Lately I have to tell a lot of people that ‘this home is pending’ or ‘under contract’ and sometimes I get a question, “what does that mean?”
It means that a seller and buyer have come to terms, to an agreement on the sale/purchase of that particular real estate and put in writing. The property is sold subject to the terms of the purchase contract and any addenda attached to it.
Once this happens the seller cannot accept another offer, unless that subsequent offer is in a back up position. A back up contract may go into the first position, subject to the term of the back up agreement, if the first position offer falls though.
A transaction that is pending is one in which the seller has more confidence that the transaction will close. There are less contingencies to fulfill.
A transaction is AWC when there is less certainty and security about the purchase contract. This is more common with short sales where there is an additional party involved in the decisions and sometimes bank owned properties.
I’m seeing more AWC designations for normal sales.
It can be confusing. It is not something set in stone even though there are rules. Some agents leave a property active even though it is under contract, at least until the inspection period is over. This is a clear violation of the MLS rules and essentially false-advertising and very annoying. The proper designation would be AWC and once the property is over its inspection period Pending.
