Should You Look at Contingent and Pending Homes?

What do the market terms “contingent” and “pending” really mean?

Today I’m answering a question that I get all the time from people who are looking online. They want to know what the difference is between contingent and pending. When people are house hunting, whether they’re first-time or experienced buyers, and they use a third-party site like Zillow or Trulia, they’ll see a lot of properties that show up as contingent or pending.

If a house is contingent, it’s probably contingent on the buyer doing an inspection and signing off or it could be contingent on getting a loan for their deal to go through. If it’s pending, that means they’re past the contingencies. A lot of those could be cash deals. In essence, they’re under contract and off the market. That being said, we’re seeing some of those properties come back on the market due to low appraisals and negotiations falling apart. 

If you have any questions about these, I’d be more than happy to answer them. Feel free to reach out to me via phone or email at any time. I look forward to hearing from you.