Selling Your Home With a Contingency Clause

Be careful and don't let your potential buyer let you lose selling momentum! A contingency clause in a selling contract is not uncommon and can be used to your advantage when selling your home in a tough market.

But a contingency clause if not properly crafted can really put you in a bind if the sale falls through and you loose the selling momentum that all "freshly listed" properties will have.

There is no replacement for real experience and guidance from a savvy real estate agent when it comes to wording and approving a contingency clause in your selling contract.

Typically the wording of the clause can be modified to allow you to keep your home on the market and to be able to continue to show your home to prospective buyers.

You may even want to establish that you will even continue to entertain other legitimate offers with the current prospect being forced to make a prompt decision to buy now or match any new offers. When there are many homes on the market and sales are moving slowly, you will definitely want to think twice about adding a clause to your agreement that is open ended and says that the buyer can walk away from the sale without penalty if their home does not sell. You simply will not want your property to be tied up waiting for another party to sell their house when your home may be a "hot ticket" in the market.

I have linked to the blog post title a good article on contingency clauses from About.com that you may want to click in and read. It will provide more information about what they are and how you can use one to your advantage.