What Does Pending Mean in Real Estate? Pending vs. Contingent, Explained

From the lender's perspective pending is when the real work starts in the real estate transaction. Things like the appraisal can come back with conditions and the underwriter must work through them. Someone calls the employer to reverify the VOE and then a closing disclosure will go out. Plenty can still go wrong in that window. Pending doesn't always mean gone.

Pending means the seller has accepted an offer and the listing has come off the active market while the buyer and seller work toward closing. The industry's own MLS feed, from their local mls, defines it just that way: accepted offer, no longer on the market.

Depending on the market that you're in, things can differ from this definition. San Antonio's and North Texas's MLSs only let a listing go pending once the contingencies are cleared, which actually matches the Zillow definition. Houston's MLS, by comparison, only means that the agent can't show the house. So "pending means" slightly different things depending on where you're looking, and the the selling agent will tell you which one you're dealing with and what process you have to follow.

What "pending" doesn't mean is that the home is sold. A home is truly sold and closed when the mortgage funds at the title company and the deed is recorded at closing. Until then the deal is not done.

"Under contract" is a general term for any house that has an accepted offer on it. Contingent and pending are the two stages inside of this definition.

A contingent status means the seller accepted the offer but the deal still depends on the conditions, and the buyer can walk away. Pending is further along in the process, which is why it's the status sellers want to reach. For other buyers in the market that look at the house on Zillow, contingent is the better odds because more can happen or they are contingent on outside conditions (like, for instance, getting their house sold).

The most common contingencies

Most purchase agreements carry some mix of these, each with its own deadline:

• Home inspection contingency: the buyer can demand repairs or walk away from the house based on the inspection they receive.
• Appraisal contingency: protect the buyer if the home doesn't appraise at the value agreed upon.
• Financing contingency: protects the buyer if mortgage approval for a conventional loan or government-backed loan does not go through. You can also see it called a mortgage contingency.
• Home sale contingency: it makes the deal that you inked dependent on the buyer selling their current home first before this one closes.
• Title contingency: requires a title underwriter to search and make sure there are no surprise liens or unpaid taxes.

When all of one of these are satisfied or waived, then the listing moves from contingent to pending.

Zillow's labels come straight from the local MLS feed, so they follow your market. Deals still in the contingent stage usually stay in for-sale results tagged "Under Contract," "Contingent," "Accepting Backups," or "Active Under Contract." Pending status gets its own label. The two filters that we are looking at are: "Pending & under contract" and "Accepting backup offers" both turned off by default, naturally a home that looks like it's pending drops out of an MLS search. If you're tracking or saving a house, it will still show up but not typically on a general search.

The home stays pending on the MLS until it's reported as sold, and this is normal, which tracks the closing date they have in the contract. If the deal falls apart then it goes back to active and on the market.

Texas has some quirks when it comes to a pending status in the MLS. The standard TREC contract gives both the buyers and the sellers an option period as well as a negotiated window where they can walk away. The buyer will pay a small fee that's called an option fee for that right. If they terminate within the option period, the earnest money comes back to the borrower but the option fee stays with the seller. The Texas MLS tracks it with their own individual labels.

option pending is basically a version of contingency inside of Texas, where the buyer can still leave so the seller is still showing the property. In Houston the listing moves to pending and they continue to show on its own after the option period ends. Even then a pending Texas deal sometimes will fall apart. The TREC financing addendum will let a buyer back out of a contract if they fail to meet the lender's requirements. The requirements are typically appraised value or dti ratios

A house typically will stay pending for roughly a month. A recent agent survey put the median time from contract to close at around 29 days, and cash sales typically around 12 days. Lender data also backs it up. They clocked roughly 36 days for purchase loans from application to close in quarter one of 2026

Why would a property be pending for so long? Usually one of these:

• The appraisal came back and it was either delayed or came in low.
• Underwriting still has conditions but other missing documents can be the case or someone changes a job.
• The title search found something through underwriting, like a mechanics lien or unpaid taxes.
• The closing date was pushed out on purpose because the seller could be buying another home.
• A short sale that's waiting on the bank's approval and often takes months

Money will stretch as far as the lender says they need for time and it will run in this order (our overview of the mortgage process shows the full path):

1. Appraisal. The lender orders it after the contract is signed, and a low value can reopen negotiations.
2. Underwriting conditions. The underwriter asks for anything missing, from updated pay stubs to a letter explaining a deposit, and paying off debt during underwriting has its own rules.
3. Title search. Title will ensure clear liens and also that the seller can, in fact, sell for the purchase price, and then prepares the deed.
4. Closing Disclosure. Most lenders must deliver the CD at least 3 business days before closing so final closing costs and loan terms are locked in.
5. Final walkthrough and closing. Go through the home and make sure nothing changed from when you first saw the house, and this typically happens before signing.

From a lender's perspective there are a few different ways that a pending deal can be derailed, like opening new credit or changing jobs prior to closing. Our guide on credit score drops during underwriting covers why, and it's also why switching lenders before closing is rarely worth it this late.

You totally can. A backup offer can be signed when a seller is open to still showing the home as they aren't confident in the current buyers. Can a seller accept another offer while pending? Again only as a backup unless the contract states otherwise. Within Texas sellers can accept offers unless the TREC contract rules it out.

a kickout clause is a little bit different. This clause shows up when a buyer's purchase depends on selling the current home. In this case if the contract is written that way, the seller can keep showing the home. If another offer comes in that's not contingent on a sale, then the first buyer can technically be pushed out as a backup or be forced to step aside

More often than not people will think the answer depends on the source you're reading.

different sources will give you different data. Redfin counts listings that flip from pending or contingent back to active against their monthly numbers while the National Association of Realtors asks agents about their most recent deals. In any regard pending houses are far from a sure thing and the Texas market runs well above the national average. Other surveys also indicate that 14% of contracts are delayed with either appraisal problems or financing contingencies

What happens to the earnest money deposit

if a buyer walks away from a home and they have an earnest money deposit with title, it depends on the dates that are set forth in the trust contract. That determines what happens to the EMD. If you are outside of the contingency dates, then that earnest money will typically go to the seller. But if, for instance, you don't meet your financing contingency and you're within those days on the contract, then you would get your money back