How Long Does It Take to Buy a House in Ankeny, Iowa? A Step-by-Step Timeline
If you're thinking about buying a home in Ankeny, one of your first questions might be:
How long does it actually take to buy a house?
The answer depends on where you're starting.
If you're already pre-approved, know exactly what you're looking for and find the right home quickly, the process may move relatively fast. If you're just beginning to think about buying—or it takes a few months to find the right house—your timeline will naturally be longer.
The easiest way to understand it is to break the home-buying process into two parts:
1. Getting ready and finding a home
2. Going from an accepted offer to closing
Here's what Ankeny homebuyers can generally expect along the way.
Step 1: Get Your Finances Ready
Typical timeline: A few days to several months
Before touring homes, take a look at your finances and determine whether you're ready to buy.
That may include reviewing your:
Income
Monthly expenses
Savings
Credit
Existing debt
Down payment funds
Emergency savings
Some buyers are ready to move forward immediately. Others realize they would benefit from spending a few months saving additional money or working on their finances first.
Don't assume you need to have everything figured out before talking to a lender. An early conversation can actually help you understand what you need to do next.
Step 2: Talk With a Lender and Get Pre-Approved
Typical timeline: A few days, although individual situations vary
Before seriously shopping for a home, getting pre-approved for a mortgage is an important step.
Your lender will review financial information to help determine what you may qualify to borrow.
More importantly, you'll have an opportunity to talk about what you actually want your monthly housing payment to be.
Those aren't necessarily the same number.
Your lender can also discuss:
Loan options
Down payment requirements
Estimated closing costs
Interest rates
Property taxes and insurance
Potential homebuyer assistance programs
Getting pre-approved before you fall in love with a house helps you focus your Ankeny home search on properties that fit your budget.
Step 3: Determine What You're Looking For
Typical timeline: A few days
Now it's time to figure out what you actually want.
Start with the basics:
How many bedrooms do you need? Do you want a ranch or two-story? Is a finished basement important? How much yard do you want? Do you need a three-car garage? Are you interested in new construction?
Then think about location.
Ankeny offers everything from established neighborhoods with mature trees to newer developments and areas close to shopping, restaurants, trails and parks.
It helps to separate your list into:
Must-haves: Things the home really needs to have.
Nice-to-haves: Things you'd love but could live without.
That distinction becomes especially helpful once you start touring homes.
Step 4: Start Touring Homes in Ankeny
Typical timeline: A few days to several months
This is the hardest part of the home-buying timeline to predict.
You might walk into the perfect home during your first weekend of showings.
Or you might look for three months.
Neither scenario means you're doing anything wrong.
How quickly you find a home can depend on your budget, preferred location, inventory, how specific your criteria are and what's happening in the Ankeny real estate market at the time.
Your agent can set up a home search based on your criteria so you're notified when new properties become available.
When a promising home hits the market, you'll be ready to take a closer look.
Step 5: Make an Offer
Typical timeline: 1–3 days
You found it. Now what?
Your real estate agent will help you put together an offer.
Price is important, but it's not the only part of an offer.
You'll also need to consider things such as:
Earnest money
Financing
Closing date
Possession
Inspection terms
Other contingencies or terms
Your agent can also look at comparable sales and current market conditions to help you decide how you want to structure your offer.
The seller can accept your offer, reject it or counter it.
Sometimes an agreement comes together quickly. Other times, there may be some back-and-forth before both sides agree on the terms.
Once everyone has agreed and the purchase agreement is signed, you're officially under contract.
Step 6: Complete Your Home Inspection
Typical timeline: Usually early in the contract period
If your purchase agreement includes an inspection period, you'll typically want to schedule your home inspection quickly.
The inspector will evaluate many of the home's accessible components and systems and provide a report of their findings.
Depending on the property and your concerns, you may also choose additional inspections or testing.
After reviewing the results, your next steps will depend on the terms of your purchase agreement and what the inspection reveals.
Your real estate agent can help you understand your options and keep track of contractual deadlines.
Step 7: Your Loan Moves Through Underwriting
Typical timeline: Several weeks and generally overlaps with other steps
While you're thinking about inspections and moving plans, your lender is working behind the scenes.
Your mortgage will go through underwriting, which is when the lender more closely reviews your finances and loan application.
Be prepared for your lender to ask for additional documentation.
Responding quickly to requests can help keep things moving.
And during this period, avoid making major financial changes without talking to your lender first.
That means you probably don't want to celebrate your accepted offer by financing a new car and an entire house worth of furniture.
Wait on the new couch.
Step 8: The Appraisal Is Completed
Typical timeline: Usually during the financing period
If you're financing your purchase, your lender may require an appraisal.
An appraisal provides an independent opinion of the property's value and helps the lender evaluate the home being used as collateral for the mortgage.
The appraisal is different from the home inspection.
An inspection focuses on the home's condition.
An appraisal focuses primarily on value for lending purposes.
If the appraisal creates an issue, your lender and real estate agent will explain what happens next based on your loan and purchase agreement.
Step 9: Title Work, Insurance and Final Loan Details
Typical timeline: Happens during the weeks leading up to closing
Several other things are happening while you wait for closing day.
You'll need to secure homeowners insurance, and the professionals handling your transaction will work through title and closing requirements.
Your lender may also continue requesting updated financial documents as you move toward final loan approval.
Stay in communication with your lender and agent during this period.
A quick response to an email or document request can help prevent unnecessary delays.
Step 10: Review Your Closing Disclosure
Timeline: At least 3 business days before closing for most mortgages
As you get close to closing day, you'll receive one of the most important documents in the process: your Closing Disclosure.
For most mortgages, federal rules require your lender to provide the Closing Disclosure at least three business days before closing. It shows the final details of your mortgage, including your loan terms, monthly payment and closing costs.
Review it carefully and compare the numbers with what you were expecting.
If something doesn't look right or you don't understand a charge, ask your lender before closing day.
Step 11: Complete Your Final Walk-Through
Typical timeline: Shortly before closing
Before you officially purchase the home, you'll typically have an opportunity to do a final walk-through.
This isn't another home inspection.
It's your opportunity to make sure the home is in the expected condition and that any agreed-upon repairs or other contractual items have been handled appropriately. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau recommends completing a final walk-through before signing closing documents.
Then it's time for the part you've been waiting for.
Step 12: Closing Day
You made it!
At closing, you'll review and sign the documents needed to finalize your purchase and mortgage.
Closing is the final step in purchasing and financing the home. Once the necessary documents are signed and the transaction is finalized, ownership of the property transfers to you according to the terms of your transaction.
Then comes the best part:
Getting the keys to your new Ankeny home.
So, How Long Does It Take to Buy a House in Ankeny?
There's no single timeline that applies to every buyer.
If you're starting from scratch, think of the process in two phases.
Before You're Under Contract
This could take days, weeks or months depending on how prepared you are and how quickly you find the right home.
You'll need to:
Get pre-approved → Determine your home criteria → Tour homes → Find the right one → Make an offer → Get an accepted offer.
After You're Under Contract
Once you have an accepted offer, you'll move through inspections, financing, appraisal, title work and the other steps necessary to get to closing. The CFPB's home-buying roadmap similarly separates preparing and shopping from the closing process that begins after an offer has been accepted.
Your exact closing timeline will depend on your financing, purchase agreement, property and other circumstances.
That's why it's helpful to start the process before the date you'd ideally like to move.
Want to Buy in Three Months? Start Now.
One of the biggest mistakes potential buyers make is waiting until they're ready to move before contacting a real estate agent or lender.
If you're thinking:
“I'd like to move this spring.”
or
“We want to be in a new home before the kids go back to school.”
That's a reason to start the conversation now—not a few weeks before your ideal moving date.
You don't have to be ready to make an offer tomorrow.
Starting early gives you time to understand your budget, learn the Ankeny market, determine what you want and be prepared when the right house comes along.
Ready to Start Buying a Home in Ankeny, Iowa?
Whether you're ready to buy next month or you're simply trying to figure out what your timeline should look like, the first step doesn't have to be complicated.
The Hokel Real Estate Team helps buyers throughout Ankeny and the surrounding Des Moines metro understand the local market and navigate the process from their first home search through closing.
Thinking about buying a home in Ankeny? Contact the Hokel Real Estate Team and let's start building your home-buying timeline.