Margaret, I have used the contingency in the past but not recently. Have a great 2013.

Great Blog, Thank you, I have not used this contingency before and I am glad to be aware of this stratagy!

Debbie

  We have seen that very occasionally here....and here...it has not met with success....people want to know at least approximately when they can expect to call their new house, home....for some who have no such timeline, this is a good solution.

Good morning Margaret. This is a fabulous post and I totally agree with identifying a clients motivation. Smart lady!

Whatever is done, it should compliment purpose and forward movement. At some point everything will connect

I have heard this time and time again...Then they find the right place and their home does not sell. Bad timing.. A seller can always negotiate the time that they can rent back as a part of the contract if they have not place to move to. But Better to put on the market..

Hi Margaret, we get that too, but more often they are waiting on the value of their home to go up and where they are moving is going up faster!

Margaret, I worked with a couple earlier this year both in their late '70s. They decided not to look at homes until theirs sold. It took 15 months to sell theirs. I was so glad we had waited. They quickly got a new home under contract after theirs was sold and still managed to move in 45 days. Sometimes that's the better way to do it. Although, I know finding a new place can sometimes be a motivator for sellers.

Asking the right questions to get to the bottom of things is always to key to ferretting out the info that you need.

The age old question....do you list first and hope you find a replacement to "right size into" or do you find a home and then pray that your home sells before another buyer comes along and steals your reason to move in the first place?  Either way, it is a paralyzing fear as you wrote.  I think that getting your buyers' feet wet in the market will give them a better idea of what is out there for what they want to spend and in the area that they want to move to.  It always seems to fall into place once that happens....their motivation shifts to doing whatever it takes to get the current home sold!  Good luck to you with these buyers.  They are lucky to have you in their corner.

Margaret, you're right on target. Great job! This concern is so, so common that I posted something about it also a while back.

Hi Margaret! If they can't buy without selling the home they own now, it's next to impossible to get an offer accepted in today's market. I like that you understand how important it is to find their motivation early on in the process.

Margaret, Graceful and generous describe you to a tee. I always enjoy our conversations. My experiences with

We don't know where we're going is similar to the point you've made in your post.

I once had a seller list and then start looking at homes where they wanted to move to only to come running back to me to take it off the market. They couldn't afford a decent place where they wanted to move. I was shocked that they hadn't looked online at home prices before. Always prod and ask questions and be creative. Love it!!