As a buyer, you’ll probably do a lot of your own internet searches for the perfect home at the right price. When you’re ready to start going on showings, it’s likely you’ll develop a relationship with a Realtor® who suits your needs. He or she will start emailing you listings that fit as many of your criteria as possible. These listings come from your local area’s MLS (Multiple Listing Service). Think of MLS as a huge database of homes that are for sale or have been for sale in the past. Only a real estate agent has full access to MLS, but all of the listings you find online are from sites that subscribe to MLS and are fed information directly from it.

Whether you’re finding the listings online yourself or getting MLS listings directly from your Realtor®, you’re likely to come across a few key listing status terms that you should understand. These are the common ones used in the southern Ohio region, but terms can vary by your location.

Active. This should be the most common listing status you’ll see on homes that interest you. Active means that the home is on the market and being offered for sale.

New. This is a new active listing on the market, usually entered into MLS within the last seven days. The newest homes on the market tend to get a lot of attention.

Pending. “Pending” status means that the home is under contract with a buyer. There are probably some contingencies that are still being met, such as a home inspection, the processing of the buyer’s loan, and title documentation. Listings with a pending status often include the words “will accept backup offers” in the status. This is usually a safeguard that sellers use so that buyers are still keeping their home in mind in case something prevents the sale from going through. Sometimes sellers will continue allowing other buyers to view the pending property just in case something goes awry with the sale. While sales do sometimes fall through, most buyers don’t like to waste time going through a property that is already in the process of being sold.

If you do view a pending home, you can submit an offer as a backup in case the other buyer fails to meet some aspect of the contract. If the buyer doesn’t hold up his end of the contract, the seller could terminate it and accept your offer instead. It’s probably not a good idea to go through a pending property hoping you can still submit a higher offer so that the sellers will break their current contract and accept yours. The seller is legally bound to their original contract (assuming both parties signed and the contract was delivered) and would need some kind of legal out in order to break a contract and accept your offer. It could be messy from a legal standpoint.

Sold. Obviously the term means the house is sold and no longer available. You’ll see this status when your Realtor® shows you comparable properties that recently sold. Your Realtor® should keep you informed about what prices other similar houses are going for in your desired location. Always keep the sold date in mind when looking at a sold property as a comparison. The real estate market often shifts, so a price you may see from a year ago may be “outdated” compared to current sold prices. Realtors® prefer to stay within a six-month range of using sold data.

Cancelled. A cancelled property is one that was on the market for a period of time and then the seller took it off the market. The usual reasons for this are (1) the seller decided not to sell the home for whatever reason, (2) the seller wanted to find another agent, or (3) the property has been on the market for a long time and the seller wants to take it off temporarily so that when they put it back on it will appear as a “new” listing. New listings tend to attract more attention. Your real estate agent is able to search a property’s history in MLS to see whether a home was recently cancelled and put back on the market.

Expired. When a seller lists a home with a real estate brokerage, there is usually a listing contract that lasts for around six months (that time varies). MLS changes a status to “expired” when that contract time has ended. However, many sellers simply relist the home again, either with the same brokerage and agent or different ones. Of course, some sellers do not renew a listing and their home is no longer for sale, but their property shows up in MLS as “expired” in the property’s history.

Withdrawn or Temporarily Withdrawn. These terms both mean that the seller has taken their property off the market but will probably make it available for sale again soon. Sellers use this status when they’ve decided to make some improvements or repairs to the property and they don’t want the property to be shown at this time. Or they are considering a new selling strategy and want some time before showing the house again. There could be other reasons for a temporary status, but these are the most common.

Price Change. This simply indicates that the seller has changed the price, usually within the past seven days. Buyers should note that a price change can be either a decrease or an increase.

Reduced. This status is a marketing strategy to help get buyers’ attention and see that a seller has lowered her price. Have your agent look up the original price as there is no guarantee that the reduction is significant. Sometimes sellers have only dropped the price by a small amount just to get the added attention of a reduction after the home has been on the market for a while. A home that has been repeatedly reduced in price by small increments is often a sign that the home is overpriced and the seller is having trouble coming to terms with that. And other times, a reduction in price puts a home right in the range buyers hope for so that deals are made.

Platinum Service Realty