Q: What can be included in a house purchase offer to be sure the property will be acquired but delays the closing?
Our daughter found a perfect house and wants to be sure it does not slip away but would prefer to delay closing for several months. Can a contingency be put into the contract along with a statement that she requests the opportunity to remove the contingency if another offer without a contingency comes along? Any other strategies that would work?
A: Yes, she could include an escalation clause if another offer comes in with a closing date that is sooner, meaning her offer would increase in purchase price, or her Offer to Purchase could offer to move her closing date up if another offer comes in with an earlier closing date before your daughter's offer is accepted. She may also want to consider a tight timeframe for the Seller to respond in order to not allow a period of many days for other offers to come in while her offer is valid. She could also offer a larger earnest money amount, or even offer cash up front if her offer is accepted within so many hours or days of receipt. However, she should be careful that the escalation clause would not increase the price or the move the closing date by more than the amount of money or amount of time she would be comfortable with. I suggest she speak with her attorney about the correct language to use, because this type of thing takes artful drafting, so that her offer to purchase communicates what she wants, but does not expose her to unnecessary risk or lead to unintended consequences.
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