The Utah contingent-offer guide
Making a contingent offer in Utah
You found the next home, but you still own this one, and the money is tied up in it. A contingent offer lets you make the purchase depend on your current home selling first. It is a real tool, and it works in some markets far better than others. Here is the honest version of when it helps and when it does not.
Doing both moves at once? Start with the buy-and-sell walkthrough.
On this page
The short answer
A contingent offer, in one breath
Here is the whole idea in a paragraph. A contingent offer means your purchase of the new home is conditioned on selling the home you already own. You write it into the contract, the seller decides whether to take it, and if they do, you usually have a deadline to get your current home sold. It solves a real problem, that your down payment and most of your buying power are locked inside a house you have not sold yet. The honest tradeoff is that it makes your offer weaker than one that does not depend on anything, so a seller has to weigh that risk against everything else you are offering.
Whether it is the right move comes down to your market and your timing. In a slower market with fewer buyers, sellers accept contingent offers all the time. In a hot one, where they may be choosing among several clean offers, a sale contingency is a hard sell and often the first thing that gets passed over. The rest of this page covers how it works on the Utah contract, when it tends to work and when it does not, and how to write yours so it still competes. A contingent offer is one tool among the several life transitions covered at the life-transitions hub, from moving up to moving closer to family.
How it works in Utah
The sale contingency on the Utah contract
Utah purchases run on a standard, state-approved form called the Real Estate Purchase Contract, or REPC. The sale contingency is built right into it. In Section 2.2, Sale of Buyer's Property, the contract states that your ability to purchase the home IS or IS NOT conditioned upon the sale of real estate you own. When that box is checked yes, a separate addendum, the Subject to Sale of Buyer's Property Addendum, attaches and spells out the terms, including the deadline by which your current home has to be sold for the deal to hold.
Here is the part buyers tend to miss. A seller who accepts a contingent offer usually does not want to sit and wait with the home off the market while you try to sell yours. So the addendum commonly pairs with what agents call a time clause, or a bump clause: the seller keeps the home listed and keeps taking offers, and if a stronger, non-contingent offer comes in, they can notify you and start a short clock. You then have a set window, often around 72 hours though it is negotiable and can be shorter, to either remove your contingency and commit to buying anyway, or step aside and let the seller take the other offer. It is the seller's safety valve, and it is why a contingent offer is genuinely a weaker position. The exact addendum, the deadlines, and any legal questions belong with your agent and, where needed, an attorney.
When it works, when it does not
The market decides more than you do
A contingent offer is not good or bad on its own. It is a fit-or-it-is-not, and the biggest factor is how many other buyers a seller is hearing from.
Where it tends to work
Slower markets, homes that have sat a while, or sellers without a hard deadline. With fewer competing offers, a seller would rather work with a serious buyer than wait for a perfect one. Your contingency is far easier to accept.
Where it struggles
A hot market or a multiple-offer home. When a seller is choosing among several clean offers, a deal that depends on selling another house first is usually the first one set aside. The strongest price with a sale contingency can still lose.
The honest middle
Most situations land here, and it comes down to how you write it. A contingency on a home already under contract, with tight deadlines, reads very differently from one on a home not even listed yet. The details are what make it competitive.
Making yours stronger
Five ways to write a contingency that still competes
You cannot make a contingent offer as strong as a clean one, but you can close most of the gap. Each of these tells a seller you are a real buyer, not a maybe.
-
Get your own home moving first
The single biggest lever. A contingency on a home that is already listed, or better yet already under contract, is in a different league from one on a home you have not put up for sale. Selling first removes the risk entirely. Selling before you buy.
-
Keep the deadlines tight
A seller's worst fear is an open-ended wait. Short, realistic deadlines for selling your home and closing tell them you have a plan and you mean it. Tight beats loose every time on a contingent offer.
-
Get pre-approved before you write it
Show the seller the only uncertainty is the sale of your home, not your financing. A full pre-approval makes the rest of your offer rock-solid so the contingency is the only question mark. How pre-approval works.
-
Make the other terms clean
If the sale contingency is the weak spot, everything else should be strong: a competitive price, a fair earnest money deposit, flexible dates, and no extra asks. Give the seller fewer reasons to look past you. Writing a strong offer.
-
Know your alternatives before you commit
Sometimes selling first, a short-term rental, or a financing bridge is the better path than a contingency, and sometimes it is not. Weigh them honestly before you write, so you choose the tool that actually fits your situation. Buying and selling at once.
Writing it with me
An agent who can read the market and the financing
Here is the part a guide cannot do for you. Whether a contingent offer flies depends on your specific market and how the offer is built. It helps to have one person who knows both.
-
Twenty years living in Southern Utah. I have written and negotiated offers across Iron and Washington counties through hot markets and slow ones. I can tell you honestly whether a contingency fits what your sellers are seeing right now.
-
Agent and lender, one picture. I am licensed in both. I can line up your sale and your purchase as one plan and map your financing, taking one role on the buy and never both at once, so the only open question is the sale, not your loan.
-
Straight talk on the odds. If a contingent offer is a long shot on the home you want, I will say so, and we will look at selling first or another path instead. I would rather get you the home than write an offer that gets passed over.
-
Statewide, told straight. In Southern Utah I am your agent. Anywhere else in Utah, I connect you with a vetted partner agent I trust in your area and stay involved, so you always have a local who knows that market.
Questions, answered
What buyers ask about contingent offers
It is an offer to buy a home that depends on a condition being met first. The most common version is a sale contingency, where your purchase is conditioned on selling the home you already own. On the Utah Real Estate Purchase Contract, Section 2.2 asks whether your ability to purchase is conditioned upon the sale of real estate you own, and if it is, a Subject to Sale of Buyer's Property Addendum attaches and sets the terms and the deadline for that sale.
Sometimes yes and sometimes no, and the biggest factor is the market. In a slower market with fewer buyers, sellers accept contingent offers regularly because they would rather work with a serious buyer than wait. In a hot market with multiple clean offers on the table, a sale contingency is a much harder sell and is often the first thing a seller passes over. How you write the offer matters a lot either way.
It is the seller's safety valve on a contingent offer. When a seller accepts your offer that depends on selling your current home, they often keep the home on the market and keep taking offers. If a stronger, non-contingent offer comes in, they can notify you and start a short clock, often around 72 hours though it is negotiable. Within that window you either remove your contingency and commit to buying anyway, or you step aside and the seller takes the other offer.
The single biggest move is to get your own home listed or under contract before you write the offer, since a contingency on a home already selling is far stronger than one on a home not yet for sale. Beyond that, keep the deadlines tight and realistic, get fully pre-approved so your financing is not in question, and make the rest of your terms clean with a competitive price and flexible dates. The goal is to leave the sale of your home as the only open item.
Often it is, because selling first frees your equity and lets you make a clean, non-contingent offer that competes with anyone. The tradeoff is that you may need a short-term rental or a leaseback from your buyer to bridge the gap until the next home is ready. Whether selling first or a contingent offer fits better depends on your equity, your timing, and how fast homes are moving on both sides, which is one of the first things I work through with you.
Yes, and most sellers do when there is a time clause in place. Accepting a contingent offer rarely means taking the home off the market while you try to sell yours. Instead the seller keeps it listed and keeps taking offers, with the bump clause giving them the right to move on if a cleaner offer arrives and you cannot remove your contingency in time. That is the normal arrangement, and it is part of why a contingent offer is a weaker position than a clean one.
Keep exploring
Should your offer be contingent?
I am Scott Buehler, and I have helped people across Southern Utah buy the next home while still owning the last one. A contingent offer is the right call in some markets and the wrong one in others, and the answer is specific to your home, your timing, and what your sellers are seeing. Tell me about both homes and I will give you an honest read on your equity and the offer that actually gives you the best shot. No pressure, and no obligation.
Not in Southern Utah? The lending side of my work covers the whole state. Need an agent for the search too? I can connect you with partner agents I trust, or you can work with any agent you choose. When I am your lender, I receive no referral fee or other payment from any agent or brokerage, and using a referred agent is never required.