Selling your home is rarely easy. Yes, it can be exciting, but the home-selling timeline is filled with potential potholes waiting to trip you up.
There are just so many things to keep track of!
So, while articles like our Preparing Your Home to Sell: A Checklist For A Smoother Sales Process can help you stay on your toes, there’s no better teacher than experience.
With that in mind, we’re sharing our own experience to help you understand the Pittsburgh home-selling process, with a special focus on everything from accepting the offer to reaching the closing table.
6 Major Milestones On the Road to Selling Your House
Even after an offer comes through for your house, getting to the close is usually a stressful, multi-week timeline.
Here’s what you should expect:
1. Inspection
Before the process goes any further, the buyer has the right to a home inspection.
This is a nerve-wracking process for everyone involved, but it’s especially chaotic for sellers, as it starts with a “hurry up and wait” mentality.
The reason: Buyers have 10 days to hold their inspection and list any improvements they’d like to see in the house based on the home inspection report.
Here’s how it normally breaks down:
Part 1 - Initial Inspection: Buyers have 10 days to inspect and submit requests.
Part 2 - Your Response: You have five days to respond.
Part 3 - Negotiations: You have two days to negotiate with the buyer.
And you should expect to see requests. While we can’t always predict what sort of repairs buyers will want, we generally recommend budgeting 1%–3% of your home’s value for repairs at this stage.
Once the buyer submits their requests, you have five days to:
Cross-reference their findings with your own professional or consultant.
Use that cross-reference to present a counterargument.
That’s not a lot of time, so be ready to react as soon as the buyer responds.
2. Title Work
The buyers have the right to pick the title company, and that title company will bombard you with questions.
That’s why we like to take a hands-on approach with our clients. Because the title company will ask for sensitive personal information, we often do a personalized introduction so you know for sure that the title agent is a real person (and not a fraudster).
They’ll have a ton of questions for you, including:
What company is your mortgage with?
Are there any liens against you?
Are there any liens against the property?
What is your tax history?
3. Municipal-Specific Steps
Believe it or not, Allegheny County is home to 130 independent municipalities, and many of them have their own rules when it comes to selling a house.
Things you’ll potentially run into:
Dye Test - In a dye test, a plumber checks whether your downspouts connect to the sanitary sewer—something many municipalities want to avoid because of our city’s overtaxed waste system.
Occupancy Test - During an occupancy test, the fire department comes to check for smoke detectors, handrail safety, and other factors.
Sewer Lateral Test - This is a test to determine whether you have a broken line that’s leaking sewage into the ground.
HOAs - HOAs are growing in popularity throughout the Pittsburgh region, and many have their own specific documents and standards to adhere to throughout the transfer.
4. The Appraisal
About two to three weeks after the process starts, an appraiser will review your home.
The standards they apply will vary based on the buyer’s loan type. For example, an FHA will require no chipped paint or missing handrails, but a conventional loan is more concerned with a working furnace and not having holes in the walls.
While this generally isn’t as invasive as an inspection, it may require certain repairs before the sale can move forward.
5. Moving Logistics
The process of actually moving from one house to another is a surprisingly complicated ordeal.
Between packing, getting the kids mentally and emotionally ready, picking out moving companies, considering a storage unit, and remaining constantly vigilant for cardboard boxes, moving is stressful.
And it’s also expensive, which is why we often recommend the Compass Concierge Program, which allows you to borrow 5% of the home’s value in a zero-interest loan to assist with those last-minute details.
6. The Close
You usually don’t actually need to attend closing, but most sellers choose to.
There are only a few forms for you to sign (It’s a different story for the buyer!), and it’s possible to arrange signing those ahead of time by coordinating with the title company and a notary.
So, if the buyer proposes a time or location that’s inconvenient to you, don’t fret; talk to your agent about finishing your paperwork ahead of time.
Find Real Estate Support
If you’re ready for professional support in selling your home, contact us!
Our deep knowledge of Pittsburgh neighborhoods and the real estate market ensures you’ll get the best deal possible—while spearheading a smooth transaction.
Cheers,
J&T