It depends. You might be one of those people who decides to buy a home you saw the first time you were out with your Realtor. Or you might be one of those who needs to go out more than three or four times and look at approximately a hundred homes online before you decide.

Typically, from the time you decide to buy a home to the time you actually make an offer is approximately 30 – 45 days. This includes time to get preapproved (after shopping for the best mortgage) and going out a few times to actually check out houses on the inside as well as the outside.

Then, assuming the offer doesn’t take too long to get accepted and provided you haven’t fallen in love with a short sale, you should be in escrow in about a week.

Escrow typically last 30 – 40 days. Most escrows are written as 30 day escrows just because sellers don’t want a 60 day escrow that cancels at the last minute. They have then just wasted months of advertising for their home. So even if escrows are written for 30 days, they may take up to 40 days with some delays.

You get your keys the day escrow closes, unless other arrangements have been made. So, plan on about 65 – 90 days from the day you decide to buy a home.

Now of course, this does not include moving!

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