Answers by Michele Churchill

Pending means that the Seller has accepted an offer, but the sale has not yet completed. In my State (Montana) we have the option of noting the sale as "pending" or "under contract accepting back-up offers". This is very often at the discretion of the Seller. If the offer is very solid and has a high probability of closure, often the Seller does not want to be bothered with more showings, and the property is not available to see any longer. If the Seller feels a bit nervous about the deal, the Seller may very well want the property to continue to be shown, and would accept another offer to be in back-up position in case the first offer should fail.