How many days should I negotiate for the home sale contingency?

Enough that you can comfortably meet it, and no more. A number you can hit makes your offer stronger; a number you are guessing at creates risk. It is a function of how prepared your current home already is, which is why the preparation conversation should come first.

Does this Virginia change affect me if I'm selling in Bethesda or Chevy Chase?

Only if you are buying in Virginia. Maryland and Washington DC each use their own contracts and guidelines, and they differ from the Virginia form, so nothing about this change carries over to a sale on that side of the line.

The Three-Word Change to Virginia Contracts That Move-Up Sellers Should Know About

Q: Does this mean I can't make a contingent offer in Arlington anymore?

No. Contingent offers are still permitted and still common in Arlington, Alexandria, and McLean. The July 1, 2026 change only defines what you have to do to keep the contingency alive: get your current home genuinely on the market, in Active Status in the MLS, within the number of days you negotiated.

by Sherine Monir

What changed in Virginia's home sale contingency on July 1, 2026? The standard Virginia contingency addendum now requires a buyer's current home to be listed in Active Status in the MLS within the agreed number of days after ratification — not Coming Soon, not almost ready.

If you own a home in Arlington, Alexandria, or McLean and you're planning to buy your next one before you've sold this one, a small change to the standard Virginia contract took effect on July 1 that's worth two minutes of your attention.

It's three words long. It doesn't change what you're allowed to do. It changes what you have to prove, and by when.

I want to walk through it plainly, because I haven't seen anyone explain it to homeowners — only to agents.

What the contingency has always done

When you're buying a home but need to sell your current one first, your offer includes a home sale contingency. In plain terms: I'll buy your house, as long as I can sell mine by a certain date.

Sellers generally don't love these, because they take a home off the market while waiting on a sale that may or may not happen. So the contingency comes with protections built in. The seller can keep accepting backup offers. If a backup comes in, they can give you notice and a short window to either produce a signed contract on your home or drop the contingency entirely. Miss it, and the deal on the home you wanted goes away.

That structure hasn't changed.

What actually changed on July 1

The contingency has always included a line requiring you to get your current home listed and actively marketed within a negotiated number of days after the contract is signed, at a price no higher than an agreed ceiling. Both of those blanks — the days and the price cap — were already in the form.

The new version adds that your home has to be entered into the MLS in Active Status within those days.

That's the whole change. And it matters more than three words usually do.

Under the old wording, "entered into a multiple listing service" was fuzzy enough that a home in Coming Soon status could arguably count. Coming Soon means the listing exists and is visible, but the home isn't being shown yet. Buyers can see it. They can't walk through it.

Now the language is explicit: the listing has to be live. Photographed, priced, on the market, accepting showings — by the date written into your contract.

Why this changes your timeline, not your paperwork

Here's the practical consequence, and it has nothing to do with contracts.

Say you negotiate ten days. Under the old reading, ten days was enough breathing room to get a listing agreement signed, get the property into the system, and finish getting the house ready while it sat in Coming Soon. The real deadline was soft.

Now ten days means the home is genuinely market-ready in ten days. That's staging, photography, any repairs you were planning, decluttering, and a price you've actually committed to — all done, not scheduled.

Ten days is not a lot of time to prepare a home in McLean or Arlington properly. Neither is fourteen.

This is the part I'd push back on if you were sitting across from me: the temptation will be to negotiate a longer window. Sometimes that's right. But a long window also signals to the seller that you aren't ready, which weakens your offer at exactly the moment you're trying to look strong.

The better answer is usually to be ready before you write the offer.

What "ready" actually looks like

As a licensed interior designer as well as a Realtor, this is the part of the process I care most about, and it's the part most people underestimate.

Getting a home genuinely market-ready in Arlington, Alexandria, or McLean typically means:

Presentation decisions made in advance — what stays, what goes, what gets painted, what gets replaced. These are the choices that eat days when they're made under pressure.
Photography scheduled, not hoped for. Good photographers book out. So do stagers.
Any small repairs already handled — the things that don't affect value but do affect a buyer's first ten seconds.
A price you've already made peace with, because the contract caps how high you can list.

None of that is difficult. All of it takes calendar time. If you want to see how that preparation sequence actually runs, I've laid it out in my concierge pre-listing model.

The change on July 1 simply moved the moment when that calendar time comes due — from after you're under contract to before.

One thing to watch on the paperwork

A practical note, since you may end up comparing documents.

The updated form still carries the same revision date in the footer as the older version. You can't tell which one you're holding by looking at the bottom of the page. The only reliable way to know is to read the home sale contingency section and look for the words "in Active Status."

If you're reviewing an offer, or comparing what you signed on a previous purchase to what you're signing now, that's the line to find.

This applies in Virginia only

Worth being clear about, because the DC region makes people assume rules travel across the river. They don't.

This is a change to the standard Virginia contract. It affects purchases in Arlington, Alexandria, McLean, and elsewhere in Virginia. It does not change anything about contracts in Washington DC — Spring Valley, Wesley Heights, AU Park, Forest Hills, Tenleytown, Chevy Chase — or in Bethesda and Chevy Chase, Maryland, which use different forms entirely.

If you're selling in DC and buying in Arlington, only the Arlington side of your transaction is affected. Which, in a move-up scenario, is often the side with the deadline on it.

Frequently asked questions

Does this mean I can't make a contingent offer in Arlington anymore?

Not at all. Contingent offers are still permitted and still common. The change only defines what you have to do to keep the contingency alive — get your current home genuinely on the market within the days you negotiated.

What happens if my home isn't listed in Active Status in time?

That depends on the specific terms of your contract and how the parties handle it, which is a conversation for you, your agent, and if needed your attorney. The point of planning ahead is to never find out.

How many days should I negotiate?

Enough that you can comfortably meet it, and no more. A number you can hit makes your offer stronger; a number you're guessing at creates risk. That's a function of how prepared your current home already is — which is why the preparation conversation should come first.

Does this affect me if I'm selling in Bethesda or Chevy Chase?

Only if you're buying in Virginia. Maryland and DC each have their own contracts and their own guidelines, and they're different from the Virginia one — so nothing about this change carries over to a sale on that side of the line. If your move involves both, it's worth understanding which rules apply to which half of the transaction.

If you're thinking about a move this year

The homeowners this affects most are the ones making a move-up purchase — selling one home to buy the next. That's a sequencing problem more than a contract problem, and it's a lot easier to solve in advance than in the middle of it.

If you're weighing a move in Arlington, Alexandria, or McLean — or selling in Upper Northwest DC or Bethesda and Chevy Chase to buy across the river — I'm glad to walk through what your timeline would actually need to look like.

Call or text Sherine directly at 202.536.4043 — or visit sherinemonir.com to get started.

Sherine is here whenever you're ready.