Buying
What's the difference between a contingency and a non-contingent offer?
Short answer
Contingencies are conditions that let you back out and recover your deposit (inspection, loan, appraisal). Non-contingent means waived — risky for the buyer but compelling for sellers. Common in competitive Bay Area offers.
Contingency: a condition in the purchase contract that lets you back out of the deal and recover your earnest money deposit if specific conditions aren't met. The three standard California buyer contingencies:
1. Inspection contingency (default 17 days): you can have the property inspected. If you find issues you can't accept, you can cancel and get your deposit back. 2. Loan contingency (default 21 days): if your lender denies the loan, you can cancel and recover your deposit. 3. Appraisal contingency (default 17 days): if the appraisal comes in below the offer price, you can renegotiate or cancel.
Non-contingent offer: you waive one or more of these contingencies. Common waiver combinations: - Waive inspection only (after pre-inspection or for confident buyers). - Waive appraisal (you'll cover any shortfall in cash). - Waive loan (you can fund the deal with non-mortgage sources if needed — very rare for non-cash buyers). - "Clean" or "non-contingent" offer = all three waived.
In competitive Bay Area pockets, partial or full contingency waivers are common. They're powerful but carry real risk — if you waive inspection and discover major issues after closing, that's your problem.
Roger walks every buyer through specifically which contingencies make sense to waive for their situation and which to keep. This is where buyer representation really earns its fee.
Need a complete answer for your specific situation? Call (510) 504-0402, text (406) 205-9003, or email roger@grubb.net. No charge, no pitch — just a real conversation about what you're navigating.