.

[junkinmytrunk]

On the market for less than a week and it sold for full asking price. Listed June 2006. Oh, region - Los Angeles, CA.

[mia's mama]

We too just sold our house in Los Angeles, CA. On the Market for 6 days with 3 offers over asking. We sold in Feb 2007.

[MrsBeckyLP]

FSBO on March 3, 2007, 15 minutes east of Madison, Wis.

Accepted offer May 9, 2007. Only $2,900 under original asking price.

Just received the couple's loan approval. Will pick a closing date in a few days ... will be in mid or late July, when their lease is up.

[ks_piper]

Wichita, KS. Listed on 4/30. Two showings and two contracts - May 2nd.

Accepted first contract at just over 2K over asking price. We close on Tuesday.

So in total I think the house was on the market for 6 days before we had a firm contract - much quicker than we expected. But, the under 100K price range here moves really really quickly - esp. this year.

In contrast, the house we're buying had been on the market for 364 days when we put our offer in on it. It was accepted that night at 10K under current asking price and 44K under original list price. It was originally listed at $224K and we're getting it for 180K. This price range can still move quickly, just not for this particular house.

We think the floor plan (very large rooms and very open spaces w/ little room delignation) and the overload of pink decor (lots that can be repainted, new counters in kitchen etc) turned folks off. It's in great shape and we definitely got a great deal!

[Asha]

area - transitional neighborhood in queens, ny

it was fsbo, and we hadn't officially listed it, but someone heard about our house by word of mouth from a neighbor. they came to look at it before we had advertised it. they made an offer the same day they looked at the house for full asking price.

offer was made early feb of this year, and we closed in late march.

[myshel]

Area: City in Eastern Iowa; older, established neighborhood (many houses built at turn of the century)

Put on the market: Late March of 2007

Offer: One week later with lots of interest from other buyers

Sold for: Asking price (we did pay some closing costs, so that ultimately bit into our bottom line)

We were nervous in selling our house, because we had been warned that the housing market in our area had been slow for several months. There is an employer in our city that is hiring something like 700 people, so we were hopeful. I honestly think that our house sold so quickly because, for the price range, it has character and was unique. Most homes in that price range are generic 1950's ranch homes. If you drive around our town, there are tons of "For Sale" signs everywhere. I think we were lucky. Some of our friends, however, were able to sell their house in a day just recently. They must have been lucky too. ;)

[justHB]

We sold our condo last June. It wasn't officially on the market until the following weekend, but our realtor's assistant accidentally put it in the open house listings. We had one more open house (for a total of 2 weekends) and the last couple who attended the first open house bought the place. I'd say it was about 10 days from start to finish. We did a 30 day closing, I think.

[IrishEyes]

Put on the market July 6 of last year. I think we got a contract at 60 days on market. The sellers asked for a closing date just over 2 months after that (Nov. 15).

[Blossom]

FWIW...
We owned a townhouse as an investment property and listed it last May. We were under contract in August.
We received a few offers prior, but we either rejected them or they didn't pan out. We closed in September for a few grand under asking price.

In hindsight, we sold at just the right time as the NJ market has slowed considerably and now favors buyers.

[coquelicot]

This is for my parents' house, but it'll give you an idea.

Area: established, blue-collar area of Louisville, KY
Type of Home: 3-4 BR, 1 1/2 BA bi-level w/ 2-car attached garage in a cul-de-sac.
Listed: Memorial Day weekend 2004
Switched agents: Halloween 2004
Contract Began: End of January 2005
Closed: April 2005

(ETA) We had to drop the price several times, a couple of those times pretty dramatically. Didn't seem fair, since the houses on either side of that one were smaller and less updated, yet sold more quickly and for more money. (end ETA)

Some of the homes in my current neighborhood have been selling within a couple of months. The homes are much newer than what I grew up with, though--less than 5 years old.

[LeslieR]

We put our house on the market in August and didn't sell until January.

eta: We had several offers that fell through during that period.