Introducing … Contingencies

An article in the real-estate section of today’s Seattle Times notes the rise of contingent offers.

“Contingencies have become a way of life for buyers and sellers in today’s challenging housing market. Buyers don’t want to take a chance getting stuck with two mortgages, and eager sellers are more willing to accept any offer, even if it includes a contingency.”

But the author was mostly talking about the Minnesota housing market. Around here, according to a quote from a Bellevue broker, they’re not the norm.

Far from the norm, but contingent offers are back and they’re on the rise. So far in June I saw two properties in northwest Seattle go contingent, which is twice as many as I saw in the first five months of this year. And they were for homes in a wide range of prices, from $1.6 million to less than $300,000.

What’s it all mean? I think it means that the Seattle-area market is still vital, but showing signs of softening. I’m interested to see how the contingent trend plays out during the rest of 2007. Are contingencies a canary in a coal mine?