If you’ve never been through the buying process before, you might think you get the keys to your new house right after having your offer accepted. After all, you’ve been approved to borrow the money and the home seller has agreed to sell you their house. So, what could be the holdup? Well, there are a number of things. First off, there’s the paperwork that needs to be done. The details of the home’s sale have to be documented before all of the parties involved can be assured that the necessary requirements have been met. Additionally, the home needs to be inspected and appraised to make sure that the house is valued correctly and has no hidden issues. Put simply, your finances, the home, and the specifics of the transaction all have to be thoroughly verified before the loan can be closed. This, of course, takes time. The good news is the amount of time it takes has been declining. In fact, according to one recent analysis, average closing times have fallen from 74 days to just 38 days since 2017. Most of that improvement is due to the digitization of the process. But some other factors that affect closing time are credit scores and the amount of the loan. Higher credit scores and bigger loans are associated with quicker closing times. More here.