Under Contract vs. Pending: A Home Buyer’s Guide to Status Tags

Searching for a home to buy can be a time of excitement and anxiety. You may be building an online watchlist of homes you’re interested in seeing, but then you notice a label tagging your favorite property listing as “under contract” or “sale pending.” You wonder: what’s the difference between under contract versus pending? Can you make an offer on a home that’s under contract? What buyer contingencies might put a listing back on the market? What home contingency missteps should you avoid when making an offer? Find a Top Agent With Experience in Contingency Offers If you need to make an offer on a home with contingencies, you’ll want a top agent by your side who can avoid pitfalls and secure the home you want. We analyze over 27 million transactions and thousands of reviews to determine which agent is best for you based on your needs. In this post, we’ll explain terms like “under contract,” “sale pending,” and “active under contract” and what they mean for your home-buying journey. What does ‘under contract’ mean when buying a home? When you find a home listing marked as “under contract,” it indicates that the seller has accepted an offer from a buyer, but the sale is not yet final...