The Real Estate Blog

Buying a home in today’s real estate market can often be stressful. Putting in an offer and deciding how much you’re willing to spend on a home is an incredibly difficult decision, especially when you consider the different conditions that can be attached to your offer.

Conditions are terms that need to be fulfilled before the closing of the house. They can cover all sorts of important things, like financing, home inspections and more. A conditional offer differs from a firm offer because a firm offer means you’ll purchase the home no matter what, without any conditions. A firm offer to purchase a home is preferable to the seller, whereas a conditional offer is preferable to the buyer.

In this week’s blog post, we’re sharing some of the most popular conditions that people attach to their offers.

1. Home inspection – Unless you are planning on tearing down the home completely, a home inspection condition is something that shouldn’t be skipped. Adding this clause to your offer will allow you to walk away from the sale if the home inspection reveals any expensive issues or flaws in the home’s structure that you may not be able to affordably fix.

2. Financing – Even if the buyer has been pre-approved for a mortgage, a financing condition ensures the buyer can actually secure the loan they need to purchase the home – and often at a certain rate. If you are a buyer who is able to pay cash for the home, you should make this clear in your offer because this makes your offer much more attractive to the seller.

3. Sale of existing home – This is one of the most common conditions buyers include their offer. This condition stipulates that you will purchase the seller’s home only if you are able to sell your own home. Generally, a buyer will include a time frame for this to happen (usually between 30 and 60 days) since the seller doesn’t want to take their home off the market indefinitely while they wait for your home to sell. This protects the buyer because it ensures they won’t be stuck paying two mortgages while they wait for their current home to sell. If you need to use this condition, just make sure your home is ready to go on the market as the seller will still be able to market their home to other prospective buyers during this time.

4. Closing date – The closing date of the home is when the property is legally transferred from the seller to the buyer. Being flexible with a closing date is generally a good thing for buyers and sellers because it allows the seller to pack their home, find a new home and can give the buyer flexibility if they need to relocate or sell their home. Typical closing dates are between 30 – 90 days in length, but are completely negotiable between the seller & buyer.

5. Inclusion and exclusions – You offer might depend on certain fixtures or appliances of the home being included in the sale. This usually pertains to items like the refrigerator, dishwasher, washing machine/dryer, or decorative elements like an elaborate light fixture or curtains.

6. Things you want the seller to pay for – For instance, if the seller has completed a pre-listing home inspection and has found some issues that might be costly to fix, you might include a condition that says the seller has to pay for any repairs or fix any damages. Sometimes you may just opt for a lower purchase price instead of leaving repairs to a seller who could potentially do the job as cheaply as possible.