It was only a few years ago when sellers rarely accepted offer which were contingent on the sale of the buyer's home. There just were too many other buyers who were willing to buy their home without selling their own home. Money was easy and bridge loans highly touted by lenders. They were easy, and there wasn't much risk of being stuck with two homes. Prices were going up so fast, the bigger risk was waiting to procure his move-up home.
Moving from this home....
to this...
required that a seller take a contingent sale.
My market is primarily waterfront homes in Ventura, a very small niche. With current economic conditions home had been staying on the market much longer than I can ever remember. Move up buyers simply weren’t moving up. They weren’t willing to take the risk of ending up with two mortgages, and plainly just could not afford to do so, They weren’t making offers because for so long they had been conditioned to not making contingent offers. Most agents flat out reject them unless the buyer already had a buyer for his own home. I had been working with a young couple whose dream was to move to the water. He loved sailing and water sports and had been looking for two years. I suggested putting in an offer on a waterfront home I had listed, which had languished on the market for close to a year. My sellers didn’t see much downside risk, and agreed. Happy ending was that the buyer sold his home, and is now in the home he has always dreamed of. Then it dawned on me: this is a whole segment of potential buyers lost if sellers are not willing to play that game. Encouraged by this success, I convinced another of my waterfront sellers to accept a contingent offer from clients who had a large home to sell and wanted to downsize to the water. Again, the sellers did not see a whole lot to lose since their home had been on the market for about nine months with no offers. A different outcome this time. I continued to market the home for backup offers, except now the home all of a sudden became very attractive to buyers because someone else wanted it. I ended up having two very interested buyers who wanted me to keep them posted on the progress of the house. The original buyers ended up not selling their home, released the home back on the market, and I had two different buyers bidding for the home. That definitely was not the direct intent, but a pleasant surprise ending. We now have the home in escrow. Moral of the story: Take a close look at contingent offers. You are tapping on a huge segment of the move up buyer population when you do so.
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