Should you accept an offer Contingent on the Sale of another Property?

In this competitive market, the first offer you receive is often going to be the best one.
Let me explain.

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Should you accept an offer Contingent on the Sale of another Property?  Here are three different pricing scenarios that will help you answer that question.

1) If you’re selling a house that’s worth $500,000 or less.

Typically, in this situation, the answer is no. Ultimately it’s up to you, but my advice is to not accept a contingent offer here. The San Diego market is always scorching-hot and there are plenty of other non-contingent offers out there just waiting to be accepted.

2) If you’re selling a house worth $500,000 to $700,000.

In this scenario the answer depends on where the buyers are in the process of their own sale, so that’s a factor you need to pay attention to. If they haven’t listed their home for sale yet, you absolutely shouldn’t accept their offer. If their house has been on the market for 30 days or more, you should also decline their offer— it’s likely overpriced. If their home is under contract—meaning they’ve accepted an offer and they’re currently in escrow—and they’ve made you a good offer, that would be worth taking a look at. However, this can get tricky, and there are a few factors you need to consider. First, you’ll want to know where they are in the escrow process. More importantly, you want to find out if they’ve done their home inspections, appraisal, has their loan been approved, have the request for repairs been negotiated and if the buyers have REMOVED ALL CONTINGENCIES AND ARE NOW CONTRACTUALLY COMMITTED TO PURCHASING THE HOME?  If this has all been satisfied in most cases you are good to go.

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If you’re selling a house worth $500,000 or less,
don’t accept a contingent offer.

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3) If you’re selling a house worth $700,000 to $1 million.

Most of the offers you get in this scenario will be Contingent on the Sale of another Property, so the same rules I applied to the previous scenario apply here as well. I’ve also sold several homes listed above $1 million, and at this range, you typically don’t have to worry about Contingent Offers.  Buyers usually either have the available cash or some other payment method that doesn’t require selling another property. If you have any questions, please feel free to give me a call. I'd be happy to help you.

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