Many times buyers that are searching for homes on the Inernet contact us to ask us what the term 'Pending Sale' means. Basically, what it means is that you are too late and out of luck. It means that no other offers are being considered. This happens a lot to persons that believe they are search for homes on the MLS just because the homes appear to be active on the Internet...when it isn't. They believe they do not need an agent. They cannot beleive that each home they look at is no longer available. The reality is quite different...they are viewing ads on the Internet instead of live MLS data.
The term 'Pending' means the home is going to closing and that no other offers are being considered. If you are search for homes on the web, you may be making the same mistake that many potential home buyers are making...they assume they are looking at live data the MLS, they are not. What buyers are looking at is a shared listing of other brokers called "Broker reciprocity" or "IDX." That data is only required to be updated in many cases once a week. So you may be missing out on a lot of fine homes that would have been available to you if only you knew about the updated listing or status change.
If you are working with a buyer's agent they could have easily set this up for you. This way, you will be notified automatically if a new listing comes on the market, the price is reduced, the home has come bck on the market, or that the home has changed status and is no longer available.
Virginia Homes for Sale & Maryland Homes For Sale
Arlington VA Homes, Homes Alexandria VA
Ellen Crawford CRS, GRI, ABR
703-722-1609
RE/MAX Distinctive Real Estate -1307 Dolley Madison BLVD, McLean VA 22101
Licensed in VA, MD, GA LOUDOUN VA REAL ESTATE BLOG 
Excellent advice Jim. I have had buyers call me with a list of homes they want to see, and not one of them is still available. It sometimes takes awhile for me to convince them that the sites they are checking are simply not current. Once I get them enrolled in a direct MLS search, we can concentrate only on those homes that are really active listings.
Why are consumers even seeing "pending" listings. They should come out of a public IDX site once the property listing goes under contract, if the status is correct.
We don't really have that problem, although occassionally a CONT/KO or CONT/NOKO may slip though.
Ahhh...Lenn you have a good point but how many agents are there that actually change their status in a timely manner? I have seen many in our MLS that they won't show as pending until the Inspections and Appraisals are done. Is it right? NO! Does anyone do anything about it? NO! Is it a violation of Board Rules? YES! But it doesn't make anyone behave any better. Many agents don't consider an offer pending until they are past the first phase of the contractural obligations and while I don't agree and I don't do this, I am not sure how to stop it. They won't even tell you they have a contract on it until they are through the inspections at the very least. It is terribly frustrating to buyer who finally find the home they want, go look at it, and then find out that there is already a contract on it and they probably can't buy it. It is one of my pet peeves! It's the greed of some agents who just want to keep those contracts coming until they are sure one will stick.
We don't have "Pending" status, but we do have "Contract" status and, since the listing agents enters the closing date in the system when changing status from ACTIVE to CONT or Contract, if they don't change status by the date, they get a reminder and if they don't change it then, they get a fine.
We have a very good MLS system.
We have just included a status for "Pending short sale" that is suppose to show on IDX as an active listing, but there are glitches that keep the public from seeing them. The regular pending sales do not show.
Susan Neal, Fair Oaks CA Real Estate Broker (Century 21 Noel David Realty) I agree. IDX was never meant ot replace the MLS.
Lenn Harley, Homefinders.com, MD & VA Homes and Real Estate Lenn it depends on whatever the controlling MLS rules are for IDX. Some MLS require a minimum update once a week. Each MLS has its own rules for compliance. Some IDX companies will update several times a day, while others will just do the bare minimums.
Sandra Paulow, Associate Broker, GRI (Aspen Properties, Inc. in Pinetop, AZ.) Sandra in many traditional offices the agents are not allowed to do their own entries. Staff enter it. I am licensed in several states and in GA..one MLS is broker owned, and there are fees involved each time their is a sale. In this economy until the final fees are paid...the status is not changed in the system.
Lenn Harley, Homefinders.com, MD & VA Homes and Real Estate Lenn, MRIS is one of the best systems in the nation.
Kay Van Kampen, CDPE, Broker, Springfield Missouri Real Estate (RE/MAX Solutions) Your example is a good one that each MLS and region has their own way of loking at the issues.
Ellen:
We also use the term Under Contract. This is after the attorney review is done and the deposit is posted.
Richard
Richard Stabile Bergen County New Homes Builder Realtor (REMAX real estate associates) That is a term used in most areas. To the buyer it usually means they are too late unless otherwise specified.