What is pending vs contingent vs under contract?

0 votes
asked Dec 30, 2021 in Real Estate - Renting by Morristri (1,040 points)
What is pending vs contingent vs under contract?

1 Answer

0 votes
answered Dec 30, 2021 by Constanza (900 points)
Contingent and Under Contract means that the seller has accepted the offer from the buyer but the sale is pending and they are waiting for closing and the loan to be approved etc.

Pending also means the same the same thing but also when a sale of a home or property is in pending status it means that other conditions have been met and the sale is more likely to go through.

There's no difference between contingent and under contract as when a home or property is under contract it's also in contingent status which is pending sale and the seller has accepted the offer.

Under Contract' is probably the most accurate way to describe a pending or 'contingent' sale.

It means the same as the other statuses above; a buyer and seller have agreed to terms and have executed a contract.

But, the contract has yet to go to closing.

An offer for a house is legally binding once you sign the contract.

However although the offer on the house is legally binding you can get out of it if your bank denies the loan for the house.

Pending offers do sometimes fall through.

For example if the bank denies the loan or the buyer decides to back out of the deal.

However most times a pending offer will go through although sometimes a buyer may find something better and then decide to cancel the offer.

Under contract is not really the same as in escrow although some places use escrow and under contract interchangeably.

Real estate escrow simply means holding on to promises made by the buyer and seller to buy and sell while they get their ducks in a row.

Buying a house is a major transaction valued at hundreds of thousands of dollars and requires third parties.

This post will help you understand the escrow process and how it helps make real estate purchases work.

When a house goes under contract it means that the seller of the house has accepted a buyers offer and they are waiting for the loan, money etc to go through and are waiting for the paper work to be done.

When a house is under contract, it means that an offer has been made on the home by a buyer that the seller has accepted.

However, the sale of the home is not yet final as there are a number of things that need to happen before the closing.

Typically the home will be listed as contingent or pending.

Pending usually is a better signal the property is headed to the closing whereas contingent means there are other conditions that need to be met.

Before the sale is finalized, all contingencies in the contract must be met.

You can put an offer on a house that already has an accepted offer.

So if the pending offer falls through then you can be in line to buy the house if the other buyers offer falls through which it sometimes does.

Under contract is not the same as pending.

When a home or property is pending then it means that the things in the under contract have been satisfied and a home or property that is pending is closer to closing on the sale.

For a home to be listed as pending, that means the home is under contract and there are no longer any contingencies on the sale.

Once a property is listed as pending, the home is much closer to actually being sold than when it's under contract.

Under Contract on Zillow means that the seller of the property or home has accepted an offer from a buyer.

However the under contract does not mean the house has actually been sold for sure but instead it means that the seller accepted the offer from the buyer and is waiting for the money and the paper work to go through.

Once the money gets to the seller and the paperwork is signed then the house or property should state sold and no longer under contract.

You can still put an offer for a home or property that is under contract but if the other buyers offer goes through then the house or property will be sold.

UNDER CONTRACT – indicates a property where an offer has been written and accepted by both parties.

Many things can go awry during the under contract period and a fair number of homes will come back on the market.

PENDING – means that all of the above have been satisfied.

Buying a home with a pending sale is difficult – but not impossible.

The buyer will need to cancel the sale first before the seller can consider your offer.

If you do have serious interest in a pending home, you can submit a backup offer for consideration in case the pending offer falls through.

101,389 questions

97,089 answers

1,291 comments

7,003,425 users

...