But I have a moving deadline…

1) How long it takes to find a home to make an offer on depends on the time priority you give the hunt and how honest and specific you are with your agent.

2) An offer is being written and what should you expect as far as response time. First and foremost, it will depend on terms of your offer (price seems to always have priority) and then there may be countering back and forth. So, here in Chicagoland:

a) If it is a motivated, non-distressed seller, you can potentially close on the sale within 30 days if it works for the seller or as long as 90 days. Check with your lender on how long your rate is good for or you could be in for a surprise later.
b) If it is a bank-owned (REO) property, the bank will most likely want to close the sale as soon as possible, sometimes as quick as two weeks and usually no longer than 30 days. Make sure you have everything lined up and ready to go…mortgage, inspections, etc., because there will be no time for lollygagging.
c) If this is a distressed seller in a “short sale” situation (owner owes more on the mortgage(s) than home is worth and he can prove a hardship case), the offer will go to owner for signature but it is subject to lender approval. Once it goes to lender, plan on one of the following time frames, provided listing agent or sellers’ attorney know how to work with short sales:
• If only one lender involved, 4 to 12 weeks to hear back from lender
• If more than one lender (main mortgage, plus 2nd lien by another mortgage or Heloc loan), expect 3 to 9 months and sometimes longer to hear back since they will have some issues to settle amongst themselves.

Once again, as soon as you hear from the lender that they are accepting your offer, expect them to want to close very, very quickly.

You, as the buyer, have control over how you handle your part of the search and offer/counter-offer but the remainder is in the hands of another party. Plan ahead, make clean offers that are in the park price-wise, and be prepared to move quickly.

Tags: Buying a home, Chicago metro, Chicago suburbs, Distressed properties, Home buying time frames, Real Estate, Short sales