Finding the Right Home Takes Time. But Buying Property Is More Convenient Than You Think.

Over ten years ago the number of Americans buying or refinancing homes significantly dropped because the housing market collapsed, ushering in the Great Recession, otherwise known as the financial crisis, which left millions of Americans unemployed and hesitant to take on any investment risks. Before the financial crash, the number of existing homes sold in the United States hovered above seven million in 2005, as reported by Statista. But three years later, the number had quickly dropped to four million homes sold. 

In 2020, the housing economy is much different. Recently, more Americans are buying homes, spending over 30% of their income on a home purchase, according to WalletHub’s statistical report. 

Closing on a Home

So now that the housing market is getting back on track to its pre-market crash levels, how long does it take to close on a home? 

Closing on a home is just a matter of signing all the paperwork for transferring home ownership to the prospective buyers, says homeowner, Paul Kuehnert, who bought his house in Hopewell, New Jersey, outside of Princeton University. Kuehnert met at the office of his real estate lawyer and spent about an hour closing on a home by signing final real estate documents. 

Several real estate specialists are involved with helping new home buyers walk through the process of closing on a home. Home First Mortgage, located in Alexandria, VA, offers flow charts detailing the process of buying a home. Review a list of WalletHub’s mortgage brokers to find a real estate expert near you. You may also figure out your price range for the cost of a house by using WalletHub’s mortgage rates calculator.

After a home buyer decides how much to spend on a new home, the entire process before closing on a home may take a few weeks, Kuehnert says. 

“I spent roughly six weeks buying a home,” the director of a government health inspector agency says. “That includes writing a contract between the homeowner and prospective buyer, agreeing on the price, getting approved for a loan, having the home appraised, and then finally passing an inspection before signing all the final paperwork.” 

However, there is no average time for closing on a home, says Kathryn from National Association of Realtors (NAR) Member Support department. Another NAR Member Support representative, Dionne, says that finding an average time for closing on a home “is a state by state question. There are different laws and procedures in each state.”

While many prospective home buyers may schedule face-to-face appointments with mortgage consultants to close on a home, possibly delaying the home purchasing process, several states have made closing on a home much easier for everyone by allowing prospective home buyers to sign paperwork online, instead of in person. 

“Virginia was the first state to enact a remote online notarization law and remains one of the broadest laws,” according to the NAR’s video, “Window to the Law: Remote Online Notarization Laws.” 

According to NAR, “Virginia allows a notary to authenticate and notarize documents for an individual located anywhere in the U.S., while other state laws limit remote online notarization to residents within the geographic boundaries of the state.”

The refinance process can be as easy as picking up the phone and calling a bank mortgage consultant, says Alec Gibney, who has worked at a Minnesota Wells Fargo centralized location call center for about a year.

“The whole refinancing process may be initiated or finished online or over the phone,” says Gibney, who has over three years of banking experience. “A homeowner looking to refinance on their home can close without walking in the bank.” 

And all home purchases and refinance scenarios are structured on a case-by-case basis, Gibney says. Some homeowners may want to schedule their closing a few months after initiating a refinancing plan. But typically, “the closing portion of buying or refinancing on a home takes about a week, depending on scheduling between the mortgage consultants and loan borrowers, and then signing all the documents.”  

Real Estate Experts Are Encouraging Closing on Homes

Now that the Federal Reserve has lowered interest rates over the past week, the health of the real estate market for buying or refinancing a residential home has improved since the Great Recession. And more recently, mortgage rates have dropped to the lower 3% range, setting up great housing options for prospective buyers.

The lower interest rates have prompted finance experts to increase potential home sales by encouraging prospective home buyers to move quickly on closing on a home. 

“Home buyers and those looking to refinance will find this an opportune time to lock in a rate at one of the lowest levels we’ve ever seen,” says Greg McBride, Bankrate’s chief financial analyst.