Contingencies and Your Home Purchase

What Contingencies Can You Put into Your Purchase Contract

What do We Mean By Contingencies?

Contingencies are the conditions in a contract for an unforeseen event or circumstance and the consequence and result if the condition is not met. Lets look at items one could add in to a contract and discuss the results one could expect.

Contingent Upon Selling a Home
When you buy a home, sometimes you may have an existing property you need to sell before you can close on a new purchase. In the contract you would be inserting a clause that says the purchase would be completed contingent on you successfully selling and closing on your existing home at 123 Main Street within 60 days of acceptance of the contract, for instance.

Mortgage Protection
When you purchase a home, you may need a mortgage. You may have a pre-approval letter to say your can purchase a home for xx amount, but you would still want the protection of a mortgage final approval to protect you in your home purchase.

Appraisal Contingency
The mortgage lender may call for an appraisal on the property in order for them to loan you the funds to purchase the property. You would be protected in terms of the Mortgage Protection clause, however, it might be a good idea to have an appraisal contingency to protect you.

Home Inspection
It is always a good idea to have a home inspection done on the property that you are purchasing. If the house looks fantastic it is still not reason enough not to have a Home Inspection. If there are issues found by the Home Inspector, the homeowner has the right to repair and it is a good idea to have the work inspected once its completed. If there are problems with the house, you may not have the option to get out of the contract if the Seller is happy to repair. Please discuss this clause with your agent/attorney and be sure you are happy with the way the contingency clause is written and the consequences of such.

Other Contingencies
There are other reasons to have a contingency clause in the purchase agreement. It could be a particular piece of furniture you want included, or even a specific item you want replaced or repaired on the property you wish to purchase - so be specific when your contract is written about what is really important to you and what the consequence would be if the contingency is not met.

Your Real Estate Agent and Attorney will guide you in this regard and be sure that the contingencies that are important to you are written in to your purchase contract.

My name is Karen Browder.

If you are looking for an honest agent to work with, someone who will help you to get your home purchase, someone with experience and integrity, then please call me and lets have a confidential chat about your home purchase. I would love to assist you as your buyers agent.

Karen@KarenBrowder.com or call/text 704-534-9334