A bump clause is a provision in a real estate purchase agreement that lets the seller keep marketing their home after accepting an offer that depends on the buyer selling their current property. If a stronger offer comes in, the original buyer gets a short window to either drop the home-sale contingency or step aside. You may also hear it called a kick-out clause; the two terms mean the same thing.
How a Bump Clause Works
The sequence is predictable. A seller accepts a buyer’s offer that includes a home-sale contingency, meaning the deal hinges on the buyer closing the sale of their existing home first. Without a bump clause, the seller would simply wait and hope that sale happens. With one, the seller stays in the game.
After accepting the contingent offer, the seller keeps showing the property and taking interest from other buyers. If a second buyer submits a written offer without a home-sale contingency, the seller notifies the original buyer that the bump clause has been triggered. That notice starts a countdown. The original buyer then has a set number of hours to decide: remove the contingency and commit to closing regardless, or walk away and let the second buyer take over.
If the original buyer removes the contingency in time, the second offer goes away and the original contract proceeds as though the contingency never existed. If the original buyer does nothing or declines, the first contract terminates and the seller moves forward with the new buyer. The original buyer gets their earnest money back because the contract ended on its own terms, not because of a breach.
The Notice Period
The response window is short by design. Most contracts set it at 72 hours, though some go as low as 24 hours. A well-drafted clause specifies whether those are calendar hours or business hours, and some contracts peg the deadline to a specific time of day rather than counting hours from delivery. A clause might require the buyer to respond by 4:00 p.m. on the third business day after receiving notice.
When the clock starts matters as much as how long it runs. The countdown usually begins when the buyer actually receives the notice, not when the seller sends it. Actual receipt generally means the buyer physically has the document in hand, or, for an electronic delivery, the moment the buyer opens the transmission. A notice sitting unopened in an inbox may not start the clock, depending on how the contract defines delivery. Confirm the delivery method your contract recognizes, and stay reachable during any period a bump notice could arrive.
What Happens When You Get Bumped
Once a bump notice lands, the original buyer has two paths, and neither is comfortable.
Remove the Contingency
Dropping the home-sale contingency means committing to buy the new property whether or not the old one sells. The buyer must deliver a written waiver within the notice period, and some contracts also require proof of funds showing the buyer can close without sale proceeds. Once that waiver is delivered, the contingency is gone for good. The buyer is now fully committed to closing.
This path makes sense when the buyer’s existing home is already under contract or close to it, or when the buyer has enough liquidity to carry both properties temporarily. It is a much riskier move if the old home hasn’t attracted serious interest yet.
Walk Away
The second option is to let the deadline pass or affirmatively decline. The original purchase agreement terminates, the earnest money comes back, and the seller proceeds with the new buyer. There is no penalty for this. The whole point of the clause is that both sides agreed upfront this could happen.
Walking away stings more when the buyer has already paid for inspections, appraisals, or other due diligence tied to the first contract. Those costs do not come back.
Financial Risks of Waiving the Contingency
Waiving a home-sale contingency under bump-clause pressure is where buyers get into real trouble. The math deserves careful attention before you sign anything.
Carrying Two Mortgages
If your current home hasn’t sold by the time you close on the new one, you are paying two mortgage payments, two sets of property taxes, two insurance policies, and upkeep on both properties. Lenders evaluate whether you can handle this by looking at your debt-to-income ratio, and many want to see that figure below 50 percent even with both mortgages counted. If you can’t demonstrate the ability to carry both loans, you may not qualify for the new mortgage at all.
Bridge Loans
A bridge loan lets you borrow against equity in your current home to fund the purchase of the new one, so you don’t have to sell first. The trade-off is cost. Bridge loan interest rates typically run from the prime rate to the prime rate plus two percentage points. With the prime rate at 6.75 percent as of early 2026, that puts bridge loan rates roughly in the 6.75 to 8.75 percent range, well above what you’d pay on a conventional mortgage. Closing costs add thousands more. Because the loan is secured by your existing property, the lender can foreclose if you fall behind on payments while waiting for a sale that takes longer than expected.1Federal Reserve. Selected Interest Rates (Daily) – H.15
Earnest Money at Stake
Once you remove the contingency, your earnest money deposit is no longer protected by the home-sale condition. If you later can’t close because financing falls through or your old home doesn’t sell, the seller may have grounds to keep that deposit as liquidated damages. A separate financing contingency in the contract might still protect you if the lender denies the loan, but that depends entirely on the contract language. Buyers who waive the home-sale contingency while still relying on sale proceeds to qualify for a mortgage are in the most exposed position.
What Sellers Should Weigh
The bump clause exists primarily as a seller protection, and it works well in that role. Without one, accepting a contingent offer means pulling your home off the active market and hoping everything works out on the buyer’s end. If that buyer’s home doesn’t sell for months, you have lost time and possibly better offers.
With a bump clause in place, the property typically shows as “active under contract” in the Multiple Listing Service, signaling to other buyers and agents that an accepted offer exists but the home remains available for backup offers. That status keeps the listing visible and encourages competing interest.
One thing worth thinking through: when a second offer triggers the clause, the original buyer may respond by removing their contingency. If that happens, you are locked into the original deal. The second buyer walks away, and you can’t go back to them later if the first deal falls apart. Evaluate whether the second offer is genuinely stronger before pulling the trigger. A higher price means nothing if the second buyer has shaky financing or adds their own contingencies.
How Buyers Can Protect Themselves
If you are the buyer submitting a contingent offer with a bump clause, your accepted offer is real but conditional. You have a deal, just not an unshakeable one.
Price your current home aggressively from day one. The faster it goes under contract, the less likely you are to face a bump notice. In a slower market, consider whether you can realistically close on the new home without sale proceeds before making a contingent offer at all.
Stay reachable. A 72-hour deadline that starts when you receive the notice can expire before you even know it’s coming if you are traveling or out of touch. Make sure your agent knows how to reach you immediately, and confirm the contract’s delivery method so notices don’t land in a spam folder or go to the wrong address.
If you do get bumped and decide to waive the contingency, run the numbers honestly. Can you carry two mortgages for six months if your home sits? Do you have cash reserves or a bridge loan option that doesn’t stretch you to the breaking point? A 72-hour deadline pushes people into decisions they would refuse with a week to think.
Negotiating the Terms
Almost every element of a bump clause is negotiable, and the details matter more than most buyers and sellers realize.
- Length of the notice period. Sellers prefer shorter windows because they reduce the risk of losing the second buyer. Buyers want more time to arrange financing or assess their options. The standard 72 hours is a common starting point, but a buyer in a strong position can sometimes push for longer.
- What triggers the clause. Most bump clauses activate only when the seller receives an offer without a home-sale contingency. Some contracts go further and specify that the triggering offer must be at the same price or higher, or must be a bona fide offer meeting certain minimum terms. Tighter trigger language helps the buyer by preventing the seller from using a weak offer as leverage.
- Proof-of-funds requirement. Some contracts require the buyer to show written verification from a financial institution that they have enough funds to close when they waive the contingency. This protects the seller from a buyer who waives on paper but can’t actually perform.
- Which contingencies must be waived. The home-sale contingency is the obvious one, but some bump clauses require the buyer to waive all remaining contingencies in response, not just the home-sale condition. Push back on this if you can, since waiving an inspection or appraisal contingency under time pressure creates added risk.
Having an attorney review the clause before you sign is worth the cost for both sides. The language runs only a few paragraphs, but a vague trigger definition or an ambiguous delivery requirement can turn a straightforward mechanism into a dispute.
Bump Clause vs. Right of First Refusal
People sometimes confuse bump clauses with a right of first refusal, but the two work in opposite directions. A bump clause lets the seller pursue and accept better offers, then forces the original buyer to respond or leave. A right of first refusal requires the seller to go back to a specific party and offer them the chance to match any new offer before accepting it. The right of first refusal protects the holder’s ability to buy; the bump clause protects the seller’s ability to sell.
In residential transactions, bump clauses are far more common. A right of first refusal is more typical in commercial leases, family property transfers, or situations where a tenant has a contractual option to purchase the property they are renting.