I currently have an offer on a place that's had no interest/offers up to now but I building a large contingency to account for everything seen and unseen

Do you give yourself contingencies to balloon out sooner should it make sense to refi after say 2 years?

@Ariania OrtizOn your contract insert "Contingent on seller receiving Letters of Administration and filing of Inventory and Appraisal"If the executor hesitates, she's not that motivated..

That would slow me down quite a bit and cost a lot if I needed to make 100 offers to close on one.Do you just estimate an "average" cost for those items and if something unexpected comes up during the inspection, would you just renegotiate the deal (making use of the inspection contingency in your offer)?

Other things that can help are short escrow periods, cash offers, and minimal contingencies.

If it is set to Contingent that means either inspection or financing or something like that still needs to take place and you have a better shot.

So my offer was contingent on a walk through with a contractor.

That question is usually used to determine if there will be a financing contingency in the contract.

It should have the standard contingencies (inspection, clear title, and if needed, financing). 

Add an appraisal contingency to protect yourself in case your terribly wrong about the value (very likely from the sound of all the numbers being thrown).