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.