4 Reasons I Agreed to a Long Closing Time on the Home I'm Buying

When you buy a house, making an offer is just the first step. After your offer is accepted, a lot has to happen before the keys are handed to you and the home becomes officially yours. This happens on closing day, and it takes around 50 days on average to get there after you and the seller have agreed to move forward.

In my recent home sale, however, I had an offer accepted to buy a home in June and my closing date is Sept. 15. Here's why I agreed to wait so long to actually close on my dream home. 

1. To provide time for the current owners to tie up loose ends

I did not particularly want a closing date months in the future when I made an offer to buy my future home. I wanted to close on July 29. But the sellers have a tenant living in the property and they needed time for her to find somewhere else to live. They also had to take care of some outstanding claims on the home, which couldn't happen right away. 

I knew I couldn't buy the home with outstanding liens, and I also knew I did not want to purchase it until their tenant had moved out. So, I agreed to give them the time they needed to make the house sellable.  

If you found a home you love but there are problems, waiting until those problems are resolved before closing could prevent those issues from becoming your headaches. This could mean waiting until a lease with a current tenant ends (like in my case), or waiting to close until the seller has time to make repairs. 

2. To get a deal on a house I might not otherwise have got

While I wasn't happy about a long closing date, I agreed to it because otherwise, it was very likely the sellers would not have sold the house to me.

The home wasn't even on the market when I made an offer on it, and the sellers didn't plan to list it for a while precisely because of the issues with it. 

In my opinion, the house would have listed for more than the offer I made on it, so I felt like I was getting a really good deal that was made possible by being flexible. 

When a seller has specific needs -- like a desire to close quickly or to have an extended delay before closing -- if you can agree to meet those needs, this gives you a major advantage as a buyer. They may be willing to accept your offer because you can work on their timeline, even if someone else would potentially pay more. 

3. To allow time to shop around for a competitive loan

Although waiting to move in wasn't something I was excited about, it also had some benefits beyond just being able to get a house I otherwise might not have.

One of the biggest advantages of a long closing was the time to shop around for the perfect mortgage loan. I wasn't rushed into locking in at a rate that wasn't great, nor did I have to pick the first mortgage lender willing to approve me or the one that guaranteed the quickest closing. 

You don't want to jump into getting a mortgage that you don't fully understand or don't feel is the best deal. So, when you make an offer on a home, be sure that your closing date is set far enough in the future to give you time to shop around with different lenders, get a quote, and go through their underwriting process.

You can expedite this by shopping around for a loan and getting pre-approved before you make an offer, so the seller doesn't have to wait for you to do your mortgage comparisons. In my case, though, I had been holding off on doing that because I was hoping rates would go down a bit before I had to lock in, so I was glad to have some extra time to take care of the mortgage issues after my offer was accepted. 

4. To provide more time to save money before moving in

Finally, I was happy to have a long closing period so I could save more money. While I already had cash for a generous down payment and my move, the house does need some remodeling. I want to fund that out of pocket instead of borrowing for it, and having a few extra months to save made that more feasible. 

Ultimately, you'll need to consider your current living arrangements, how quickly you need to move, and how fast you can secure financing before you agree to a specific closing date when you're buying a home. But, if you find a seller who needs some flexibility and you're willing to give it to them by agreeing to close on whatever their timeline is, you may just find you can get a much better deal on the home of your dreams.