No rush if you want to wait until you have the showing tomorrow and get some feedback and see if you could have a buyer who doesn't need that contingency. If they really want the house, they might get nervous about the delay and losing it and decide to take the plunge rather than lose it. All depends on whether the contingency is a necessity or a convenience. And you could get an offer without a contingency.

I agree lascatx. My realtor has,already spoken to their financial guy about what they need and they do have to sell their home but We do not want to stop possible other offers,and why we,are taking our time accepting the offers.

Sounds good. If nothing by the end of the week, then I would consider signing as long as you have the escape clause. Good luck and hope things go smoothly.

I had to look up Hubbard clause as it's not a term used everywhere. For those wondering: It's a contingency that the buyer has to sell their house before purchasing. In any offer that is contingent on a home sale by the buyer I strongly recommend you insist on a what is often called a "kickout" clause. This simply means that Buyer A must either remove the home sale contingency (and maybe other contingencies) within a limited time period, often 48 hours, or release you from the contract should you receive another offer without the home sale contingency at a later date. This allows you to sell to another Buyer should you receive a second offer after you accept the first offer.

Be careful of waiting too long to accept either offer. Look at your contract. I often see that recommended here, but typically the time to accept is specified in the contract. I always wonder when people make that recommendation with no knowledge of a poster's contract. I can't imagine being a buyer and not specifying a very limited amount of time for acceptance of the offer.

Wow. That was super fast since you just put your house on the market! Good for you! Yes, like other has mentioned check the time frame on the offers. 48 or 72 hrs.......

Most contingent offers at least have the buyer's home already listed. Sounds like your buyers do not.

Put in a time limit the buyer has to sell their home, or the contract is void, or parties can agree to more time.

Have their or your agent prepare a market valuation of the buyer's home, so you are fully aware what the likely time frame is for this sale.

Get a Net Sheet prepared from the buyer's agent to determine what the buyers will net from their home sale. This in addition to the lender's approval will ensure they have the down payment and funds.

Know what sales price the buyers will be asking and have your agent determine if it is reasonable. No reason getting into a contract with an unreasonable seller.

Even though you will still be allowing showings once under contract, very few if any, buyers will opt to view the home. Your agent will be mandated to change your home's status once the contract is signed. The status will not be shown as Active any longer... it will be Pending But Show, Under Contract But Show, Conditional, Contingent... the wording depends on the local MLS. But any of the wording will stop all but very few showings.

If all this sounds more of a hassle than you are up to, then just decline the two offers and wait for a buyer that is Willing, Able AND Ready.

Thanks everyone. They have 48 hours to respond.

Our realtor has talked with no 2 offer and seen their home. He has evaluated it and feels it will sell quickly. He will most likely be selling their home as well.

We are trying to stall to see what other activity we get. NC I thought it would still show a ,active?

Our realtor just had a case where house was under contract with Hubbard Clause and someone came along, offered cash and high offer and got the property.

We,are being careful and making sure we do not act in haste but don't want to lose buyers either.

Thanks for all the suggestions! Will keep you updated.

In our MLS, and I believe all of them, you can not market a property as Active if it is under any type of contract.

Let the other buyers that are suppose to see it tomorrow know that if they want in the game to come out today... you may be able to get an offer above asking and with no selling contingency.

They were going to come tonight but realized it was Halloween. Coming tomorrow. 2 parties have till Thursday noon to give final offers. The party coming tomorrow night is aware there are offers. As you know, if offers increase, house needs to appraise,at that for mortgage if they need one.

Accepting this contingency offer will likely kill interest from other potential buyers on your home. After all, why would they want to see a home that's already under contract? Unless your market is super hot, I wouldn't accept either offer and would tell both buyers to approach again once they have an offer on their own home.

The thing that scares me is what if we,do not get another buyer?

nancyinri- Best to really consider: Neither of these offers come from a true "buyer". What they're asking you to do is accept their offer- freeze the price- at their convenience. "When I sell, then we have a deal". That's simply not a true buyer.

You agent "thinks" that their property will sell? Big deal. He/she wants you under contract- the less marketing to be done. Then you get listed as "back up offers". Unless you are in the hottest market in the country? Buyers now smell it...

Reject these non-buying situations and understand that there is ALWAYS another buyer. For your sake, let it be a real one this time-not just pre-qualified but ready to go. Have a nice chat with your Realtor, and be strong about that.

Nancy, is your house a ranch by any chance? The baby boomers are out there looking for ranches now (downsizing), there are bidding wars on a lot of ranches over here. One of my friends at work paid a lot of more than the asking price in order to get a ranch.

I'd be on the phone with the agent of the "tomorrow" buyers and ask the agent if they need to sell a current home in order to be approved for a mortgage. The more info you have, the better the decision you can make. I realize that they have not even seen the home yet, but at least you will know beforehand.

Laurie, our area has a shortage of homes so when nice homes come on the market, especially first time buyer homes (usually around 300k), they are snapped up quickly with multiple offers the first few hours.

People who are selling these homes are looking for bigger homes to buy and have very few to choose from. This is why we have two offers and they were the first two to see it. The first one has had his homes on the market for a few days and has been looking for a bigger house for 7 months. The other couple has been looking for over a year. Some wait to put their homes on the market because once they have a buyer they do not have a home to go to and again, most homes are selling quickly here.

This is the reason my realtor can say with confidence after seeing their home and what area they live (very desirable neighborhood) that it should sell fairly quick. We are not jumping at anything and waiting a bit to see if anything else comes in. Our realtor has been very good and has left the decision up to us and has not pushed us at all to take any of these offers. he has explained everything to us and our options and said it is very early to accept an offer with contingencies. I have complete confidence in him and this is not our first rodeo selling a home and we know how the market is in our area.

Summer, no it is a bigger two story home but one of the people who gave us an offer has a nice one level home they are selling.

NC the clients are coming with another realtor so we have no idea what their situation is but they have been made aware that there are two other offers.

Thanks again for the suggestions and advice, I appreciate it.

Also consider counter-offering -- ask them to remove the contingency. If they really want the house and are able to do, they just might accept your no-contingency counteroffer. This happened to us. I was a nervous nelly about selling my home, since it was a contemporary style and I thought it would sit. We actively looked at homes for about 6 months, and finally on the *fourth* house we offered, we got it (we got the third one we bid on too, but headache with inspection so we ultimately passed). Anyway, we knew we really wanted this house and put in an offer with contingency of selling our house. Their counteroffer was contingency but continue to market with 48 hours to accept after another offer accepted (I don't know what that is called in RE terms) or remove contingency and offer accepted. We agonized over it for about a day, and decided to remove the contingency to secure the house. The house was about as "perfect" as we were going to get in the area we wanted, so we took the risk. BTW - my house sold for above asking in 3 days...

Thank you mxk for your suggestion and your story. I am glad to hear you were able to secure the house you wanted. Very hard to do when houses go into multiple offers which is happening in our town right now (and other surrounding towns).

We will see what the two come up with and also see if this third showing tonight is interested and go from there. Not sure how much else will come as it is also getting towards holidays and colder weather.....time will tell. I will let everyone know what happens. Appreciate all the suggestions and advice.

If you do get a third offer, talk your realtor about a "highest and best" situation -- make them bid against each other, and the "best" might motivate one or both of them to remove contingencies. Worked great in my case with that wonky house I had -- got below-asking offers, went "highest and best" and both offers <insert sarcasm> magically materialized to above asking price.

This is what we have done with the two offers. They have till noon tomorrow to give us their best and highest. That is great it worked for you. I have no doubt we will have our buyer in the next two days. Thanks for your advice!

You keep saying that your market is super hot. Take this into account when making your decision. Remember that if you accept one with a contingency, you are going to be dealing with the risks of two closings happening, not just one. It happens all the time, but the risks are much greater. And in a market as hot as yours, you may not have to accept taking on this risk.

Your agent can best advise you though, since they know the local market better than anyone here.

Mxk3 - If a buyer came to me with an offer including a contingency that they sell their home before closing on mine, I would not ask them to remove that contingency. I would either decline the offer entirely or accept it as is. The reason for this is that they’d still have the financing contingency in effect until closing which is likely based on them not retaining the mortgage debt from their existing house and/or them having a downpayment that comes from the sale of the existing house. In other words, their ability to close still depends on the sale of their existing house whether it is listed as a contingency in the offer or not. I wouldn’t want that uncertainty if I had other options I could pursue in selling my home.

It is hot tealestateguy but not sure how many will be looking in my price range. I do have total trust in my real estate agent and feel he will give us very sound advice. Thanks so much.

nancyinri- You'll do what you'll do, that which is best. But the situation you're describing isn't hot. Maybe warm, but in a truly hot market, people show up with either cash or ready financing. That's frankly not what you have.

I'd be a bit concerned about seller's representation who is pushing a contract based on "sure, they can sell". Again- it's not an offer. It's a contingency, based on the buyer's situation, not yours. Not even close to "hot" market in which "time will tell" isn't even something sellers worry about, nor do their agents even say.

I am saying that not my realtor. I'm not a real estate agent obviously so only telling how it is, maybe using wrong terms. I honestly have no idea how either party will respond nor do I know if the buyer looking tonight will be interested and why I am saying time will tell.

Thanks for your input. I do understand what you are saying and why. I am not disagreeing.

nancyinri ... a year and a half ago I bought a house that was already under contract with another party. I had just sold my home and had limited time to find a property to buy. Since there weren't many homes to look at in the neighborhood I wanted, my Realtor suggested I look at one that was under contract, with a contingency that the buyers put their house on the market and sell it. I loved the house, put my offer in, haggled a little on price, offer was accepted and the other buyers had 48 hours to remove their contingency. They couldn't since they still hadn't even listed their house. So I got a great house!

So I guess if you are selling a property in a market with low inventory, I wouldn't worry too much about accepting a contingent offer. Most offers in my area are contingent unless it's a starter home.

My buyers we contingent on selling their home. They put it on the market shortly after signing the contract to buy my house. Another low inventory time/area ... they had 20+ showings over the weekend, 3 offers in 5 days. This is Buffalo, NY suburbs ... just so you know we're not a high-priced market.

Jewelsisfabulous: Every situation is different. In my situation, I didn't *need* to sell my house first, I had other funds I could tap but didn't want to; it primarily was a case of me fretting that my house wouldn't sell. So, what's the harm in asking a contingency be removed? It's a yes/no and may be a win-win; again, it depends on the situation.

Mxk3 -- You're right that Nancy's buyers may be in the minority that don't need their house to sell first, but the majority of buyers do need the funds from their home sale (or release from that mortgage obligation) in order to close on their next home. The harm in asking for the contingency to be removed is that the seller doesn't have access to examine the buyer's financials to determine if they can source funds to close without their home selling first. The buyers could just be overly optimistic (or delusional) that everything will work out without actually having a plan or the wherewithal to close if their home doesn't sell first. In that case, they'd still be protected via their financing contingency (which typically remains until closing) and could walk away scot-free leaving the seller with an unsold home.

Jewel as far as I know both need to sell unless they find some other option. Realtor already aware of #2's financial. He is very good at vetting buyers. Will not accept offer without it. I do not want to be left holding the house with no sale or having to look for another buyer.

Pamghatten's scenario happens more than people realize.

Jewel, Nancy would indeed be privy to the buyers finances, if they did decide to remove the contingency. You simply ask for a pre qualification letter from the bank in addition to a Proof of Funds Statement to show where the funds were coming from if not from the sale of their home.

Jewel - Aren't financing contingencies are in all contracts irrespective of other of contract contingencies unless a cash deal? A person's financials could blow up at any time, even if they look great on paper at the time of the offer being presented. People lose jobs, make bad credit decisions, and/or otherwise just make really stupid financial decisions during escrow/closing process which affect their ability to secure financing.

Yes, except for cash sales, the financing contingency is usually part of the purchase contract. And, yes, buyers can experience circumstances that unexpectedly disqualify them from securing financing. My point is that having to sell a house first is a known financing factor. Electing to waive it on the contract doesn’t make it go away. As a seller, I wouldn’t value a contract that’s been altered in that way.

Huh. Well, others sure do...

Got an offer 8k above. Couple who really wanted it. They have a cash buyer for their home after their house was on the market 2 days. Everything verified. Very happy ending.

Very happy to hear that Nancy! :-) Cheers!

Congratulations! I'm glad your hard work paid off so quickly :)

That's great! How did the other offer look? Did the other buyers ever show up to look at the home?

Yes Sherry!

NC Are you talking about the couple that was coming last night? The real estate agent called our real estate agent and kept changing the time and day and finally just never called back. Our real estate agent said he had 6 showings lined up for the weekend as well. I feel comfortable with our buyers having a full cash offer deal they accepted.

That's terrific!

Nancy, cash buyer can close on a house in 30 days, that means your closing date might be 30 days from today. :-)

Thanks summer. Their buyer was open to a date so our realtor knew we had the first of Dec to get in the rental so asked if second week was best. Buyers need time to pack to as they are going away on vacation next week. Very exciting.

Congratulations.

I think you're the 1st one here selling a house with lightning speed! Congratulations! :-)

Summer, maybe I am in a "hot" market ;)

Indeed! :-)

Congratulations! not that I had many doubts it'd be just fine since your meticulous level of preparation for this sale didn't leave much space for doubts..I was impressed more than I can say. of course many things don't depend on us; yet still

Wishing you a smooth process, and best of luck!

Thank you April. After a bit of rest we will start on finding the perfect one level floor plans.....

Congratulations. I hope all goes well with the inspection and closing process. Exciting times for you.