We investigate the long time behavior of a system of viscoelastic particles modeled with the homogeneous Boltzmann equation. We prove the existence of a universal Maxwellian intermediate asymptotic state and explicit the rate of convergence towards it. Exponential lower pointwise bounds and propagation of regularity are also studied. These results can be seen as the generalization of several classical facts holding for the pseudo-Maxwellian and constant normal restitution models.