If you're making an offer on a home but your own house isn't on the market yet, one of the biggest questions is whether the seller will even consider the offer at all.  And in most cases... the answer probably has less to do with your offer and more to do with how long their house has been sitting on the market.

A Fresh Listing? Probably Not.

If a seller just listed their home yesterday, they're unlikely to entertain an offer with a home sale contingency if your house isn't even listed for sale yet. Think about it from their perspective... they'd essentially be trading their own need to sell for someone else's need to sell. They don't know how quickly your home would sell... and they've just barely started with working to sell their own home.

Six Months on the Market? Maybe So.

Now let's adjust some of the variables.   If a seller has had their home on the market for six months and it still hasn't gone under contract, they might be a lot more open to an offer with a home sale contingency without that property already under contract. At that point, they've been trying to sell for half a year without success. So... if you come along with an offer that includes a contingency on your house selling, that might not seem quite as risky to them anymore. In fact, it might feel like a reasonable path forward, especially if they believe your house will move faster than theirs has.

So What Does This Mean for You?

If you're a buyer hoping to use a home sale contingency, have realistic expectations as to whether a seller will consider your offer, which often is related to how long their home has been listed for sale.