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

[luv4horses]

Pets. Hard to find acceptable temporary housing when you have your animals depending on you.

[sll3454]

We waited until our house was under contract, then took our house-hunting trip. The purchase was not contingent on the sale, but we did not want to be trying to sell or maintain a house from 2500 miles away.
It was a five-day trip, and at the end of it we still ended up in a hotel for a couple weeks - with three cats.

When I was a child my parents sold a house in MI, dropped us (3 kids) off in OR to stay with grandparents, and went to CA to find a house and start working. We went to school in OR for five weeks. When we got to CA, we still lived in the hotel for a week or two. Family of five and one cat.

[kickchick2000]

Originally Posted by luv4horses

Pets. Hard to find acceptable temporary housing when you have your animals depending on you.

Exactly, we've got two large breed senior dogs, one of which is often on the restricted list, so renting isn't an option esp short term. We been looking for a ranch 250k-300k in N. Raleigh with half an acre or more for almost 4 months, been outbid on several and most we can't even get to see b/c they are already sold or have offers by the time we get off work in the afternoon. We aren't doing a contingency with our offers either, we have savings we will use as our down payment and can float our home for a few months until it sells.

[Hemlock140]

The way the market is here now, you do have to sell first and have the cash in hand, or you will be beaten out by the other 20 cash offers over asking. Hardly anyone is accepting contingency offers now, they just don't have to. People are even writing "letters to the seller" to try and get an edge over the buyer competition.

Bidding wars, cash heat up Eastside’s real-estate market | Business & Technology | The Seattle Times

[jdhall1]

Sellers don't want to have to move twice. I have sellers that become buyers that have to sell to buy, I make their purchase contingent of closing of current home. No offers are made on property under their home is under deposit and building inspection items if any have been negotiated.

[jghorton]

IMO, there are two mis-perceptions regarding the 'cash is king' proposition herein.

1). Most sellers will NOT even consider a "contingent on sale" clause in a purchase offer ... unless their house has been on the market forever and they are really desperate.

2). While a 'Cash Offer' provides added assurance that a potential buyer will be able to close quickly, without problems ... the seller gets 'all cash upon closing', whether it is the buyer is using cash or a mortgage.

[Electrician4you]

Originally Posted by Hemlock140

The way the market is here now, you do have to sell first and have the cash in hand, or you will be beaten out by the other 20 cash offers over asking. Hardly anyone is accepting contingency offers now, they just don't have to. People are even writing "letters to the seller" to try and get an edge over the buyer competition.

Bidding wars, cash heat up Eastside’s real-estate market | Business & Technology | The Seattle Times

Lol. History just keeps repeating itself. I can probably brush off letters I got in 04/05/06 housing bubble that will have the same please let me buy your house for a obscene amount of money.i just received two in the mail a few weeks ago offering to buy one of my rentals.

[Lovehound]

Let's talk contingencies. I was recently involved in a deal where the seller -- as our negotiations progressed -- ended up in a triple contingency where their buyer was contingent on sale of his house, and the buyer contracted to sell his house to another buyer who also had the offer contingent on his sale! Triple sale contingency!

I was driving between AZ and CA when something snapped in their chain of fools and negotiated my deal for that house contingent only on inspection and appraisal. I didn't quite meet my price goal but we had a verbal deal as I was driving through Palm Springs. I signed the purchase contract a few hours later when I arrived home.

We're closing next week... uh... contingent that it meets appraisal! But I think any way you look at it one contingency is better than a chain of three contingencies.

If I were selling I'd tell a prospective buyer to save their offer until they have either the cash or a pre-qualification. No "if I sell my house" contingencies for me.

[TheShadow]

In the past I have made contingent offers and had no trouble with the sale of my original house. Nowadays, I would never make or accept offers contingent on sale of another property. Most sellers won't accept one now anyway.

[Ninotchka P]

This would only work if you're moving in the same area for non-urgent reasons, but our approach was to wait a few extra years while we saved a second downpayment for the second home so we could make the offer without a contigency on selling our first home. We ended up selling the first home quickly, but we had a cushion in case we did not, and felt secure doing this since we live in a high-demand area.

The second benefit to doing this is at we have a stronger financial handle on the second home than we otherwise would have.