Under contract or pending:
what is the difference?
Under contract describes the deal: both sides signed and the house is on its way to closing. Pending describes the listing, and it tells a buyer the seller has stopped taking showings and backup offers.
- Under contract means the buyer and the seller have both signed and the house is working its way to closing
- Pending is a Bright MLS status. It means the home has an accepted contract that has not closed, and the seller has stopped taking showings and backup offers
- Active under contract means the seller accepted an offer and is still taking backup offers, usually because something in the deal is not settled yet. Days on market pause while a home sits in pending or active under contract, and stop at closing
Explainer. Written by The JK Realty Group.
Two people can be talking about the same house and mean different things. A buyer says a listing went pending. The seller says they are under contract. Both are right, and the words are not interchangeable. One describes the deal. The other describes what the listing is telling the public about it.
Under contract is the deal. The buyer and the seller have both signed, and the house is working its way toward closing. A home stays under contract until it closes or the deal falls apart.
Pending is a status on the listing. On Bright MLS, pending means a home has an accepted contract that has not closed, and the seller has stopped taking showings and backup offers. It does not tell you what is still unsettled in the deal. A house can be pending with the inspection still open and a house can be pending with everything cleared, and the status reads the same either way.
There is one more status on the listing: active under contract. The seller accepted an offer but is still showing the home and may take backup offers while part of the deal gets settled. If you are still looking and a home you wanted shows active under contract, a backup offer may still be possible, and that is worth a call to your agent. Days on market are counted the same way in either status: the number starts the first day a home is active, pauses while it sits in active under contract or pending, and stops at closing.
If you are the one who just signed, your agent can tell you which deadlines are yours to hit. The loan dates come from your lender. What a clause in your own contract means for you is a question for a licensed New Jersey attorney.
Our take
On the standard form an agent prepares, attorney review runs first, and the deposit, mortgage and inspection dates count from the day review ends. If you just signed in South Jersey, ask for those dates in writing that week.
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Add The JK Realty Group as a preferred source on GoogleThis is how these statuses are used in New Jersey and on Bright MLS. What your own contract says, and what any of its dates mean for you, is a question for a licensed New Jersey attorney. General information, not advice about any specific property. The JK Realty Group, brokered with OMNI Real Estate Professionals. Equal Housing Opportunity. See our Terms of Use for how we source and credit these posts.
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