contingency

A contingency is a condition of a contract that must be fulfilled for the contract to move forward. They are common in the home buying process to protect buyers by giving them an “out” of the purchases before the closing. Some of the most common are inspection contingencies (allows you to request repairs or walk away if significant problems are found), financing contingencies (allows you to walk away if you cannot secure a mortgage), appraisal contingency (you can walk away if the home appraises for less than the sale price), title contingency (you can walk away if there are still problems with the title at closing), and a home sale contingency (if the buyer hasn’t yet sold their current home and wants to be able to cancel the contract if they can’t sell it)