A Sale Contingent on a Sale

When you sell or buy a home, there will be contingencies. A contingency basically says the transaction is not binding unless certain things happen. One of the things can often be the sale of another home. It happens like this. A buyer looks at your home and loves it. They make an offer you find agreeable. There is only one problem. The buyer wants the sale to be contingent on the buyer selling their current home. In a red hot sellers’ market, this isn’t that big of a deal. In the current slow market, however, it is. You know how hard it has been to sell your home, so why would agree to wait for the prospective buyer to sell theirs? There is a good chance it isn’t going to happen within the allotted time frame. There are always exceptions to the rule, but in general you should avoid this situation as a seller. If you can get it as a buyer, make sure your earnest money deposit is refundable.