What Is a Home Sale Contingency in Washington and How Does It Work?

A home sale contingency is a term in a purchase agreement that makes your offer to buy a house conditional on selling the home you already own. It is the contractual answer to the move-up question I hear more than any other: what happens if I commit to a new house and my current one has not sold yet? The contingency protects you from the worst outcome, owning two homes, two mortgage payments, and two sets of carrying costs with no clear way out. This post explains how that protection works in Washington, what the deadlines really mean, and how a contingent offer looks from the seller's side of the table. It pairs with my full guide to selling your current home and buying another in Snohomish County.

Where a home sale contingency lives in Washington

Almost every residential purchase in Washington is written on Northwest Multiple Listing Service forms. The purchase and sale agreement sets the price, the closing date, and the basic terms, and a separate addendum adds the home sale contingency. Most brokers know it as the Buyer's Sale of Property Contingency addendum, often called Form 22B. The forms get revised over time, and the current version is selected for your transaction, but the logic stays the same: your obligation to buy depends on the successful sale of your current home. The addendum also states plainly that if the condition is not met, the agreement ends and your earnest money is returned.

The two deadlines that make it work

Every home sale contingency runs on two clocks, and both numbers are negotiable. The defaults are a useful starting point, not a ceiling.

• Listing deadline: you agree to put your current home on the market within a set number of days after your offer is accepted. Five days is the common starting point in the standard form.
• Contingency period: you agree to get your current home under contract within a set window, often 45 days from mutual acceptance. Here is the part that surprises almost everyone: for the contingency, sold means under a valid, enforceable contract, not closed. The moment your current home is under contract, the contingency is satisfied, even if that closing is still weeks away.

Those numbers matter because they become contract deadlines. Miss the listing deadline and you may be in default. Reach the contingency date without a contract on your home and the seller has defined rights. This is exactly why the dates have to be realistic for your actual market, not just comfortable on paper.

The bump notice, and why it is fair

The hardest part of a contingent offer is that it asks the seller to wait. Sellers are not paid to sit still, so the standard contract lets them keep marketing the home while your contingency runs. If another acceptable offer comes in, the seller can send a bump notice: a written demand that gives you a short window, commonly 24 to 72 hours, to either waive the home sale contingency or prove your own home is under contract. If you can do neither, the seller can accept the other offer, and your earnest money is refunded.

A bump provision sounds harsh, but it is a genuinely fair middle ground. You get the first chance at the house, and the seller is protected from waiting forever. It also means the strength of your listing matters as much as the strength of your offer. A home priced right and marketed well is far more likely to get under contract inside your window than one that lingers.

What happens if your home does not sell in time

This is the protection buyers ask about most, and it is the reason the contingency exists.

• If your home does not sell by the contingency deadline, the purchase agreement typically terminates and your earnest money is refunded. You are not forced into a purchase you can no longer afford, and you do not lose your deposit over it.
• If you already had a buyer and that sale fell apart through no fault of your own, the contingency is usually reinstated and you get the chance to find another buyer before the deadlines restart or the seller moves on.

The catch is that none of this happens by itself. Contracts run on notices and dates, and missing one can waive protections you never meant to give up. That is a large part of why these transactions work best with an experienced broker tracking every date and every notice on both sides.

What a seller is actually weighing

Put yourself in the seller's position for a minute. A contingent offer asks them to keep their home tied up while your sale plays out. What makes that acceptable?

• A buyer who is obviously prepared: preapproved, earnest money down, and a realistic timeline.
• A current home that is already listed, priced right, and drawing showings, or under contract with a closing date attached.
• A contingency period short enough to feel real instead of open-ended.
• Protection for the seller, which is exactly what the right to keep marketing and the bump notice provide.

I have seen sellers accept contingent offers when the buyer's side looked solid, and I have seen them choose a cleaner offer when the risk felt too big. Your job is to make your side of the deal look as solid as it can be, and that is a strategy we build before you write a single offer.

How to make a contingent offer as strong as possible

• List your current home first, or at the same time. The strongest contingent buyer is already under contract on the sale side.
• Price your current home honestly. Overpricing is the most common way a contingency window runs out.
• Get pre-underwritten rather than merely preapproved, so your lender has already reviewed your file and your sale proceeds.
• Use a lender who has closed coordinated transactions before. Bridge arrangements and borrowed down payments change the underwriting picture, and a lender who has not done them can stall a deadline you cannot afford to miss.
• Negotiate deadlines you can actually hit, and ask what is realistic for your market and your home type.
• Ask the what-if questions before you sign: what happens if your sale closes late, and what does your contract say if it falls apart? Know the answers before the situation needs them.

A home sale contingency is not a sign of a weak buyer. It is a sign of a buyer who understands the risk of carrying two homes and wants the contract to protect both sides fairly. Sellers take that seriously when the rest of the offer is serious.

The form names and the fine print get revised over time, and your signed contract is the only document that controls your transaction. Nothing in this post is legal, tax, or financial advice, and your attorney and lender are the right people for the specifics of your situation. If you are weighing a move up and wondering how the timing could work, I have done this in Snohomish County since 2003, and I will walk you through the numbers before you commit to either side.