It was German philosopher Immanuel Kant that said ‘time is an abstract concept’ but while there are some points in life when we have the luxury to muse on this statement, moving home isn’t one of them.
The art of buying and selling property is not precise. As a result, guessing how long a transaction will take is virtually impossible – especially if a sale is taking place on the open market.
Despite this, the internet is awash with a longstanding timeframe that tells buyers and sellers it should take between 12 and 16 weeks to progress from offer to completion. This myth has certainly impacted the speed at which people think they will move home.
The false reality (often perpetuated by estate agents) was exposed by a recent survey of 5,000 people from across the UK – those who had bought or sold a property in the past five years. The results of OPDA’s survey found movers woefully underestimated how long it would take to complete their transaction.
Of those questioned, 57% assumed the homebuying process would take less than 2 months, from when the offer was accepted to exchanging contracts. The reality? For 16%, their completion took more than 6 months and for 62%, it took well over three months to exchange.
OPDA’s survey found there were regional differences in transaction times and it’s bad news for those living outside of London and the South East. Almost 20% of transactions took longer than 6 months in the West Midlands. This figure was 19% in the North East, and 18% in East Anglia and the South West.
So why do some property professionals continue to publicise the 12-16 week transaction time frame? Simply put, the reality would put many movers off. As our sister company, LandlordBuyer, reported recently, those selling via an estate agent on the open market can expect to wait 179 days between listing and completion. That’s more than 25 weeks – not a figure they’d want to publish.
Open market sales can take this long as there are multiple steps to complete. Conducting viewings, negotiating offers, confirming mortgages, relying on the diligence of agents, waiting for buyers to complete paperwork and engaging with unknown conveyancers adds weeks to the transaction. As a result, the sale will only move as fast as the slowest person.
The unpredictability and unknown variables of the open market is why direct property sales are growing in popularity. As a professional property buyer, Open Property Group is dedicated to reducing the time it takes for people to sell their home. We’re proving there’s no need to wait 12, 16 or even 25 weeks to enjoy completion.
We have perfected that art of the quick cash sale and we are chosen by people who want to sell house fast.
Selling direct to a professional property buyers carries the following benefits:
Get in touch about a property you need to sell. We won’t hang around – as soon as you agree to our cash offer, we’ll start the conveyancing process and keep you informed every step of the way. We’re actively buying properties now, so why wait?
*or set a completion date that suits your schedule