Home : Blogs : Samantha Nichols - Massachusetts Real Estate Specialist : Plymouth MA and Cape Cod Real Estate Blog

HOW RISKY ARE CONTINGENT CONTRACTS?

Buyers walk into your home and fall in love with it, but they will have to sell their home before they can buy yours. Their offer contains a contingency clause that makes their purchase dependent upon selling their present home. Should you accept their offer?

Your decision should be based on several factors. Are they trying to sell their home themselves (a risky proposition!)? How long has it been on the market? If the house doesn't sell, can the buyers take out a bridge loan or make other arrangements to complete the purchase? How important is timing for you? Will the buyers agree to let you continue marketing your home and accept a non‑contingent contract (and void theirs) if their house does not sell? There should be a release clause in your contract that allows you to accept a better offer should one come along.

Contingent contracts often work out well if you enlist the help of a professional.

Log in to www.SamanthaNichols.com for up-to-date market information and current MLS listings. For a professional real estate consultation with a friendly approach based on honesty, integrity and positive results, please contact me at ERA Belsito & Associates, 508-726-1870 or email Sam@SamanthaNichols.com.

Posted by Samantha Nichols - Massachusetts Real Estate Specialist on 08/25/2008 09:15 PM

Comments (24)

contracts, real estate, home sale, contingency

This post has been included in Massachusetts Information Plymouth County, MA Information Plymouth, MA Information

24 Comments on HOW RISKY ARE CONTINGENT CONTRACTS?

Hi Samantha and welcome to active|rain. There are thousands of tips, tools, and tricks of the trade here. Be sure to check them out. Best of luck and see you around.

08/25/2008 09:36 PM

by Vincent Martinez Realtor Queens - Brooklyn - Long Island Homes (Prudential Douglas Elliman)

Thank you very much. I look forward to working with this site in the future. See you around!

08/25/2008 09:41 PM

by Samantha Nichols - Massachusetts Real Estate Specialist (ERA Belsito and Associates)

Hello Samantha,

Welcome to Active Rain and congrats on your first post! The opportunities to learn and network are incredible here. Best of luck to ya!

-Keith

08/25/2008 10:56 PM

by Keith Elliott Jr -"Prince William County Real Estate Expert" (RE/MAX Olympic Realty)

Samantha, welcome to activerain and congratulations on your first post.

08/25/2008 11:20 PM

by Omaha Real Estate & Omaha Homes for Sale - David Matney, CRS (Alliance Real Estate)

Thank you very much! I am very excited to be here and have the opportunity to meet new folks in the business.

08/25/2008 11:30 PM

May I be one of the first to welcome you to Active Rain - a great place to share ideas, thoughts and perspectives. Enjoy!

08/26/2008 05:08 AM

by Marcy Fedalei (Keller Williams Realty)

Samantha - Welcome to Active Rain!

The successful contingencies that I have had worked only when both agents WORKED TOGETHER! There was open and honest communication about the buyers home on the market and we all kept each other informed every step of the way.

I have had some sellers that have kept their home on the market and others that have not. It really depends on the situation. Vague, huh?

08/26/2008 06:30 AM

by Leesa L. Finley, REALTOR® Wake Forest NC Homes (Circa Properties)

Welcome to Active Rain, It's a great site to share idea's, receive free marketing, Enjoy and have fun!

08/26/2008 07:35 AM

by Ron Martin Team (Keller Williams Realty)

Welcome to the Active Rain community. You have chosen a great site with tons of information you can learn from. Have fun with it and hope to see more of your blogs soon!

08/26/2008 07:38 AM

by Yvette & Dennis Gardner (Keller Williams Realty, Spartanburg, SC)

Hi, welcome to Active Rain! I hope to see more of your blogs in the future. Learn from others, share your knowledge and experiences and enjoy yourself! Take care! ---Kirk.

08/26/2008 07:57 AM

by Kirk Westervelt - Greenville, SC Realtor (Keller Williams)

Welcome to the rain! You've joined a great place to network, make and meet new friends and discuss lots of interesting topics. I see you are already off to a great start! Stop by if you get a chance. I would love to hear your feedback on our thoughts! Well, have great time and ENJOY. Look forward to seeing you around.

08/26/2008 08:29 AM

by Connie Rice & Partners - Greenville, SC Real Estate Team (Keller Williams Greenville Central)

Welcome to the Active Rain community. You have chosen a great site with tons of information you can learn from.

08/26/2008 10:10 AM

by Canton Georgia Real Estate--- Dwayne West (Atlanta Real Estate)

Welcome to Active Rain!! This is a great site to network and share ideas!! Have fun with it!!

08/26/2008 10:29 AM

by Ginger Ryals (Prudential C Dan Joyner and Young Realtors)

Welcome to Active Rain! This is a great site to network, learn and share ideas with others. Have a great day!

Nate

08/26/2008 12:27 PM

by Nate Blankenship - Spartanburg, SC Realtor (Keller Williams Realty)

Welcome to ActiveRain!

If you would like a few tips on getting the most out of ActiveRain, please visit my blog Welcome to Active Rain. It has a few simple steps of what to do now that you have joined.

If you ever have any questions, just let me know.

Troy Trumm

08/26/2008 01:30 PM

by Omaha Real Estate & Omaha Homes for Sale - The Trumm Team (Alliance Real Estate)

Congratulations on signing on as a new member of ActiveRain. Being a new member myself going on my third week and only posting a few blogs so far I truly see the awsome advantage that this truly can be; and only the beginning of a healthy and wealthy relationship of abundant professionals. Everyone has been so very kind. Hope to see your blogs in the future. Best of Luck to all of us, Nance

08/26/2008 11:22 PM

by Nance Burdette (Keller Williams Realty)

Welcome to Active Rain! For some tips on how to get started here, check out my blog entry at ActiveRain Fast-Start Tips for Quick and Easy Points
Happy blogging and good luck!

08/27/2008 12:18 AM

by Benjamin Clark - Exclusive BUYER'S AGENT - Salt Lake City, Utah (Homebuyer Representation, Inc.)

Hello, welcome to Active Rain! This seems like a wonderful environment to network as well as learn from others. I hope you enjoy yourself and participate often in the Active Rain environment!

08/27/2008 07:13 AM

by Lorena Westervelt (Van West Enterprises, LLC)

On behalf Http://www.mnlakeplace.com we are happy you became a member of action rain and we wanted to welcome you to action rain. It is a very good site to learn and network.

08/27/2008 08:46 AM

by steve vennemann (mnlakeplace)

Hi Samantha,

On behalf of Credit Restoration Consultants and the 106,200 plus members of ActiveRain, I wish to welcome you to the network. Should you ever have a question as it relates to bad credit, credit repair, credit restoration, or identity theft, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Best wishes,

Lori Isaacson

08/27/2008 09:15 AM

by Lori Isaacson (Credit Restoration Consultants)

I just stopped by to welcome you to Active Rain. I hope that you find it a great benefit to your business and that you see the value that I have also found here. I am from Charlottesville Virginia and using Active Rain has really increased my business!

My main blog on Active Rain is here: Charlottesville Real Estate Blog, not the link at the bottom of this post.

I hope you will look into the many groups as there are some great group both local and broad based,....

enjoy!

08/27/2008 04:12 PM

by Charlottesville Real Estate Blog - Charles McDonald (RE/MAX Assured Properties)

Great advice, to often people take a contingent offer having no idea what it means to them or their wallet. The key is to have a drop dead date at the least!

Welcome to the rain and I must say a great first post!