Real estate Secrets: Contingency Success

I am sure you have heard of a contingency clause in a real estate contract. Contingency clauses are basically clauses that say “If that happens then this can happen” some common contingency clauses include.

Offer contingent on buyer obtaining financing
Offer contingent on the sale of the home at 1111 Maple Valley
Offer contingent on buyer approval of inspections

Those are examples of the ways that contingencies are used in real estate contracts. But, did you know that contingencies could be holding you back from experiencing true success both in life and as a real estate investor?

Our economic conditions have resulted in many of us using contingencies to unknowingly limit ourselves in many areas of our lives. The main differences between the two are that real estate contingencies have “Real world” constraints while the contingencies that we place on ourselves have no basis in the real world.

Let’s look at some examples of our life contingencies:

My happiness is contingent upon how much money I make
My happiness is contingent upon whether I have a job or not
My real estate success is contingent on whether or not I can obtain a loan.
My real estate success is contingent on how many courses I can afford to buy

Do you see the difference? In real estate contingencies one outcome is absolutely necessary in order to achieve the other. In our life contingencies we set up 2 completely unrelated things and make them contingent on each other. Your happiness and your salary are not mutually exclusive ideals. You can be happy without a dime to your name. You can experience real estate success without getting a loan.

The best way to counteract this completely absurd way of thinking is to ask yourself “Could I ever have X without Y happening?”

Let’s plug in some examples:

Could I ever have happiness without making $100,000? Of course
Could I really afford a house if I didn’t sell my own? Of course not this is a real world constraint.
Could I ever succeed as an investor without good credit? Of course there are a million ways to succeed without getting a loan.

To your success,
Eric Medemar
Grand Rapids Real Estate Specialist
Real Estate Secrets Author
Grand Rapids Homes