California Contingency Deadlines: The Complete Guide for Agents

Contingency deadlines are the heartbeat of a California real estate transaction. Miss one, and your client could lose their earnest money, their negotiating leverage, or the entire deal.

Here's every deadline you need to know, when they start, and what happens if you miss them.

The Three Standard Contingencies

The California Association of Realtors Residential Purchase Agreement (C.A.R. RPA) includes three standard contingency periods, all counted from the date of acceptance:

1. Inspection Contingency — 17 Days

This gives the buyer the right to:

• Conduct all property inspections (general, termite, sewer, roof, etc.)


• Review inspection reports


• Request repairs or credits from the seller


• Cancel the contract if inspection results are unacceptable

What happens at day 17: If the buyer hasn't removed this contingency or cancelled, the seller can issue a Notice to Buyer to Perform, giving the buyer 2 more days to act.

2. Appraisal Contingency — 17 Days

This protects the buyer if the property appraises below the contract price. During this period:

• The lender orders and completes the appraisal


• If the appraisal comes in low, the buyer can renegotiate the price, cover the gap, or cancel

3. Loan Contingency — 21 Days

This protects the buyer if they can't secure financing. The buyer must:

• Submit a complete loan application


• Provide all requested documentation to the lender


• Receive at least a conditional loan approval

The Timeline in Practice

Here's what a typical 30-day escrow looks like with these deadlines:

DayMilestone |-----|-----------| 0Offer accepted, escrow opens 3Earnest money deposited (3 business days) 7Inspections scheduled and begun 10Lender should have ordered appraisal 12Inspections complete, repair request sent 14Seller responds to repair request 17Inspection and appraisal contingencies expire 21Loan contingency expires 25Conditional loan approval expected 28Clear to close, loan docs signed 29Final walkthrough 30Closing and recording

What "Remove Contingency" Actually Means

When a buyer removes a contingency, they're saying: "I'm satisfied with this aspect of the deal and I'm moving forward."

The critical implication: Once a contingency is removed, if the buyer cancels for a reason covered by that contingency, their earnest money may be at risk.

For example:

• Buyer removes inspection contingency → then tries to cancel because of a roof issue found in the inspection → seller may keep earnest money


• Buyer removes loan contingency → then can't get loan approved → seller may keep earnest money

For Competitive Offers

In hot markets, buyers sometimes shorten contingency periods to make their offers more attractive:

• 10-day inspection instead of 17
• 10-day appraisal instead of 17
• 14-day loan instead of 21

Coach your buyers carefully on this. Shorter contingencies mean less time to discover problems and less leverage to negotiate. The trade-off might be worth it in a multiple-offer situation, but the buyer needs to understand the risk.

Cash Deals

Cash transactions skip the loan contingency entirely and often have shorter timelines overall:

• Inspection contingency: 17 days (same as financed)
• No appraisal contingency (no lender requirement)
• No loan contingency
• Typical close: 14-21 days

How Retrak Tracks This

Retrak automatically calculates all contingency dates when you create a deal. Enter the contract date and financing type, and the app populates:

• Inspection contingency deadline
• Appraisal contingency deadline
• Loan contingency deadline
• Estimated closing date

As deadlines approach, you get alerts. When contingencies are removed, the deal's health score improves. When deadlines pass without removal, the score drops and coaching kicks in.

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