Mortgage Contingency

[Account Closed]

Hello, I'm not real familiar with the mortgage process. Someone put in an offer for a 2-flat I'm selling with about 1% earnest money and a mortgage contingency that says he has 2 months to fully qualify for a mortgage before closing a week after that.  Is that normal to put in an offer to tie up a property like that for 2 months, with no real skin in the game, assuming he can just get his earnest money back and back out a week before closing if his financing falls through?  Shouldn't he be required to have more skin in the game with such an offer if I'm taking the property off the market for 2 months? Any advice would be much appreciated.

[Wayne Brooks]

I'm guessing your not using an agent?  A financing contingency is common, and accepted.  However, you need a way to help determine the potential buyer's chances of getting that loan.  A preapproval from a local legit lender is a minimum.  You would further want to verify exactly what information the lender issued that preapproval.....did the borrowers submit actual tax returns or just W-2's, were 2-3 months of actual bank statements supplied, were the down payment funds verified, etc.?