Short Sale SellersTime Contingency on A Short Sale
If you place a time contingency on a short sale, your offer may expire before the bank even gets around to approving it. Many times banks will not pay attention to time contingencies…which means, you could bail out and look for something else.
If you really want a property, stay around and wait. Your offer is not binding UNTIL the bank approves the price. If another offer comes in, they will probably counter both offers or just accept the higher offer of the two to engage a bidding war.
Unfortunately, sellers do not always get the approval of the bank before selling the home. Many short sale sellers will put their home on the market, unknowingly making it become a short sale later. A short sale is not uncommon for the seller to solicit offers before taking them to the lender to get their final say.
If you’ve already submitted your offer, you will have to wait and see what happens. If the time contingency expires, then you are more than free to do what you want. You can look at better deals and see if the bank eventually accepts your offer.