{"id":40558,"date":"2024-02-06T13:33:09","date_gmt":"2024-02-06T21:33:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/?p=40558"},"modified":"2024-08-08T09:00:31","modified_gmt":"2024-08-08T16:00:31","slug":"buyer-can-you-make-an-offer-on-a-contingent-house","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/buyer-can-you-make-an-offer-on-a-contingent-house\/","title":{"rendered":"Can You Make an Offer on a Contingent House? Here\u2019s What to Expect"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>You\u2019ve been searching for a home to buy, and you come across a property you love only to see it&#8217;s labeled as &#8220;contingent.&#8221; You might wonder, &#8220;Can I still buy this house?&#8221; or even, &#8220;Can you make an offer on a contingent house?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>In this post, we\u2019ll review how you can still throw your hat in the ring for a house that&#8217;s caught your eye, even if it&#8217;s currently under a contingent status. We\u2019ll also look at how to decide if it\u2019s worth your time to make the offer, and what you can expect if you do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n<div class=\"geo-cta widget-cta widget-cta--content     widget-cta--dark widget-cta--dark-blue-gradient\">\n    <div class=\"widget-element--content\">\n        <div class=\"widget-element--content-header\">\n            <img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"homelight logo\" class=\"widget-element--logo\" src=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/themes\/ccprototypev5\/images\/logo-small-cta.png\" width=\"106\" height=\"25\" \/>\n        <\/div>\n        \n                <h3 class=\"cta-headline widget--bold\">Start Making Offers Without Waiting to Sell Your Home<\/h3>\n                        <p>Through our Buy Before You Sell program, HomeLight can help you unlock a portion of your equity upfront to put toward your next home. You can then make a strong offer on your next home with no home sale contingency.<\/p>\n        \n                <div class=\"widget-element--buttons\">\n            <a data-type=\"In Content CTA\" href=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/buy-before-you-sell\" class=\"cta-click-track widget-element--button\">Buy Before You Sell<\/a>\n        <\/div>\n                    <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<div id=\"section--1\" data-toc-header=\"What does contingent mean on a house listing?\" data-toc-type=\"head\"><\/div>\n<h2>What does contingent mean on a house listing?<\/h2>\n<p>When you&#8217;re sifting through house listings and come across one marked as &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/what-does-contingent-mean-in-real-estate\/\">contingent<\/a>,&#8221; it signifies that an offer on the house has been made and accepted, but the final sale is pending until certain conditions, or contingencies, are met. These conditions are put in place to protect both the buyer and the seller, ensuring that specific criteria are satisfied before the transaction proceeds to closing.<\/p>\n<h3>Types of contingencies<\/h3>\n<p>Several common types of contingencies can cause a home to be listed as &#8220;contingent.&#8221; These include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><strong>Inspection contingencies:<\/strong> This allows the buyer to have the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/buyer-inspection-contingency-clause\/\">home inspected<\/a> within a certain timeframe. If significant issues are discovered, the buyer can renegotiate or back out of the sale.<\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><strong>Appraisal contingencies: <\/strong>Ensures the property is valued at a minimum, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/what-is-an-appraisal-contingency\/\">specified amount<\/a>. If the appraisal comes in lower than the agreed price, the buyer can renegotiate or withdraw without losing their deposit.<\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><strong>Financing contingencies: <\/strong>Gives the buyer time to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/buyer-mortgage-contingency\/\">secure financing<\/a>. If the buyer cannot obtain a mortgage, they can cancel the contract without penalty.<\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><strong>Sale of current home contingencies: <\/strong>For buyers who need to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/buyer-home-sale-contingency\/\">sell their current home <\/a>before purchasing a new one, this contingency allows them to back out if they cannot sell within a specified period.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Yes, you can make an offer on a contingent house. Here\u2019s how and what can you expect. Also, learn how you can make your offer stronger.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":298,"featured_media":40559,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[192,638,342],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40558","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-for-buyers","category-house-hunting","category-negotiations"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.0 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Can You Make an Offer on a Contingent House?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Yes, you can make an offer on a contingent house. Here\u2019s how and what can you expect. Also, learn how you can make your offer stronger.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/buyer-can-you-make-an-offer-on-a-contingent-house\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Can You Make an Offer on a Contingent House? Here\u2019s What to Expect\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Yes, you can make an offer on a contingent house. Here\u2019s how and what can you expect. Also, learn how you can make your offer stronger.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/buyer-can-you-make-an-offer-on-a-contingent-house\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"HomeLight Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/gohomelight\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-02-06T21:33:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-08-08T16:00:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/hl-blog.homelight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/Can-You-Make-an-Offer-on-a-Contingent-House-min.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"563\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Richard Haddad\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@gohomelight\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@gohomelight\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Richard Haddad\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"10 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Can You Make an Offer on a Contingent House?","description":"Yes, you can make an offer on a contingent house. 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