Feb
28
Beautiful Bothell Home For Sale - Status = Contingent. What Does That Mean to Other Buyers and Agents?
Written by: rebecca and filed Under Blog, Buyers, Real Estate, Sellers |
Imagine this scenario…
Saturday afternoon, you are out house shopping for a home and your agent shows you homes that have a current status of “Active”. This is common occurrence and a great place to start…BUT…
THIS IS NOT THE WHOLE PICTURE.
There is a whole other classification of homes that could be waiting for you. These homes are under the status of “Contingent”.
Contingent? What does that mean?
A home (subject property) that is listed as Contingent has generated an offer that the buyer and seller have agreed to. One of those terms is that the buyer has a property that must sell before the buyer can proceed with the transaction of purchasing the subject property.
When a property is Contingent, the door is open for another buyer to make an offer. The seller is allowed to accept another offer so long as it is in “backup” position. “Backup” position means that the second buyer has a brief, typically 1 to 5 days, waiting period before they can proceed with the purchase of the subject property under their purchase and sale contract terms. The waiting period is the time period that the first buyer has to waive or satisfy their home sale contingency. If they are unable or unwilling to do so, then their purchase and sale agreement is terminated, their earnest money returned to them (in most cases) and they no longer have any obligation to the seller, and vice versa. The seller is then free to move forward with buyer #2 [in backup position].
Now for my shameless plug…
Unfortunately, a lot of buyers’ agents don’t include Contingent homes in their clients’ property searches. I currently have two listings across the street from each other:
9025 NE 176th Street, Bothell, WA 98011 and 9036 NE 176th Street, Bothell, WA 98011
Both are beautiful 3 bedroom plus den homes. Both have family rooms with gas fireplaces. Upstairs there is a spacious master suite w/5 piece bath and walk in closet in both as well as a laundry room that is conveniently located upstairs. These wonderful properties have 2 car garages that have ample storage and are complete w/ AC for Seattle summers. Both generated offers in less than two weeks time. One of them is Contingent and one of them is Active – STI.
Contingent homes are a great opportunity for a buyer because you are going to generally be in a situation where you can have honest negotiation going on. Buyers don’t have to worry about another buyer coming in and beating them to the deal because there are generally very few buyers looking at homes that are Contingent. Sellers don’t need to feel pressured by time or lack of offers because they already have a buyer in contract with an offer that is acceptable to them. Basically a lot of stress is removed when trying to come to a mutually acceptable backup offer.
So why do I mention this? Well for one, I want to get my client’s property sold. I do that by continuing to aggressively market the home. But knowing that a lot of agents don’t show their buyer’s Contingent homes, I wanted to reach out directly to the consumer. It is important that you know that Contingent homes ARE STILL AVAILABLE FOR YOU TO CONSIDER. I want to put this information out there both as a PSA to the buyers looking for homes and to the agents that don’t include Contingent homes in their property search as well.
That being said, make sure you ask your agent to include Contingent homes in their search parameters. In the meantime, if you or someone you know is shopping for a beautiful house in Bothell that has features such as granite countertops, GE Profile Stainless Steel appliances, surround sound, an extra long driveway for guest parking and a professionally landscaped spacious and private backyard in addition to all the features mentioned above, have them contact me at 206-686-1661.
Comments
4 Responses to “Beautiful Bothell Home For Sale - Status = Contingent. What Does That Mean to Other Buyers and Agents?”
Leave a Reply
Subscribe
Frequent Contributors
Rebecca Kuno
Realtor & ASP
(206) 686-1661
Post Archive |
RSS Feed
Barb Paetzold
Mortgage Expert
(425) 820-0601
Post Archive |
RSS Feed
Is this blog dead? You’ve posted nothing for a long time.
I thik it’s dead. .or she’s busy sellin houses.. After all, it is spring.
Why is there a Bothell house on an issaquah highlands blog?
And she’s back…
I apologize to all for my extended abscence from Red Brick Blog. Spring is upon us and I have been blessed with a multitude of clients that have been keeping me very busy. When it comes to business, first and formost for me is excellent customer service, then keeping up my blog! I am still busy but am happy to say that I will be carving out some time each week to blog. Here is to happy reading.
Oh - and to answer the question as to why there is a home in Bothell on the blog that is because I wanted to discuss the “Home Sale Contingency” and I wanted to use one of my listings to do it. After being in the business for 9 years, my business takes me all over King County - not just Issaquah Highlands. I will be talking more about the Contingency soon in a new post. Thanks again for being a loyal reader.