How Fast Can You Actually Close on a House Sale?

"We can close in seven days" is true and it is also the best case. Here is what has to happen in those seven days and what pushes it out.

What closing consists of

With no lender involved, the critical path is title. That is why an honest floor on a cash sale is about seven days, why two to three weeks is the normal answer, and why any buyer promising to close in 48 hours is describing something other than a standard closing.

What pushes it out

• Liens you had forgotten. An old contractor's lien, a tax lien, a judgment, or a mortgage from a previous refinance that was paid but never released. Every one is fixable and each takes days to weeks.
• A deceased person still on the deed. This usually needs probate or an affidavit of heirship, and it is the most common surprise on inherited property.
• A missing spousal signature. Many states require both spouses to sign even when only one is on title.
• HOA estoppel letters. Some associations take two weeks and charge for the privilege.
• A tenant in place whose rights have to be documented and handed to the buyer.

How to make it as fast as it can be

1. Say yes to the title company opening the file the day the contract is signed. Days lost here are lost at the end.
2. Request your mortgage payoff immediately. Servicers are slow and it is entirely outside the buyer's control.
3. Tell the buyer about every lien, tenant, dead co-owner and unpermitted addition on day one. None of them kills a cash sale. All of them delay it if they surface in week two.
4. Have identification ready, and check whether you need a notary or, if you are out of state, a mobile or remote online notary.

What a buyer can do to make it faster, and what they cannot

A buyer controls their own funds, their own paperwork and which title company opens the file, and a good one opens it the same day. What no buyer controls is your lender's payoff department, the county recorder, an HOA's estoppel timetable or a probate court. When a buyer promises a date that depends on any of those, they are promising something that is not theirs to give.

The practical test is whether they will name the title company and let you speak to it. A buyer who will is describing a real closing. A buyer who will not is usually still looking for somebody to sell the contract to.

The thing nobody mentions

You can also close slower on purpose. Sellers routinely accept the buyer's preferred date without realising they could have asked for 60 or 90 days to line up their next home. On a cash sale the date is almost always yours to choose. Ask for the one you actually want.