If "cash is king" in making an offer, why don't most sell their house first before making their written offers?

[Brandon Hoffman]

Most do sell first. Most don't have enough cash to buy a home outright. If you do, congratulations.

[Lovehound]

Today's market in many places is kind of crazy, fluctuations of inventory causing swings in asking and sold prices, bidding wars or excessive DOM. Things change too quickly to mess with contingent offers unless your market is slow at the time. If your market is hot with many properties 1-2 weeks or less DOM then cash really is king, and if there are pre-qualified offers and no cash offers then they trump contingent offers.

but it all depends on location and current market conditions

[ncole1]

Originally Posted by 399083453

Most people have families and are not single. Its hard to understand if you dont have a family.

Yes. Most people over the age of 35 have a family and don't want to deal with moving twice. Very few people younger than that own a home outright and/or have the liquid net worth to pay cash for a home, making the question moot.

Retirees whose kids have already grown up and moved out are a different story - many of them do end up paying cash for a new home.