Moxie Posted September 13, 2011 Share Posted September 13, 2011 I've been watching a house that has been on the market for over a year. We're putting our house on the market soon so I finally called the realtor to see the inside of the house. The realtor told me that the owners are no longer showing the house to anyone who has not sold their home already because they have had 4 contingency sales fall through in the past year. That got me thinking since we're about to list ours. Would you take an offer, contingent on the buyer selling their home, in this economy?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starr Posted September 13, 2011 Share Posted September 13, 2011 It takes your house off the market for a long time even if the potential buyer has an offer on their house. Our friends also had a sale fall through because of contingency offers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QuirkyKapers Posted September 13, 2011 Share Posted September 13, 2011 I would consider it. Actually, the last two houses we bought were contingency. However, it is in the last few years that bridge loans became popular. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mommyof4ks Posted September 13, 2011 Share Posted September 13, 2011 No, Not unless there were no other offers coming in. It ties up the house for several months, and if the offer fall through then we would have to start all over. When we sold our house, we just did not start looking until we had a contract. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pixie Posted September 13, 2011 Share Posted September 13, 2011 Why would it tie up the house? Maybe it doesn't work the same everywhere but the first house we tried to buy had a contingency offer already on it when we saw it. We made an offer, the people with the contingency offer had 72 hours to either waive their offer or remove the contingency. In our case they removed the contingency and we had to find another house. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Girls' Mom Posted September 13, 2011 Share Posted September 13, 2011 In this economy, I wouldn't unless the house had been on the market for a long time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cera Posted September 13, 2011 Share Posted September 13, 2011 I would as long as it was written so that I could continue to show the house and would be able to have the contingency removed if another offer came in. I think refusing to do so would limit the already small pool of home buyers too much to refuse, especially if the house I was trying to sell wasn't a starter home. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
momofkhm Posted September 13, 2011 Share Posted September 13, 2011 Why would it tie up the house? Maybe it doesn't work the same everywhere but the first house we tried to buy had a contingency offer already on it when we saw it. We made an offer, the people with the contingency offer had 72 hours to either waive their offer or remove the contingency. In our case they removed the contingency and we had to find another house. This is the way I thought it worked as well. When we bought this house, we made a contingent offer on a house. Their realtor came over and saw our house to access it's sale-ability. (We had no idea. We just knew there was a showing.) They rejected our contingent offer. The funny thing is, our house sold first. I have a clear memory of our realtor saying "that house you made an offer on is still available, would you like to go back and see it again?" I said no. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justamouse Posted September 13, 2011 Share Posted September 13, 2011 Absolutely not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AuntieM Posted September 13, 2011 Share Posted September 13, 2011 (edited) Why would it tie up the house? Maybe it doesn't work the same everywhere but the first house we tried to buy had a contingency offer already on it when we saw it. We made an offer, the people with the contingency offer had 72 hours to either waive their offer or remove the contingency. In our case they removed the contingency and we had to find another house. It changes the status of your listing in the real estate MLS system from "Active" status to "Show for Back-up" status. That tells house shoppers that you already have an agreement to sell your house to someone, but that you are still showing the house in case the deal you have falls through. Once a house is in back-up status, many shoppers don't even bother to look at it. Even if a person comes along and offers the sellers a higher price and a pile of cash money, the seller is legally bound to stick with the first contract unless the buyer cannot meet the terms of the contract (ie, sell their house - get rid of the contingency - by such and such a date; or, execute the contract without the contingency). So, while it doesn't technically/legally take the house off the market, having a house under a contingency contract effectively reduces the number of potential buyers who will look at a house. I mean, why bother to look at a house that in all likelihood you cannot purchase? It's seen as a waste of time. As a seller, I would not accept an offer to buy with a contingency clause in a normal real estate market. However, if this is the only offer to come in a long time, and there appear to be none others on the horizon, and there's a true need to get the property sold...maybe it's worth considering. A fish on the line may be better than no fish in sight, kwim? But you have to protect yourself by giving a fairly short window of time. I would not be willing to give them more than about 45 days to sell theirs. <ETA And I would never offer that long a time in the peak season for selling, spring through summer. In November, maybe.> That seems short, maybe, but it's long enough to tell if they are aggressively marketing their other property or if it's even marketable. The contract can always be amended to extend the date if you think they are earnestly trying to sell. I would want to know as much as I could about the property my buyer is trying to sell in order to purchase my house. As buyers, we have chosen not to make an offer to buy with a contingency clause because it totally ruins your ability to negotiate the price. Sellers aren't willing to knock down their selling price if they know you're so set on the property that you engage in the contract that effectively might keep someone else from buying it before you can get your finances in order. HTH. Edited September 13, 2011 by AuntieM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thescrappyhomeschooler Posted September 13, 2011 Share Posted September 13, 2011 Absolutely not. :iagree: We got burned on a contingency offer that we accepted, and that was back when the market was booming. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elegantlion Posted September 13, 2011 Share Posted September 13, 2011 No, I wouldn't. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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