Toronto realtorKat Anderson prides herself on getting to know the style, personal preferences and unique needs of all her clients.
This might be why the award-winning HomeLife Realty agent emphasizes circumstance and not a definitive timeline when answering this week's question. After all, she's about tailoring the selling experience to you, not trying to match you to it.
How Long Does It Usually Take Between Point of Sale and Closing Date?
It depends on your agreement of purchase and sale, as it always outlines the closing date. The closing date is something both the buyer and seller must agree on and it's there in the agreement as a firm date.
If you have to change it, you will have to amend the agreement with both parties' approval. Your agent can do the amendment as long as it's mutually agreed upon. What can cause an amendment are any changes to the circumstances surrounding your move. You might want to advance the date or postpone the date and sometimes we even put the ability right in the purchase of sale.
READ: Ask An Agent: What Can Buyers Do If The Seller Won’t Leave?
For instance, if the seller thinks they might find a home sooner than anticipated, then we might want to include a clause in the agreement of purchase of sale that the seller is able to advance the closing date by a certain amount of time and close sooner. It's always better to have it in your agreement of purchase and sale as an option.
Determining the length of time from point of sale and closing starts when listing the property. During the listing process, the listing agent will ask the seller questions such as, “Why are you moving?” “What are your reasons behind selling your property?” “Are you downsizing?” “Are you moving to your parents' house?” or “Are you moving out of the country?” There could be a number of reasons for a move, but usually, people are upsizing or downsizing and that involves purchasing a new property.
READ: Ask An Agent: Can You Back Out Of A Signed Buyer’s Agreement?
The length of time between the point of sale and closing date, not only depends on the seller's circumstances but also the market. If you are selling a condo and you are looking to buy a house, as a realtor I might tell you it will take from 60 to 90 days to be comfortable finding the right property and that's when you already have the down payment for a new property.
I would say always include a clause in your agreement of purchase and sale that you can postpone or advance your closing if you're looking for a new property because you might find something quickly and you don't want to compromise on your new property. It also gives you an opportunity to be more flexible on your existing sale.
READ: Ask An Agent: What Can Be Done About A House That Won’t Sell?
The market can be flexible. Sometimes it takes longer to find a place depending on what you're looking for. If you need to move your closing date and you haven't put a clause in ahead of time, don't count on anything being easy. Moving is a stressful time for everybody, so you have to always think of your buyer. They may have sold their house, so I wouldn't count on any flexibility to change the closing date. It's always better to think about it in advance and give yourself some options. Otherwise, changing the closing date may be the most difficult and rarely agreed upon things in real estate. Remember, you can't pull out of the closing date all together because you're under contract.
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