Buying a house how long

apollo9

I am in the middle of my divorce and trying to sort out a house to purchase. I also need to tie it in to the divorce process. I have not done this in a long time, so from making an offer how long would it be on average to completion - 3m-4m?


I realise its a piece of string type of question but lets assume its a short chain and no issues pop up


Thanks

CommitedToChange

I believe the average is 8-12 weeks. But I'm in week 19 and there is only me and my vendors who are buying an empty property.

apollo9

Thanks. I am hoping for around 20weeks as that means it will align with the divorce process

hazyjo

12 weeks-ish.


Mine at the end of last year took 15 weeks - but was a long chain. One before that took 9 weeks on purchase and 12 weeks on sale. One before that was a very short chain and took 5 months!

hazyjo

apollo9 wrote: »

Thanks. I am hoping for around 20weeks as that means it will align with the divorce process

That would be a long one and you'll find people may start making all sorts of threats towards the end if it drags on for 20 weeks (especially without good reason).


Saying that, it sounds like you've not found one yet. If you need to find a buyer too, it could be months to even get that far!

Oakdene

Mine took 5 weeks from offer accepted to getting keys. There was only me buying, the seller didn't live there.

chelseablue

Ours took 3 months, our offered was accepted in the November 2015 and we moved in February 2016

apollo9

Bummer I was hoping to make offers but may need to sort out a bridging loan or something or try and do the financial consent earlier.

xsor

It really depends on how prepared are each party and solicitors..

Took 3 months for vendor's solicitors to get lease to me, and EA expects me to sign and return contract after 2 days of receiving it..

Anyway, I'd say an average of 3-4 months, after dealing with any questions or problems you may have with the purchase.

hazyjo

Bridging loans are fine for a guaranteed short period. Not indefinitely. Very high rates, and what if a couple of sales fall through? Twice, it has taken me around a year or 2 to actually finally move from when I started looking/selling due to collapsed chains and having to restart.

I have also done it in 5 weeks before too. My first flat and only 2 links to chain

You can arrange the division of money, etc/ financials and divorce before actually selling. I did.

Or you could sell and rent for 6 months or so, putting you in a good buying position.

About-time

I've bought twice in the last 5-6 years. Both times it's taken under two months. Having said that, I was lucky as in both cases I was buying off an elderly lady that wasn't purchasing a new property. But I would allow three in case of complications (and brace yourself for longer just in case!)