Is a Contingency Purchase Agreement a Good Idea for a Seller to Consider?

05/15/17 • -1 min

Houston Real Estate Podcast with Dale Ross

If you’re a home seller, accepting a contingency purchase means you have to take certain things into consideration you otherwise wouldn’t have with a normal offer.

Looking to buy a home in the Houston area? Get full MLS access
Considering Selling your Houston area home? Get a market analysis of your home

Today I want to cover the basics of a contingency purchase and how it differs from a regular purchase if you’re a home seller.

A contingency purchase is when a buyer for your home has a home they have to sell before they can close on your home. There are both good contingency purchases and bad contingency purchases, but I would never recommend that you accept a contingency purchase as long as your buyer’s home is not on the market. If their home is on the market, I usually investigate the buyer of the home they’re selling and their qualifications and advise my client on how to proceed from there.

After you accept a contingency purchase, you have the right to accept other offers, but that typically doesn’t happen very much. Buyers tend to shy away from homes if they’re already under some kind of contingency agreement. By accepting a contingency purchase, you’re basically taking your home off the market.

By accepting a contingency purchase, you’re taking your home off the market somewhat...

If you’re a home seller, accepting a contingency purchase means you have to take certain things into consideration you otherwise wouldn’t have with a normal offer.

Looking to buy a home in the Houston area? Get full MLS access
Considering Selling your Houston area home? Get a market analysis of your home

Today I want to cover the basics of a contingency purchase and how it differs from a regular purchase if you’re a home seller.

By accepting a contingency purchase, you’re taking your home off the market somewhat...

Previous Episode

Do You Need a Survey When Buying a New Property?

Do you need a survey when buying a property? I’ll go over the answer today.

Looking to buy a home in the Houston area? Get full MLS access
Considering Selling your Houston area home? Get a market analysis of your home

Recently, a client of mine asked, “Do I need a survey when I’m buying a property?”

Need is a strong word, but I highly recommend getting a survey. In today’s market, you’re actually able to obtain a past survey from a seller. The seller has to sign a T-47 affidavit, which states that nothing has changed or been added since the last survey. Unfortunately, sometimes a change or addition can slip the seller’s mind, like replacing a fence. In my opinion, it’s always best to get a new survey done with every new transaction.

A survey is not required unless you’re obtaining a mortgage to purchase a property. If you pay cash, a survey is not required, but the boundaries of the property are still mentioned in the title commitment. The survey must coincide with the boundaries mentioned in the title commitment,

Next Episode

Is the Houston Market Starting to Balance Out?

The Katy real estate market has come alive! There is good news for both buyers and sellers, and I’m happy to report that we are in a balanced market.

Looking to buy a home in the Houston area? Get full MLS access
Considering Selling your Houston area home? Get a market analysis of your home

Real estate in the Katy area has come alive since the middle of January, and there is a lot of good news for buyers and sellers alike.

Interest rates have gone up about four or five times since the beginning of the year and are expected to continue to rise. While that’s not so great for buyers, the good news is that interest rates are still below 5%.

The number of home sellers continues to decline, and there is less pressure from other sellers in the market. We still have about three to four buyers for every seller on the market, so there is still pressure on home prices. You have to be competitive when you put your home out there on the market or it’s just not going to sell.

Some houses are getting multiple offers & selling above list price.