Should I accept a contingent offer on my San Diego home?
Take it when nothing else beats it on price, timeline or anything else. A contingent offer usually gives you a way out if the buyer can't perform within a few weeks, and you can often keep showing the home and take backup offers. First, check that the buyer's own home is priced to sell quickly. I'm Jared Harman.
Published . Last updated . Figures are from my own records unless a source is linked.
When should a seller take a contingent offer?
Really, when there's nothing else. If no other offer is better on price, on timeline or on anything else, we go with the contingent offer, because it's all we've got.
What protects me if the buyer's home doesn't sell?
The contingent offer gives you an opportunity to bail on the buyer if they can't perform, typically after a few weeks. (Jared Harman's own read; your contract sets the terms.)
In most cases you can keep showing the property in the meantime and accept backup offers. So it can be a great strategy.
What should I check about the buyer's own sale?
I do my whole marketing walkthrough on their home. I ask their agent how traffic is and what they expect, run my own comps, see where their price sits, and judge their photos, their description and their whole marketing plan.
Pricing above all. If a buyer is writing contingent offers and their own home isn't priced competitively enough to sell quickly, I'm going to have some questions. How I price a home.
What does a contingent deal look like from the inside?
Earlier this year a client of mine was selling her condo and buying another at the same time. We put hers on the market, toured properties the same day, and wrote a contingent offer about a day later on one we had just seen.
Her building had slow sales activity, and we were an outlier on the high side of price. She closed at the list price, on better terms than I had expected.
To keep her purchase alive, she moved into the new place under an interim occupancy agreement, basically a lease, paying rent to hold it and extend the contingency. She was buying in downtown San Diego, where the condo market is very slow right now, so it worked out for everyone. (Jared Harman's own read of the downtown market.) The whole deal.
Every one of these is case by case.
What does this mean if you have a contingent offer?
Compare it against everything else you have, then check the buyer's sale before you sign. Want a second set of eyes? A Net Number shows what you'd walk away with, back in 24 hours.
Buying and selling at once yourself? Here is how one of my clients did it.
Who is Jared Harman?
Jared Harman is a San Diego REALTOR® with MatchPoint at eXp Realty of California, Inc., licensed since 2022 under DRE 02193879. He works with sellers and buyers across the metro San Diego neighborhoods, has 46 five-star Google reviews, and personally toured more than 800 homes in 2025.
Jared Harman has 46 Google reviews, all five stars. He has sold $14M+ in real estate so far in 2026. His videos reach about 250,000 people in San Diego every month, which is where his listings get seen. He personally toured 800+ homes in 2025. In the last 12 months he negotiated about $990,000 in credits and price reductions for his clients.