Almost every buyer I meet thinks an offer is a number. Write a bigger number, win the house. Write a smaller one, save some money. That is maybe half of it.
The other half is the conditions attached to that number — the contingencies. They are the escape hatches: the conditions that have to be met before you are actually obligated to buy. Keep the right ones and you are protected. Keep all of them without thinking about it, and a seller looking at two similar offers picks the other one.
Here is the honest situation in our nine towns right now. In July, 456 homes closed — one behind last July — and seven of nine towns posted a higher median than a year ago. That is a normal market, not a frenzy. You are not going to be forced into anything crazy. But in the under-$150,000 bands in Herrin, West Frankfort and Murphysboro, you also will not be the only offer, and how you write the terms is going to matter.
1. The Inspection Contingency — Keep It
🔍 What it does
It gives you a window — usually somewhere around a week to ten days — to have the house looked at by a professional, and to walk away or renegotiate if what turns up is worse than what you signed up for.
Do not give this one up. A big share of the housing stock around here was built before 1980. Foundations, septic systems, knob-and-tube leftovers, roofs one hail storm past their life — any single one of those can cost more than the amount you were trying to win the bidding by. Waiving inspection to beat somebody by $3,000 and then finding $14,000 of septic is not a win.
What to do instead of waiving it: shorten it. A seven-day inspection window reads a lot stronger than a fifteen-day one, and you can shorten it honestly if you have an inspector lined up before you write the offer. You can also narrow it — tell the seller you will only come back on major structural and mechanical items, not on a sticky window and a cracked outlet cover. That gives the seller what they actually want, which is certainty, without stripping your protection.
2. The Financing Contingency — Keep It, and Make It Short
🏦 What it does
It says: if my loan does not come through, I get out and I get my earnest money back. Unless you are paying cash, you want this.
But here is where the work you did before you started touring pays off. A buyer with a full pre-approval — income and assets already verified, not just a conversation — can commit to a much shorter financing window than a buyer who is starting the loan process the day the offer is accepted. To the seller, a 21-day financing contingency and a 45-day one are two completely different offers, even at the same price.
This is the single biggest reason we tell people to call Jarod before they call an agent. It is not a formality. It is leverage you either have or you do not have on the day the right house shows up.
3. The Appraisal Contingency — The One People Misunderstand
📈 What it does
Your lender will not lend against your enthusiasm. They lend against the appraised value. If you agree to $200,000 and the appraisal lands at $188,000, the bank is lending on $188,000, and that $12,000 has to come from somewhere — the seller drops the price, you bring cash, you split it, or the deal dies.
This comes up more in Southern Illinois than people expect, and usually in one specific situation: a beautifully renovated house in a neighborhood where the nearby closed sales are much lower. The house may genuinely be worth it. The comparable sales just have not caught up. Marion’s July median was $229,949 and Carterville’s was $254,943 — but the street the house sits on has its own math, and that is the math the appraiser uses.
The middle path: instead of waiving the appraisal contingency completely, you can cover a stated gap — “I will bring up to $5,000 above appraised value.” The seller gets real protection, and you have capped your exposure at a number you decided on in advance instead of one you get surprised by. Never agree to a gap larger than cash you can actually put your hands on.
4. The Sale-of-Home Contingency — The One That Quietly Costs You
🏷 What it does
It says: I will buy this house once mine sells. It is completely legitimate, and for a lot of families it is the only realistic way to move. It is also, by a wide margin, the weakest thing you can attach to an offer.
Put yourself in the seller’s chair. They are being asked to take their house off the market and wait on a transaction they cannot see, cannot control and cannot speed up. Faced with a clean offer at $198,000 and a sale-contingent offer at $205,000, most sellers around here take the $198,000.
What actually helps: get your current home listed — or better, under contract — before you write. “Contingent on a sale” and “contingent on a closing that is already scheduled for the 30th” are barely the same sentence. And if the house you want has been sitting for sixty or ninety days, that seller may be very happy to wait. Timing changes everything on this one.
What Makes an Offer Strong Besides Price
If you cannot be the highest number — and plenty of buyers cannot — there are four levers that cost you little or nothing:
| Lever | Why the seller cares |
|---|---|
| More earnest money | It is credited to you at closing, so it is not an extra cost — but a bigger deposit says you do not intend to walk. |
| Shorter deadlines | Every day of contingency is a day the seller is not free. Tight, realistic dates read as competence. |
| Flexible closing date | Ask when they want to close and match it. This is free, and it wins houses. |
| Fewer small asks | Dropping the request for the washer and dryer and a home warranty can be worth more than another $2,000 on the price. |
And one thing that costs nothing at all: submit a complete, clean offer with the pre-approval letter attached, the first time. You would be amazed how often that alone is the difference.
💰 Want a Shorter Financing Contingency? Start Here.
Free, no-pressure pre-qualification with Jarod Sanders, SIRE’s in-house lender, right inside our Marion office. Zero-down VA & USDA options available across Southern Illinois.Jarod Sanders · Branch Manager · CrossCountry Mortgage · NMLS #2337228
What Greg Holthaus Tells Every Buyer
Do not let anybody talk you into waiving inspection to win a house in this market. This is not 2021. Seven of our nine towns are showing higher medians than last year and July closings were dead even with a year ago — that is a normal, functioning market, and in a normal market you do not have to buy blind to compete. Tighten your timelines, get your financing verified before you tour, put a little more earnest money down, and close on the seller’s schedule instead of yours. That is how you win a house here without taking a risk you cannot afford. If somebody is telling you the only way to get a house in Southern Illinois is to give up your inspection, get a second opinion — and I am happy to be it.
Buyer Contingency FAQ
What exactly is a contingency?
Should I ever waive the inspection?
What happens if the appraisal comes in low?
How much earnest money should I put down?
Can I buy before my current house sells?
📱 Writing an Offer This Week? Text Greg First.
Buying? Selling? Not sure how to structure your offer? Text Greg Holthaus directly — just tell him you saw his blog. He’ll help you think through your decision, match you with the best broker for your situation, and point you in the right direction. He’s open to a text any time.
Text Greg · 618.925.8654
Who is Greg Holthaus?
Greg Holthaus is the Owner and Designated Managing Broker of Southern Illinois Realty Experts, with 25+ years in Southern Illinois real estate and more than 10,000 transactions closed. He leads a full-service operation — home sales, mortgage, title, and property management under one roof — with offices in Marion, Herrin, and Carbondale. Meet Greg ›
About the numbers: July 2026 closing counts and median sale prices come from local MLS closed-sale data for the ZIP codes covering Marion, Carbondale, Mount Vernon, Herrin, Carterville, Murphysboro, Du Quoin, West Frankfort and Benton; July 2026 is the most recent complete month. Medians are monthly medians, so in smaller towns a single month’s mix of homes can move the figure more than the market itself. This article is general information, not legal advice. Contract terms, contingency language and deadlines vary by contract form and by transaction; earnest money amounts and remedies are negotiable and are governed by the contract you actually sign. Have your broker and, where appropriate, an Illinois attorney review your specific contract before you sign it. Nothing here is a loan offer, rate quote, commitment to lend, or appraisal of any specific property.