In general my advice to seller clients is to consider contingent offers only when the buyer's property is already in contract. A sales contingency is when you will need to sell your current home in order to close on the house you're offering to buy.A buyer can also include a finance contingency when making an offer. Contingent literally means "depending on certain circumstances. A contingent offer provides a way to back out of a real estate contract if a specific condition is not met. Once you find your dream home and it happens to be marked as contingent, you can still place an offer. Contingent offers allow buyers to back out of purchases without losing their earnest money deposit if the sale doesn't go as planned. This proposal not only specifies price, but also all the terms and conditions of the purchase. One of the most common contingencies in any real estate transaction is the financing contingency. In a competitive market, see if you can work with the seller to shorten or waive certain contingencies to make your offer stand out.