Q: What’s the longest escrow period on a house?
A: When buying or selling a home, most transactions are protected by using an escrow service to verify that all parties follow the property purchase agreement contract, to ensure that required documents are completed, to make sure that required procedures are accomplished and to send payments as required by the purchase agreement. This process usually takes time, especially when a home mortgage lender is providing financing so that the buyer can make payments over time for the property. The length of escrow can vary greatly depending on the wishes of the buyer and seller, the type of financing, and the requirements of the contract.
What is the longest that escrow can be? The most common escrow period is 30 days, but 35-45 days is common too. Sometimes escrow can close in just 21 days, but we’ve heard of two cases of escrow taking a full 18 months. One case involved yours truly, the headquarters of the LA Loft Blog, a 2-story condo unit at Alta lofts. Although the seller warned us that it would be a long escrow when we bought the Alta loft, we thought it might not be prudent to keep waiting once the escrow period passed 60 days, then 90 days, then 6 months, then a year. The condo was a special deal, a new development of converted historic industrial lofts, plus some special financing arrangements. The price was so low that the seller did not want to complete the transaction right away because it would lower the comps for the other units. Fortunately, our Downtown real estate team leader informed us that it was usually worth waiting for the escrow to close — and he was right. The loft was big, nice and cheap. Patience paid off. We don’t know the details of the other 18-month escrow, but they likely also found it to be well worth the wait. If anyone has heard of a longer escrow, please tell us about it 🙂
What’s the shortest escrow? For a cash purchase, escrow can theoretically be done in about three days in California, but we suggest allowing at least 7-14 days to allow for delays and government bureaucracy etc.
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