Selling property contingent on Appraisal

[Alex Alaniz]

Just listed my house and listed it for $140,000.  Going into it i was worried it may not appraise for that so I listed it a little high.  I have an offer on the table for 145,000 contingent on the appraisal.  How can I word it so that its not contingent on the appraisal or that it plays in my favor if it appraises for less?  He was originally approved for 140,000 but is getting a new pre approval letter for 145000 not to exceed 137,750 for the loan amount.  Also asked for 56 days contingent on obtaining the new amount.  The dilemma i am in is that I have an accepted offer on a house contingent on selling mine.  They asked for the number of days between when I close on the other property.  What do you advise?  They also requested a response in 1 day from me.

Thanks, 

Alex 

[Christopher Foote]

@Alex Alaniz It is very common in hot markets for there to be verbiage in a sales contract that states that “if the property does not appraise at or above the agreed upon sales price, then the buyer will be responsible to pay the difference in cash and does not have the ability to withdraw from the contract due to the appraised value”. The key here is that you would need to make sure the borrower has the additional funds to make up the difference in cash. 56 days seems like a long contract time in this market. Maybe you can negotiate out an accelerated performance date.