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. In general my advice to seller clients is to consider contingent offers only when the buyer's property is already in contract.Yes, you can make an offer on a contingent house. Even if a house is listed as contingent, it doesn't mean that the sale is guaranteed to close. Unless you can assemble the cash needed for the purchase, you'll have to default on the offer — unless the seller will give you an extension. Contingencies are actions that must be met for a contract to become binding. Both the seller and the buyer must both agree to these terms. The contingency clause gives a party to a contract the right to renegotiate or cancel the deal if specific circumstances turn out to be unsatisfactory. A home sale contingency is one type of clause frequently included in a real estate sales contract or an offer to purchase real estate. Buyers can include any contingencies they want when they make an offer to buy a house.