If you're shopping for a house it's so important to know
and understand the different MLS statuses.
You don't want to waste your time falling in love with a house that's
pending, but you also don't want to overlook a
home that's CCBS. If you're thinking. 'what the heck is she
talking about?' Then stick around, because I'm breaking
down all nine of the MLS statuses you may come
across when hunting for a house in the Arizona Regional Multiple Listing
Service.
If this is your first time here, welcome! If you've been here before, thank you so
much for coming back and for spending your time with me.
My name is Lindsay and I'm a proud Anthem resident and your local REALTOR®
with the Wise Move AZ Team at Realty ONE Group.
On this channel we have a lot of fun talking about
all things Anthem and real estate every single Thursday,
and we absolutely love having you along for the ride.
As a REALTOR® I use the MLS to search for properties, for the most part.
This tends to give the most up-to-date information.
Although, I do need to consult sites like Zillow when we're talking about
properties that are 'For Sale by Owner' or not included in the MLS for some
other reason. As REALTORS® we typically pay an annual
subscription fee to the MLS in our areas of service for access to
that information. For us, that's the Arizona Regional
Multiple Listing Service or ARMLS for short. We sometimes call it
'ARMLS' for short, so if I do that throughout this video,
bear with me, I apologize and know that it's all the same thing.
The folks at the ARMLS do an incredible job of maintaining the integrity of the
data in the system. Because of the hard work they do we can
rely on the information in the MLS to see what homes sold for,
how long they were on the market, and so much other valuable data that influences
future listing prices, offer prices, and more. One of the most
valuable pieces of data ARMLS tracks is the current status of a property.
As you can imagine this is really important information when we're trying
to determine if this is a house you can buy. Maybe you've
been looking online and you've seen some homes listed as active,
others listed as under contract accepting backups, and maybe you've even
seen something like temporarily off the market.
What do all of these mean?! In this video I'm going to go through
each status a property can hold in the ARMLS,
and what it means for you when you're looking to buy a house.
Please note that these are not necessarily the same statuses you'll
find on sites like Zillow. In fact, it can often require some
serious digging to find the status of a property on sites like Zillow.
If you're looking to buy a house, I strongly recommend that you connect with
a local REALTOR®. They can set you up with access to the
MLS along with a ton of other expertise throughout the buying
process. If you already have a REALTOR®, that's great! If not, don't hesitate to
send us an email at Team@WiseMoveAZ.com. If you're buying in our
area we would love to help and if not it would be our pleasure to
connect you with an expert in your area. Also, before we jump in here, don't worry
about taking notes throughout this video. At the end of the video, I'll give you
access to a printable cheat sheet that you can keep handy
throughout your house hunting process. #1: Active.
Let's start with an easy one. Active means that the home is currently for
sale. It is actively available. Please note that
this doesn't mean that they haven't received offers,
or that they don't currently have an offer in hand...
they might! It just means that at this point they haven't
accepted an offer. When you're looking to buy a house an
active status is like a big flashing 'pick me' sign. Normally these homes are
accommodating showings. #2: UCB. UCB stands for
Under Contract Backups... uh.... That still isn't overly descriptive is
it? It means that the home is currently under contract,
i.e they've accepted a contract to purchase their home,
but they're open to accepting backup offers as well.
It doesn't mean that you can just come in with a higher or better offer
and just kick the current buyer out. If you submit an offer on a home that's UCB
and it's accepted you will be in a backup position.
The seller can only proceed with backup offers
if their current contract falls through. Anyways, we don't need to get into the
logistics of it in this video but suffice it to say that although this
home is still accepting offers, it isn't nearly as
available as a home that's active. A home that's marked as UCB will
continue to accrue days on market. If you're interested in a home that's
UCB you may still be able to tour it. Before you go too far with it, I
encourage you to have your REALTOR® find out as
much as they possibly can about the current contract. If they're through the
inspection period and there are no other contingencies it may not be worth your
time. #3: CCBS. CCBS stands for
'Contract Contingent on Buyer Sale'. A few months ago we did a video where we
explored what it looks like to accept a contingent offer.
If you'd like to check that out, I will link to it in the cards for this video.
In many ways CCBS is very similar to UCB. These sellers have accepted a contract
to purchase their home but they're open to accepting backup
offers as well. The big difference is that when a home
is CCBS, we know that the sale is contingent on
the buyers ability to sell their current home. This
definitely adds a layer of complication and can put the transaction
in a more precarious position. The way backup offers are handled on a home that
are CCBS are a bit different than the way backup offers are handled on a home
that's UCB, but I'm thinking it's probably best if
we save the logistics of that for a future video.
A home that's CCBS will continue to accrue days on market. If there's a home that
you're interested in that's CCBS, it's definitely worth looking into and
at least finding out what stage of the process they're at.
Again, if they're too far along it may not be worth your time,
but if the current contract is on rocky ground
this might be the perfect time to swoop in with your offer.
#4: Coming Soon. Coming soon is a status that was created in 2020.
It replaced a status formerly called 'Delayed' status and made some changes.
Coming soon is exactly like it sounds! The home isn't officially on the market
yet but it will be soon. There are a number of
rules that agents and their clients must follow when using the coming soon status,
and it has definitely been the cause for some confusion. A home can only be listed
as coming soon in the ARMLS for a maximum of 30 days. After that
it automatically switches to 'active'.
Showings may be permitted when a home is coming soon.
That's up to the seller. The seller can technically accept an
offer while the home is in coming soon status, as well. A home in coming soon
status will not accrue days on market. Please note that
the purpose of a coming soon status is to generate a bit of buzz before the
home officially hits the market. It's not the same as a pocket listing
because it's available to all subscribers of the MLS.
It's also worth noting that homes that are listed as coming soon in the MLS,
are not syndicated to sites like Zillow until they're switched to 'active'.
That being said, because showings may be permitted and the seller may accept an
offer, if you see a home that's listed as coming soon that you're interested in
don't wait for it to be switched to active to make your move.
In my opinion, this is the most complicated of the MLS statuses.
If you have questions about the coming soon status leave them for me in the
comments and we'll get them answered!
#5: Pending. Pending is a lot more cut and dry than some of the previous
statuses. This means that the seller has accepted
an offer to purchase their home, and the home is no longer being marketed
for sale. There are a number of reasons why a seller may decide to go
pending. They may not want to entertain any more showing requests,
or they may just be really confident that the current transaction is going
through. A home that was marked as UCB or CCBS
may be switched to pending when they're through all of their contingencies.
In many cases, a home that is pending is just counting down the days until
closing. I like to think of it as a train heading
into the station. If you see a home that's marked as
pending it's usually best to just move on,
this home is not actively for sale. Your agent can always reach out to the
listing agent for more information, but I wouldn't get your hopes up on this
one. #6: Closed. Okay, this is another pretty easy
one. If a home is marked as closed it is sold,
finished, finito, done! This house is not currently for sale.
Closed homes are important when we're running comps to determine the value of
a property, but they're not all that helpful when
you're looking for a house to buy. #7: Expired. If you see a home
that is marked as expired, it means that the contract between the
listing brokerage and the seller has expired. This could
mean any number of things. The listing agent and the seller could
be renegotiating terms before marking it as
active again, the seller could be signing with a different agent, the seller could
decide that they no longer want to sell. Honestly, if there's a listing that
you're interested in that's marked as expired,
I recommend having your agent reach out to the previous listing agent to get as
much information as they can. If the previous listing agent isn't able
to assist, your agent could try reaching out to the
seller directly. Ultimately when a home is marked as
expired, it is not currently for sale. This status will always require a little
bit more digging on a case-by-case basis, to understand the seller's intention.
#8: Temporarily off market. This is another status that's exactly like it
sounds. For whatever reason this home has been
taken off the market for the time being. Maybe the seller is having work done on
the property or maybe they just need a break for personal reasons.
When a home is temporarily off the market or
'TOM' for short, it does not accrue days on market. When a home is in TOM status it
is not actively for sale. If a home you're interested in goes
temporarily off the market, have your agent talk to the listing
agent. The listing agent may be able to give an indication of the circumstances
and they may have an idea of when the home will be back on the market. Much
like expired this status requires research on
a case-by-case basis to determine the seller's intention.
#9: Cancelled. Dun...Dun... DUN! Last but not least, we have the canceled
status. This means that the home is not for sale at this time. This can
happen for a number of reasons. The seller may have decided that they no
longer want to sell their home at this time,
or they may have decided that they no longer want to work with their agent.
It's possible that this home will be relisted with a different brokerage,
but I don't want you to get your hopes up. Your agent may be able to connect
with the previous listing agent or the seller directly to learn a little
bit more about their intentions. So there you have it! What do you think? I
hope that this video has helped you to understand
the many different statuses you may come across in the ARMLS when you're looking
to buy a home. As promised, if you'd like to download a
copy of our cheat sheet that shows all of the different statuses
and what they mean at a glance click the link in the description box below.
If you found this video helpful let me know by hitting that like button,
subscribing to our channel, and leaving me a comment. Lastly,
if you want to make sure that you're truly prepared to buy a home
click to watch this video up top where we run through common home inspection
findings, or if you'll be starting your house
hunting journey from afar click to watch this video on the bottom
where we share our best tips for virtual house hunting!
Enjoy those and I'll see you next Thursday!