Saturday, April 6, 2013

What does the yellow letter next to a listing mean? (contingent upon...)

As you are searching on the MLS for homes for sale, you will sometimes see a little yellow letter next to the listing. Here guideline of what those letters mean so you know what you're dealing with when you run across them. 

"P" means "pending" - this means SOLD, no contingencies, just waiting for closing day.

"I" means "contingent upon inspection" - not very often does it go back up for sale, but at any time until it is removed, they will accept back up offers.  During the inspection time frame, homes can still be viewed so it may be worth looking at and/or submitting an offer, hoping that they will run into some small issue that would give the seller the option to pass on their current offer and take the back up offer(s) that are submitted to them.  Usually the only time the back up offer even gets considered is if its a really good one.  If the current buyer requests any repairs (even small), then the seller would have the option of cancelling their current signed contract and moving on to the new backup offer. (This is a good thing to keep in mind if YOU are the buyer having the inspection, many buyers don't realize that once they request even the smallest repair to the seller that it opens the seller up to cancel their current contract and move on to any back up offers they may have.)

"R" means "right of first refusal", this means the sellers have accepted an offer from a buyer who has a home to sell and it is not sold yet.  At any time, these properties can be viewed and offers can be submitted.  In this case, offers have a better chance of getting accepted because the current buyers hands are sometimes tied and there's not much they can do in the time frame they've agreed to remove their contingency. Each situations time frame is different, it depends on what they agreed on at the time of the offer - usually 24,48 or 72 hrs is the time frame that the current buyer would have to either get their home sold, do a bridge loan or just decide to have 2 mortgages until they can get their home sold. If after the time frame passes, the buyer is unable to remove that contingency, then the seller would be able to take the offer that was submitted to them.

"B" means "accepting back up offers", this means they have a current accepted offer but are willing to take back up offers in case the current offer falls thru.  Usually the agent will put this on a listing they feel has the possibility of not making it all the way to closing for one reason or another. Sometimes they will put it on there for no apparent reason whatsoever which doesn't make sense to me but it happens and is potentially a waste of everyone's time, so if you are interested in a home that has this letter next to it, just let me know, it is best for me to call the listing agent to find out the details on that particular listing.

"S" means "see private remarks", private remarks are only viewable to realtors.  Contact us and we can let you know the details on that particular property.

If you have any other questions as you're searching, feel free to call us anytime, we'd be glad to explain things to you or get more information on any listing.  Good luck in your house search!

Remember... the national sites have a lot of inaccurate information: sold homes, spam, incomplete data, very few pictures and only "some" of the listings for the Fargo Moorhead Area.  The ONLY place you will find accurate and complete listings of all homes for sale is on the Fargo Moorhead MLS - you can access the full site here: www.fmrealtors.net

Call/Email or Text us an address if you would like to see ANY home listed by any company/realtor - we'd love to show it to you!

Happy House Hunting!

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