How long does it take to buy a home in Silicon Valley?  There are really two questions within that one: first, how much time will be required before you’re ready to choose a home to purchase (or how many homes will you need to see), and then how much time is involved in getting the transaction closed.

Prior to this housing crisis, the national average used to be seeing fewer than 10 homes in order to make a decision.  The number of homes now visited (and the time) has been rising, though.  According to the California Association of Realtors, “On average, home buyers spent 8.4 weeks considering buying a home in 2009, compared with 7.2 weeks in 2008. Buyers spent an average of 10.3 weeks searching for a home with their REALTOR®, compared with 8.7 weeks in 2008.”

Often my clients need to see between 10 and 20 homes before they feel like they know the market and the choices well enough to select a home they want to write an offer on.  Depending on how broad of an area they’re considering, and how much of a hurry they’re in, this varies from couple of weeks or less – or a couple of years!  Clients relocating to the San Jose area often want to settle in.  If they’ve owned homes before, they may have a perfect idea of what will and won’t work for them.  Once I sold a Los Gatos house to a couple before the wife ever saw the property!  They moved every couple of years, the husband knew his wife’s requirements perfectly and they had no trouble being expedient. 
(more…)