Process of House Buying and Selling

[Kristy Stevko]

As a new investor, I have a question that's going to seem extremely basic but I've been having difficulty finding a reliable, comprehensive source - What exactly are all the steps in buying and selling a house?? I'm not talking about any of the investor related aspects, but literally how to get papers from someone else's name into my own, start to finish. I am currently looking through deals for my first purchase, but I'm looking for a good resource to refer to that can describe the proper steps and average timeframes in more specific detail than just providing a numbered list.

When do contracts get signed? When is legal review advisable? What is a reasonable timeframe to allow for inspection? etc. etc. Having all of these types of fine details and order of events understood before actually getting into it would be extremely helpful and would help for me to present more professionally. I would love your thoughts on good resources for this information! Thank you for the help!