Pending means a property is not yet sold but has an accepted offer.
A property can be in a pending status for a number of reasons, including the following:
- The contract has been signed but not yet closed. This is also known as an "executed" contract.
- A buyer's financing has been approved and is waiting to be finalized in a single step called closing. Note that this could happen several months before completion of the sale because the buyer may need to find a new home to live in during the interim.
- The sale contract has been signed and is awaiting closing, or it may indicate that the buyer's financing has been approved but not closed. It could also be used in conjunction with other terms like "pending final approval" to indicate that a home inspection needs to be done before the deal goes through.
It can take weeks for pending contracts to close when there are multiple steps involved - such as getting an appraisal of the property or waiting on mortgage documents from the lender.
