Shortest: 10 days.

Longest, no lie, my very fiest short sale in 2007...it took 2.5 years!!!

I had a Short Sale drag out for about 6 months one time.  But other than Short Sales I think the quickest was about 10 days and the longest about 3 months.

Same day, cash sale, got buyer from out of town with literally a bag of cash to help count out at closing and the seller to drive up and wrap up, record. 22 days for a VA loan from sign contract to pass the keys, the check was pretty nifty too. If all the real estate planets line up it happens with the right lawyer, bank if any in the triangle. Six closings in one day, both sides the high for closure transaction numbers.

One day. It was back in the day where we did the closings in our office and the buyer paid cash and the attorney whipped out a deed in 5 minutes.

2 days and six months

2 weeks.  I've had a few cash deals close in that short of time.

Shortest was 10 days on a cash sale of a mobile home. Longest has been 60 day escrow. That was the longest 60 days of my life!

My poor buyers have been waiting for 3 months to get a water heater installed on a bank owned property.  Even though the buyer signed paper work with the bank  not to change or improve the property the only way to get this moving was for "us" to get a contractor in and paid for a gas water heater installation.  Ya know it's funny that an appraisal might call out for a home to have a water heater.  So to move forward we put up the bucks.  This is the most stupid thing I have been involved in.

Jeff Dowler CRS Good question Jeff - I've run the gammut from literally: 1 day & at that it was less than 24 hours, all totalled - cash buyer for a recently vacated property that had literally just lost their original buyer the day before settlement.  I've also had a few that ran just over a year and they weren't shortsales, simply a laundry list of due diligence and local authority approvals

My shortest time period from listing to under contract was 1 hour. Shortest from Under Contract to closing was 5 days (cash sale). Longest under contract was 7 months ..... it was a 'Short' Sale.

I had a 2 day cash land sale and also I had an  FHA sale closed in 8 days.  The first had been a sale gell through a week before close so it was all ready and tthe FHA we pulled a lot of strings and favors.

3 days- I had to pull a few favors to get it done- but the client was very happy!

three days on a cash sale and 3.5 years and on-going on an SLS short sale!!!

Hi Jeff Dowler CRS 

  I would say about the shortest was 6.5 to weeks from contract to close... Cash buyer of course.... Longest a short sale I did last year and took almost a year... 2 banks and a divorce involved.... fun times.... Interesting to see the responses here...

My shortest transaction was personal.  I purchased a house in Anaheim, and from the time I met the Owner to the time I moved in was 3 days.  I got a cash advance on my credit card for the down payment.

My longest was 4 months - it shouldn't have taken more then 45 days.  That experience taught me to be very careful when selecting an Escrow/Title company when using a Reverse Mortgage to purchase a home.  It's really painful if they've never done one before.

Less than 24 hours. Accepted contract at 4 pm on a Thursday and closed the next day at around 2 pm. It was cash of course.

I seem to recall my shortest being two weeks. Longest was 120 days. Pretty average compared to all of you. Three days? I wish!

the shortest was a cash offer that closed in a week.  the longest and hair pulling hard was a shortsale I did.  I was the listing agent and the buyer went FHA 203K.  The home had a second lein that was a SBA loan for repairs. All parties had to come exactly together at the same time.   I believe it took 6 months + to close.  It closed 45 days of course after bank acceptance.   I said I would never do a shortsale with a FHA 203K ever again.  lol

My shortest deal was accepted and closed in less than one week (cash and we paid for a rush on titlework).

My longest deal involved having a city change zoning for a house that was in a district zoned residential and would not pass FHA due to the zoning.  It was accepted in October but didn't close until August the following year!

Just closed a 9 1/2 month long escrow..that felt like it was 2 years long....

Shortest 3 days (That was RESPA minimum at that time).

Longest over 2 years while waited for a shyster bondsman's lien to expire. Seller was in penitentiary. Very difficult and messy. Buyers always had faith in me, as I had told them up front that I didn't know how long it would take, but I would get it for them.

If it is a cash transaction we can close fast( sfr, or a new condo), my shortest were 4 days, since we depend on Escrow and title reps. My longest are short sales. The longest was dragging for one year.

5 days cash ~ the shortest, 12 months for a short sale to close ~ the longest. Short sales are never short on time.

Shortest was 16 days, longest I don't want to talk about!!

My 2nd deal was 7 days from contract to close but...it was all cash and clean and oh how I wish every deal could mirror that one. My longest was a REO which came in around 45 to 50 days.

With mortgage contingency - it was 13 days - I can't still believe it!)!

And there is one going on for now 9 months...and it may take one more! A new construction, of course.

I've had cash sales that closed in 10 days and a conventional loan purchase that took 7 months!

Shortest - 10 days, cash of course, longest 3  years, 5 contracts short sale - 2nd lender NEVER would accept the payoff offered by the senior lienholder so never came to fruition - guess that doesn't count. Soooo, longest 16 months short sale.

3 days cash, several times, usually on vacant land.

Longest?  Over a year, family inheritance/probate sale.  Lawyers and signatures!

6 days cash deal  and a year and a half on a short sale-B of A.

I'd say my shortest transaction contract-to-closing took 9 or 10 days and the longest one took approximately 5 months.

3 days and that one made me a lot of money resulting from the investors that believed in me.  No one else could solve the problems associated with the sale and I did.  They gave me all their business for the next several years...until they retired.

My longest was a lease purchase and it took 14 months but was supposed to take 2 years.

My shortest transaction was with a cash buyer...closed in 10 days. My longest was an reo. The investor took 90 days to sign off on the paperwork.

My shortest was a 7 day cash transaction.  The longest, which I would really like to forget about was a 1 year and 6 month short sale.

7 days on a cash sale and 1.75 years on a short sale. 

I had a cash sale where we actuaslly wrote the sales contract at the closing table. I had both sides and we ran 42 minutes. Conversely my longest ran into 19 months. A short sale with all the stops in place. The 4th back-up offer amazingly hung in to the end and was rewarded with an exceptional value.  

My longest deal is my first ever commerical property in Temecula. I opened the escow in November and it will probably take a year to close with all the entitlements, permitting and necessary foreplay. 

That stated, you're well aware of my Surfer's Point Resort project which has been going on since '98 albeit it's to build out the resort so we can start finally selling the fractional ownership shares. Talk about the ultimate fuster cluck. 13 years of going through 21 entitlements several of them multiple times. Thank God it was Dan who had to deal with all that.

I think you and I should revisit that project at some point and joint venture a new post update about it as soon as Dan gets through his final approvals. I have to give him credit for tenacity and the sack it's taken him to go through this grueling exercise. He was a young man in his 30's when he started this project. Now he's in his 50's. What a story.

Funny you should ask. I purchased a home last year for cash and the deal turned around in 2 weeks from open to close.

I actually closed one in 4 days once.  I didn't believe it when the buyer agent brought me the contract.  I was certain we would need to extend. . .BUT, we didn't!  I haven't had any exceptionally long transactions that come to memory.  

Shortest was 5 days I recall, and never met the buyer or the seller, and I never printed a single piece of paper.  It was a 1 acre parcel, which we have thousands of, with out of area (sometimes even out of country) sellers.  I still list those lots when no one else will, because hey, they sell!  Buyer sent me an email with an offer, I wrote it up, she digitally signed it.  Sent it to seller, who digitally signed it.  $4000 lot, no earnest money, just wired it all to ecrow and it was done.  $1,000 commission, go get my sign.  :-)

Bought a house last year.  We put it under contract in December 2013 and finally closed it in December 2014.  It has title issues that needed to be cleaned up. 

7 days listing to closing

The longest will be a year soon, I have the buyers. The property is a REO property and had to be re-foreclosed on and now has multiple title and boundary line issues. The buyers want to wait!! PS the title company for the lender/seller said they were all ready to close and would give a free title insurance policy just weeks after the accepted offer.

F-R-E-E

Looks like we all have stories to share Jeff.

Longest - 9 months - my buyer conceived during escrow and brought the baby to the closing (yes, SS).

Shortest - 10 days - cash investor.

Both clients are still dear to my heart.

I had a short sale close in 3 weeks once....was shocked ! Can't remember my quickest close. I wish I kept a diary ! 

Shortest was in 4 days.  It was an ocean front $800,000+ cash sale.  Longest was a residential short sale under contract 4 times over the course of 2 years finally closed at $175,000.

20 contracts = 512 days on market, 7 days cash. Total polar opposites lol.

Shortest: 3 days, all cash.  Longest 16 months for a short (bwa ha ha short) sale.

Jeff,

In our commercial real estate practice 2 hours.  Ron had just gotten a listing on Prime space near the Pacific Design Center, as he was walking out, he spotted the very person he had talked to that morning who wanted this type of space.  He showed him the space, the landlord genrated the lease.  The guy's brother was an attorney and was present.  They reviewed the lease made a few changes that were acceptable to the landlord, and the cashiers check was cut next door, and Ron got paid...

The longest was 9 months, as we had to go through a use permit change, involving all kinds of rigamarole with the city...A

Little different in the financing world (I wish I could turn one around in a day or two!).  My shortest transaction was about a week & a half from initial application to closing - borrower had a short time line and was leaving town for a while so we rushed it.  I've had several long ones, waiting to fund based on a home sale contingency.

Contract on Monday...closed on Friday.  Just had to give title company time to do their due diligence.

Contract in January and close in July....too many things to mention as to why...but both wanted to close so it finally did.

I did do an owner carry on a listing that we cashed out of for the client after 6 years. Seller said it was the best money he had ever made...and loved the kids that bought the home.

Shortest was 7 days (including 2 weekend days, does that count?) and longest was . . . rather is, we're closing out next week . . . 4 months on new construction.

My shortes was a REO.. from the time the bank accepted we had 12 hours to close it. Title was done that afternoon and the septic was to. Closed that day !

Still cant beleave it. And yes it was cash!

Longest was when i was selling a Ranch in Nevada. Over a year! And that was cash to. But buyer wanted to see the crops production.

Wow! I love the short escrows. Shortest for me was 10 days, longest was 8 months on a listing from beginning to end, the escrow itself was 45 days.

My shortest was eight days, and my longest was a couple years ago at a length of a bit over four months. The first one was cash of course, and the second a short sale in which the bank was unresponsive.

Dear Jeff,

10 days & 26 months. My colleague had one that went to 5+ years. That shut me right up about my 2-year short sale collection. 

Ive actually done some in about 3 days, but the one that stands out for me is a short sale I listed and sold, start to finish....................14 days.  It only happened once

Shortest was 4 days - longest was a short sale that lasted nearly a full year.

We just had to sell and settle a property for an estate before the end of the year, wrote on the 29th, ratified the 30th, closed the 31st - real teamwork !

Longest - my very first short sale - years ago - took just over 2 years

This is a good question, Jeff. My shortest was probably 3 days in the 1970s. My longest was closer to 4 years, a short sale (of course) in Natomas, Sacramento, in 2011 with US Bank. They continued to reject the seller, was the problem. But they finally saw the light and closed.

I don't recall my shortest, but it was probably about 3 weeks.  My longest - 2 years, 7 months, 22 days.  Did you guess that it was a short sale?  LOL

Shortest is 5 days from acceptance, and longest was 9 months. It was a short sale with multiple lien holders, HOA, etc. I had both sides, and the buyer hung in there and she ended up getting a great condo at a great price.

Shortest?  2 hours from contract to close!   Longest 22 months for a short sale that drove me nuts!

Shortest? 45 days-longest? 6 yrs for the seller, due to major regulations affecting the use of the land that totally put customers off...seller stayed with me but that was between going with other agents off and on in that time period. I got the job done! It helps to review permits affecting land very thoroughly-no one had found that a conditional use permit had expired-to much fine print involved.

Quickest cash deal was 7 days and quickest with a loan was 14 days.  Buyer was obviously rock solid and went through inhouse underwriting with a big bank where they had all thier business accounts and large portfolio. 

Longest is about 1 1/2 years of escrow time with a short sale listing.  Took the bank forever and then when we started to make progress a pipe burst and we had to deal with insurance companies in addition to 2 banks.  We eventually lost the buyer but had an investor in back up who took it in the demolished state as the bank was unwilling to do any restoration.  We double ended it there and three months later we had it listed as a regular sale of a nicely remodeled property and sold it pretty quick.  That property was an incredible piece of bait.  In addition to the three closings there we can probably attribute at least 5-6 other buy side deals who came from the marketing of that one property.

I just had my shortest, 23 days, but that time frame included the Christmas and New Year holidays with 4 sellers who didn't live in the same town as the home and traveled over the holidays. Thank goodness for e-signing and a quick home inspection.  Longest was probably a short sale in 2010 or 2011, 5-6 months. 

I am working on one right now.  We got a signed contract on 1/05 for an occupied condo and we are closing on 1/26 which allows the owner time to pack and move out.

My shortest was two days from date of contract acceptance.  We had to wait a day for the title work to be done.  My longest was 4 months.  The kids were young and had almost no credit, but a large down payment.  The lender used alternative forms of credit (phone bills, electric bills, etc.) to establish a payment history.