[coldbeer]

One of the frustrating things about searching for homes in Vegas on sites such as Realtor.com is that so many are listed but have contingent offers.

If a house has a contingent offer do others still have a chance to buy it?

What is the rationale behind advertising houses, (sometimes for weeks) that have a contingent offer?

Thank you.

[gtbguy]

Originally Posted by coldbeer

One of the frustrating things about searching for homes in Vegas on sites such as Realtor.com is that so many are listed but have contingent offers.

If a house has a contingent offer do others still have a chance to buy it?

What is the rationale behind advertising houses, (sometimes for weeks) that have a contingent offer?

Thank you.

Don't waste your time with realtor.com, the site is not up to date. You need to be working with an agent. Plenty on this site.

[Tiger Beer]

What does that mean contingent offer?

Actually I use realtor.com often to get a sense of how many house listings they have in various price ranges, etc. Is is still good for that, if not currently going to buy?

[yellowsnow]

I can make an offer to buy your house CONTINGENT on the sale of my current house.

With the state of the market right now you can see why so many of these offers fall through. It's just smart business to leave them listed. The contingency should have a time limit attached, then it expires.

In the meanwhile the seller continues to try to sell his property. Looking for a better deal. If he/she finds a better offer, chances are you will be out in the cold. Yes, you could try to sue the seller but that's a hassle most people won't subject themselves to. You will get your earnest money back and there's another home around the corner.

Leaving the home listed is a good strategy for the realtor as well. He/she will get the calls on the property and steer prospective buyers to other properties that are available or take backup offers on your home.

It's the Real Estate equivalent of 'A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.'.

[olecapt]

Well yes and no...

The normal contingency method has been screwed up by the foreclosure mess. It was originally a short term transistional thing while some aspects of a deal were worked out. The normal contingency was inspections...another was selling my home. In fact one would pursue and show a "selling my home" contingency as they could generally be bumped out of the way. One did not show inspection contingencies as they were likely a done deal.

Nowadays though we have another set of contingencies the most interesting of which is "short sale". This is a contingency status that may last for months and may or may not be bumpable. When I am running a short sale in the contingency stage I will generally take all offers extended that are not absurd and forward them all to the lender. Note this is controversial. Some say that can't be done as you are interfering with the contract of the first seller. I think I am well covered by the short sale addendum and our legal counsel says it is OK to forward it all to the lender. I may cut it off if it gets to be overloaded with offers.

There is also a new contingency called REO. It is for that period between the acceptance of an offer by the lender and the existance of real paperwork that the offer is accepted. Can be weeks on occasion.

So mostly contingent can still be saleable though likely the agent won't play.

Life is hard....

[coldbeer]

Originally Posted by olecapt

Well yes and no...

The normal contingency method has been screwed up by the foreclosure mess. It was originally a short term transistional thing while some aspects of a deal were worked out. The normal contingency was inspections...another was selling my home. In fact one would pursue and show a "selling my home" contingency as they could generally be bumped out of the way. One did not show inspection contingencies as they were likely a done deal.

Nowadays though we have another set of contingencies the most interesting of which is "short sale". This is a contingency status that may last for months and may or may not be bumpable. When I am running a short sale in the contingency stage I will generally take all offers extended that are not absurd and forward them all to the lender. Note this is controversial. Some say that can't be done as you are interfering with the contract of the first seller. I think I am well covered by the short sale addendum and our legal counsel says it is OK to forward it all to the lender. I may cut it off if it gets to be overloaded with offers.

There is also a new contingency called REO. It is for that period between the acceptance of an offer by the lender and the existance of real paperwork that the offer is accepted. Can be weeks on occasion.

So mostly contingent can still be saleable though likely the agent won't play.

Life is hard....

So the bottom line is if i see a house is for sale and the status is Contingent Offer then i just move on and look for those that display active status.

Thanks!

[olecapt]

Originally Posted by coldbeer

So the bottom line is if i see a house is for sale and the status is Contingent Offer then i just move on and look for those that display active status.

Thanks!

Yeahhh...though I might look at one if it was "just perfect" and I was not finding many other hits.

A long shot if you are running out of options.

[007 license to sell]

If your working with a realtor right now they may have done this but in case, one thing you could do if you are working with a realtor have them set up your own personal mls search site to send you listings that interest you. If you find one you like an it's in contingency, mark it as a favorite and ask your realtor to have the settings set so the computer will send you any updates on that property, like if it is back as a active listing and if it sold. If it sells you can also have your realtor check on what it sold for.
I hope this is helpful

[RCCCB]

Originally Posted by 007 license to sell

If your working with a realtor right now they may have done this but in case, one thing you could do if you are working with a realtor have them set up your own personal mls search site to send you listings that interest you. If you find one you like an it's in contingency, mark it as a favorite and ask your realtor to have the settings set so the computer will send you any updates on that property, like if it is back as a active listing and if it sold. If it sells you can also have your realtor check on what it sold for.
I hope this is helpful

The things I get sent by my agent are currently on Realtor.com, so I think they are pretty up to date IMO.

[jjameson922]

Actually they are not. I have been told there can be as much as a two week lag time, or more. There really isn't a 100 percent sure fire way a non-licensed prospective buyer can be assured on the status of any listing unless they have an agent who can check the MLS for them on every listing they are interested in. I feel your pain; I am in the same boat.