By Prerna Kapoor, CLHMS | REAL Brokerage | August 2, 2026
Picture this: you’ve accepted an offer on your Parker home. Good number, reasonable terms, everything you wanted. Then you get to the fine print and see it, the buyer’s purchase is contingent on selling their own house first. Suddenly your “sold” home isn’t really sold. It’s sold if their house sells too.
This is one of the most common questions I get from sellers who are otherwise thrilled with an offer: can I accept this and still protect myself? The answer is usually yes, and the tool that makes it possible is called a kick-out clause.
What a Home Sale Contingency Actually Asks You to Accept
A home sale contingency means the buyer’s offer only becomes binding if they successfully sell their current property, usually within a set window, often 30 to 60 days depending on how their own listing is going. If their house doesn’t sell in time, they can walk away and get their earnest money back. That’s a different animal from the inspection or financing contingencies most Colorado buyers already build into an offer, because the thing standing between you and closing isn’t your house. It’s someone else’s.
For a seller, that’s a real risk. You could take your home off the market, turn down other buyers, and wait weeks only to find out the deal falls apart because someone else’s house didn’t sell. Colorado’s standard Contract to Buy and Sell Real Estate (Residential), form CBS1, published by the Colorado Real Estate Commission, allows for this kind of contingency, but it doesn’t require you to accept one on blind faith. That’s where the kick-out clause comes in.
How a Kick-Out Clause Works, and Why 72 Hours Matters
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A kick-out clause, sometimes called a right-to-continue-to-show or right-of-first-refusal provision, lets you accept the contingent offer while keeping your home on the market. If another buyer comes along with a clean, non-contingent offer you’re willing to take, you give the first buyer written notice that a competing offer has arrived.
From that point, the clock starts. Most Colorado addenda give the contingent buyer 48 to 72 hours to do one of two things: remove their home sale contingency and prove they can close without selling their current house, or step aside and let you move forward with the new buyer. If they walk, their earnest money goes back to them. No penalty, no argument, just a clean exit.
This is different from a straightforward backup offer. A backup offer sits behind an already-firm contract and only activates if the primary deal falls through entirely. A kick-out clause is built into the contingent contract itself, and it’s what keeps that contract from quietly taking your home off the market for weeks with nothing to show for it.
What Happens When the Clock Runs Out
If the contingent buyer can’t remove their contingency in time, the contract terminates and you’re free to accept the new offer. If they do remove it, either because their house sold or because they’ve lined up bridge financing or a HELOC to cover the gap, the deal moves forward as a firm contract like any other.
Either way, you’re not stuck. That’s the entire point of the clause. I’ve walked sellers through this exact scenario more than once, and the ones who felt calmest going into it were always the ones who understood the timeline before they signed, not after a second offer showed up and they had to scramble to figure out what their options even were.
When Accepting a Contingent Offer Is Still the Right Move
A kick-out clause doesn’t erase the risk of a contingent offer, but it puts a time limit on it, which changes the math. If your home isn’t getting a flood of showings, or if the contingent buyer’s own house is already under contract and just waiting on their closing date, the risk is often small and the protection is more than enough. It’s part of the same broader calculation I walk sellers through in a full multiple-offer strategy, since a strong contingent offer is sometimes still your best offer.
Where I tell sellers to think twice is when a contingent buyer’s house hasn’t even hit the market yet. At that point you’re not really 30 days from a close, you’re 30 days from a listing that hasn’t started. A kick-out clause helps, but it doesn’t turn a shaky contingency into a strong one. It just gives you a way out if something better comes along.
Quick answers
Does a kick-out clause cost the seller anything? No. It’s an addendum to the contract, not a fee or a service you’re paying for. Your listing agent adds the language when the offer is negotiated.
Can a buyer refuse to include a kick-out clause? They can ask you not to include one, but you don’t have to accept a contingent offer without it. In a market with any competition at all, it’s a reasonable ask on your part.
What happens to my home’s marketing while a kick-out clause is active? Your home typically stays visible to buyers and agents, often shown as “active under contract” rather than fully off-market, which is exactly what makes the clause useful. Your agent should confirm the MLS status reflects that correctly.
Prerna Kapoor | REALTOR® | Luxury Home Specialist
REAL Brokerage | 720-949-5450 | info@prernakapoor.com
CLHMS • RENE • PSA • ABR | International Sterling Society Award Winner
Prerna specializes in residential real estate across Parker, Aurora, Lone Tree, Castle Pines, Highlands Ranch, Cherry Creek, Greenwood Village, and Centennial. She speaks English, Japanese, and Hindi.
