Should You Accept An Offer That Includes A Contingency That Buyer Must First Sell Home?

Receiving an offer on your house that is listed for sale can be very exciting, but you might not know what you should do if the offer includes a contingency that states the buyer must first sell his or her home before buying yours. This is a common contingency used in real estate deals, but it's important to carefully analyze this decision before accepting the offer. Here are three factors to consider as you determine whether to accept an offer that includes this type of contingency.

Is the offer a good offer?

The first thing to consider is how good the offer is. If the offer is not at all what you hoped for in terms of price or anything else, it might be better to reject it. If the offer is a great offer, such as a full-price offer, then you may want to consider accepting it.

Is the buyer already in the process of selling?

A second thing to look at is how far along the buyer is with selling his or her home. If this person has not even yet talked to a real estate agent about listing the home, this could be a red flag. It takes time to get a home listed and sold, and this could lead to problems with the person closing on your home. If the person has already listed the house and is working hard to sell it, this can be a good thing. In this case, you might feel more confident about accepting the offer he or she made.

Will you be majorly affected if the deal falls through?

Finally, you should think about how this deal would affect you if it fell through. When you accept an offer based on this type of contingency, it would tie you into the deal for a certain length of time. This might be 60 or 90 days, or it could be longer, and during this time you will not be able to look for another buyer. You will have to wait, and you will take the risk that the buyer will not purchase your house simply because his or her house does not sell during this time. At that point, you would have to start all over again with finding a buyer for your house.

As you contemplate this decision, it's important to analyze these three factors. Your real estate agent can help you with this decision and may be able to offer more advice to you. If you have questions, be sure to ask your agent before making your decision. 

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