Contingent Status

Posted by Paul Caparas on Monday, January 25th, 2010 at 2:27am.

In 2009, the Contingent Status was created for listings on the MLS.  And the question I would always get is "what does it mean?"  Well with Short Sales and Bank Owned Foreclosures dominating the market, having the Contingent Status helps show what homes are still available.  For instance, if a Short Sale is in Contingent status, most of the time it means that the seller already accepted an offer which has been sent to their mortgage lender to see if they can Short Sale their home.  From a buyers standpoint,  a buyer can submit an offer as a back up.  Now if you are asking why don't the Sellers Realtor just put the home in the Pending Status?  Well the Sellers Realtor can't until the mortgage lender approves the Short Sale because the sale of the home is subject to lenders approval.  With that being said, in my opinion the home is basically off the market unless the buyer wants to be a back up offer for a Short Sale which can take months to close... and that is if the first buyer backs out.

For Bank Owned Foreclosures, the Contingent Status is used when there are offers submitted to the Seller/Bank and the Sellers Realtor is waiting for a response. It doesn't mean the Seller/Bank already accepted an offer but they may have stopped accepting offers so it is good to check with the Sellers Realtor to find out status.

This Contingent Status is a good status to have but to get the most accurate status for a home for sale is to talk to the Sellers Realtor.  I even saw some listings that should be in the Contingent Status but is still listed in Active and vice versa so in the end, always find out what is going on with the Sellers Realtor because time can be wasted.  

Be the first to comment on this blog entry!

Leave a Comment