What Does Contingent Mean? Can I Still View a Contingent Property?

When a home is marked as contingent on the Iowa City MLS it means it has an accepted offer.

Listings don’t get removed from the public MLS until they’re Sale Pending, so of course the assumption is that since they’re still being advertised online they’re available for showings. Technically that may be right, but usually that’s not what happens. Typically sellers aren’t interested in continuing to show a home that has an accepted offer on it. There may be exceptions of course. It really depends on the kind of contingencies included in the offer.

To clarify that last statement I need to explain what a contingency is. A Contingency is another word for condition. When buyers make an offer on a house in Iowa City they typically make it based on certain conditions. (Contingencies). Typical contingencies are financing and inspections. If the buyers are unable to get financing, or the inspection goes poorly and the buyers are not able to negotiate repairs with the sellers, the buyers have the option to terminate the contract. These are the most standard contingencies on a contract when you buy a home in Iowa City and unless the sellers or their Realtor anticipate problems it’s unlikely they’ll want to continue showing the home.

It might be a different matter if there are more heavyweight contingencies, (conditions), in the offer. Let’s say if  the buyers have a home to sell for instance before they can move forward in purchasing the new home. If their home doesn’t sell the contract will at some point fall through. As you can imagine, with this kind of contingency the sellers will be pretty motivated to continue with showings to generate other offers.

Ultimately, if you see a house listed on the Iowa City MLS marked as contingent, it’s a heads up that the sellers already have an accepted offer. IF the home is still available for showings, keep in mind  if you decide to make an offer that it’s a “back up” offer and will only go into effect if the other offer falls through.

When you’re ready to make your move and want the help of a good Iowa City Realtor to help you navigate through the process of buying a home in the Iowa City area, give my a call at 319-400-0268. My specialty is helping clients get from A to B with the minimum amount of fuss.