If you need the money from your current home to buy the next one, you will probably write a contingent offer. That means you agree to buy the Dahlonega home only if your own home sells. It is a common tool, and it is also the part of your offer a seller will read most closely.
This guide walks through what the seller sees, how the kick-out right works in broad terms, why timing matters, and how to make a contingent offer as strong as it can honestly be.
What the seller sees when you offer contingent
In Georgia, the sale contingency is usually an exhibit attached to the purchase agreement. In the 2020 Georgia REALTORS forms this was the contingency exhibit for the sale of the buyer’s property, and it lets the parties choose whether the seller keeps a kick-out right.
From the seller’s side of the table, your offer now has two homes in it. Theirs, and yours. They are asking a few plain questions:
- Is your home already on the market, or is it still a plan?
- Is it under contract, and with what kind of buyer?
- How long would they wait before they know whether the deal is real?
- Can they keep showing the home while they wait?
Your offer gets stronger every time you can answer one of those with a fact instead of a hope.
The kick-out right, in broad terms
A kick-out right lets the seller keep marketing the home after accepting your contingent offer. If another buyer comes along, the seller can use the right, and you are typically given a short window to drop your contingency and go forward, or step aside.
The exact steps, notice method and deadlines are whatever the exhibit you sign says. Read those lines before you sign, not after. Ask your agent to walk you through what happens on the day a notice arrives, and whether you could realistically remove the contingency if you had to.
A seller who keeps the kick-out right takes less risk by accepting you. That can be the difference between a contingent offer that gets signed and one that gets set aside.
Why due diligence timing matters
Under the 2020 Georgia REALTORS purchase agreement, a due diligence period turns the contract into an option: the buyer can walk away for any reason or no reason until it ends.
That matters twice when you are selling and buying at once.
- On the home you are buying, you are the one with the option. Use the period for inspections, insurance quotes, the survey and a hard look at your loan. Do not waste it.
- On the home you are selling, your buyer has the same option. Until their due diligence period ends, your sale can still fall apart for any reason.
So the date your buyer’s due diligence ends is one of the most important dates on your calendar. A seller reading your contingent offer will care about it too.
How to make a contingent offer stronger
There is no trick here. A contingent offer is stronger when it is less uncertain. Practical ways to get there:
- List first, or be under contract. A home that is already on the market, with photos and a price, reads very differently from one you plan to list soon.
- Price your own home to sell. The seller is betting on your sale. An honest price on your home makes that bet easier.
- Keep the timelines short. Ask for only the time you truly need for your sale to close.
- Bring a lender letter that already accounts for your current home. More on that below.
- Offer the kick-out right. It costs you some certainty, but it gives the seller a reason to say yes.
- Be flexible on move dates. If the seller needs time after closing, Georgia REALTORS publishes a temporary occupancy agreement for a seller who stays on after closing.
What the lender rule means for you
Many conventional loans follow Fannie Mae’s rules. Fannie Mae’s rules say that if your current home is under contract but will not close before the new loan, the lender counts both housing payments unless it has the signed sales contract and confirmation that the buyer’s financing contingencies are cleared.
In plain terms: being under contract is not always enough. Until your buyer’s financing contingency clears, your lender may qualify you as if you will carry both payments.
Ask your lender two questions before you write the offer, and get the answers in writing:
- Do I qualify carrying both payments?
- If not, what exactly do you need from my sale, and by what date, to stop counting the old payment?
If the answer to the first question is no, the sale contingency is doing real work for you. Keep it, and make the rest of the offer as clean as you can.
Closing both homes
In Georgia, only a Georgia-licensed attorney may close a real estate transaction. When two closings depend on each other, tell both closing attorneys early so they can line up the order, the funds and the keys.
Where to go next
For the full picture of contingent offers here, read contingent offers in Georgia. If you are still deciding which side to do first, start with buy first or sell first.
Written by the Dahlonega Buy & Sell Editorial Team. AI tools help us draft; people check every fact before it publishes.
