Writing a Contingent Offer:  You and your husband and two young children have outgrown your two bedroom one bath home.

You both have found the home of your dreams that meets all the things you are looking for, a chef’s kitchen for your husband, where you can watch him cook and the kids play in the family room, a large peaceful Master Suite, a private guest suite and a yard that has a park-like setting.  

How can you buy a replacement dream house before selling your present home? When buyers want to purchase another property, using the proceeds from the sale of their existing home, they have to make an offer with the condition that their present home has to be sold first, therefore your offer is a “Contingent Offer”.
 
IF the seller accepts an offer contingent on you the buyers selling your home, they can typically give you 30 days to get a buyer for your house. The seller, however, keeps his house on the open market, even though he accepted the contingent offer. (On the Central Coast Regional MLS, the Contingent Listed Properties are shown after all the “Active” listings and and have their owned category. In my opinion, it’s kind of a like sitting on the back shelf).  Not a great place for the seller to be.

If the seller gets another offer that is non-contingent, the seller can accept it and give you a 72 hour time limit to come up with a different type of financing that does not include the proceeds from the sale of your house.

In my opinion, if my buyers want to make a contingent offer I remind them they are asking the seller for a favor, to trust that you can have your property in escrow within 30 days and to close concurrent with this escrow.  Don’t ask for other favors, make your offer as ‘clean’ as possible and full price.