Real NEastate: Selling to another seller

Q: I have a purchase offer on my home but the buyers need to sell their current home first. I want to take the offer, but what if they don’t sell their home? I don’t want to miss any other buyers that might want to buy in the meantime. What should I do?

A: There is a way to accept the offer and still show your home to potential buyers. The term is “First Right of Refusal.” If the buyer agrees, you can addend the contract to include the right to continue marketing your home to find a more suitable buyer. This addendum, sale & settlement of other property contingency (with right to continue marketing) addendum to agreement of sale, which is approved for, but not restricted to use by, the members of the Pennsylvania Association of Realtors®, spells out the terms of an agreement which will allow you to keep your home on the market.

There is a specific time of your choosing to include in this addendum to terminate if the buyers don’t get a buyer for their home. If a better offer comes in within a specified time frame, this addendum allows you to terminate your agreement. This addendum automatically ceases when the buyer gets an agreement of sale on their current property and you approve the terms of such agreement.

If you are worried about your buyers finding a buyer for their home, this addendum is the way to go. Or you could simply reject this offer and wait for another offer without a sale and settlement contingency, but that is also taking a risk. Just remember the saying, “A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.”

Stacey McCarthy is a real estate agent with the McCarthy Group of Keller Williams. Her Real NEastate column appears every Wednesday on NEastPhilly.com. See others here. Read other NEast Philly columns here.