What's the difference between under contract and under deposit?
One of my readers asked me this question and I would like to thank her for asking. We often assume that people understand our lingo as well as we do, so it is good to be reminded that we could explain things better.
In the Connecticut MLS, we differentiate the status of a listing with SHOW and DEPOSIT. SHOW means that there is an agreed-upon contract with contingencies that have not yet been met. The most common contingencies are usually a mortgage contingency, an inspection contingency, and sale of buyers' residence contingency (Hubbard), but there are others. SHOW also means that the sellers can continue to show the property if they choose to, which is the norm especially with a Hubbard clause. If there is no Hubbard, many sellers elect to not have any more showings.
Once all contingencies have been met, the status is changed to DEPOSIT. This means that the buyers have obtained their mortgage commitment, completed their home inspections, negotiated for any repairs, etc. At this point, the parties are simply waiting for a clear to close.
When I report on monthly market statistics, I use the terms Under Contract for homes with SHOW status and Under Deposit for those with DEPOSIT status.
Again, I appreciate your questions; keep them coming!
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Peggy Chirico, REALTOR®
Serving the Greater Hartford Area
Prudential CT Realty
peggychirico@gmail.com
860-748-8900
If you are buying or selling a home in Hartford County or Tolland County, please call me, email me, or visit my website. I would be happy to help you with your home search or provide a market analysis for your home.
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Wow, I never came across the "deposit" description. We have contingent/show or contingent and contingent/kick out. We can also make comments as to the nature of the contingency
Hi Kathy - I know every state is different so I was sure to specify that this is for Connecticut. It's interesting to hear about how things are handled in other states.
Peggy, you are right most Buyers and Sellers do not understand this, but you did a great job on making it very clear in this blog.
Wow, I've never heard of the term deposit before. But what a good idea to define an under contract with a bit more information regarding its status. Here we only have active, pending, closed, expired or temp.off.
Hi George - People ask me this all the time. I can't believe I just decided to write about it now!
Hi Brenda - Now I wonder if any other states use the same terminology that we do. It is not self-explanatory.