Winch Walton Ottawa Real Estate and Home Staging Team responds to your question on conditional offers.
Q. What does a “conditional offer” mean in real estate?
A: In Ontario, you may have heard of a conditional offer when you go to purchase your home. These are conditions the Ottawa real estate agent and buyer put into place so the buyer and seller have some protection.
Here are some of the “conditions” that may be added to the agreement to purchase:
• Professionally conducted home, septic or water inspections
• Financial – which allows the buyer to back out if he/she cannot get a mortgage or financing in place
Usually, these conditions are given a 3-7 day turnaround to comply and have conditions met. The house is not sold until all conditions have complied.
What happens if you find the house you want to purchase but have not sold your home? Well, that also can be added into your conditional offer but it does come with some risks too. What some people don’t realize is that you still have to have your financing and inspections done within 10 business days. You will have one other condition not met and that is the sale of your home within the agreed upon time limit between you and the seller, as outlined in your conditional offer. This is called a “first right of refusal”.
When you have this type of condition it does put a bit of pressure on you to have your home sold within this time limit or if it hasn’t sold and the time limit is up you may have to back out of the conditional offer and let the home go.
When a conditional offer is on a home, the seller can still see other buyers come through their home. What happens if a buyer comes through the home you have a conditional offer on and makes an offer to the seller with only the conditions of financing and inspection?
This is when your real estate agent will come back to you with a time limit (usually 48 hours) to have all your conditions met. This means that if you have not sold your home, you have the choice to take off the condition of selling your home or to cancel your conditional offer, even though you have paid for various home inspections, etc.
This spring there has been an influx in home sale and prices of homes. Always make sure you feel comfortable with any offers you make. The Winch Walton Team are experts in the area of answering any Ottawa real estate questions or concerns you may have and how to have your home priced for the market. Always get the help of an expert when you are purchasing or selling your home. Contact the Winch Walton Team today!