BIC TIP #1288: No Contingencies in the NC Contract
“My offer is contingent on selling my house.” Brokers hear it all the time, and Stephen Long, your Notorious BIC, wants to clear it up once and for all: there are no contingencies in the North Carolina Offer to Purchase and Contract. None. Zero. If your buyer has to sell before they buy, you need a real plan, not a phrase borrowed from another state. That plan usually comes down to buying enough due diligence time or bringing in an attorney.
The Contract Does Not Do Contingent
Form 2T is built around the due diligence period, not around a list of conditions that let a buyer walk away. North Carolina does not have a standard contingent sale addendum, and the standard contract does not include one either. So when a buyer says their purchase is “contingent” on selling their current home, that is simply not how the paperwork works.
What the buyer actually has is a negotiated window of time during which they can investigate the property and decide whether to move forward. That window is the tool.
Option One: Buy Yourself Time
The most common approach is for the buyer to negotiate a due diligence period long enough to get their current home on the market, under contract, and hopefully closed. If the funds from that sale are needed to purchase the new home, the timeline matters a great deal.
In other words, the buyer is not making the purchase contingent. They are buying a certain number of days of due diligence and hoping their sale comes together inside that window. And while that clock is running, they should still be doing their actual due diligence on the new property: inspections, appraisal, insurance, and everything else. The due diligence period is not just a waiting room.
Option Two: Call an Attorney
If extra due diligence time is not an option, the buyer will need a real estate attorney to draft a contingency agreement that makes the sale of their house a condition of the contract. Brokers should not try to write that language themselves. Drafting contract terms is the practice of law, and a homemade contingency clause is a great way to end up in a dispute nobody wins.
Point your buyer to an attorney, let the attorney prepare the document, and make sure both parties understand and agree to it.
The Practical Takeaway
Retire the word “contingent” from your North Carolina vocabulary when talking about the Offer to Purchase and Contract. If your buyer needs to sell first, help them negotiate a due diligence period that fits their timeline, or refer them to an attorney for a custom agreement. Either way, set expectations early so nobody is surprised when the clock runs out. When in doubt, check with your broker-in-charge.
