Letters of the real estate alphabet – OP

When searching for homes buyers will find not only Spring Texas homes in an A status returned in their search results but also homes in an OP and PS status.  The A or Active status is the easiest status for potential home buyers to understand.  Its the other letters of the real estate alphabet that create all the confusion.

OP is an abbreviation for Option Pending.  A real listing with an OP status is a home that is under contract with an Option Period.  A home is officially under contract when the sellers and the potential buyers of the home have agreed to the terms of the sale and both parties have executed the documents.  Buyers will typically negotiate with the sellers for an Option Period to be included in the real estate contract.

The buyers pay the sellers a nominal fee for the Option Period which gives the buyers the unrestricted right to terminate the contract during a defined time frame.  The majority of real estate listings will move from a status of OP to P or PS which are other under contract statuses.

If the home you love has an OP status watch for status changes on the home because not all listings continue down to path to being sold.  Not often but sometimes the home does go back to an A or Active status.

Read also:

• If a real estate listing has a P or a PS status, what does it mean?