What does UCB mean?
Third time this week that I've been asked this by my clients and thought it might be the perfect topic to discuss on my blog.
We have a few different monikers for real estate listings.
Active - Listing / home is active on the MLS
Pending - Listing / Home has a contract on the home and it's in the escrow process.
UCB - Listing / Home is Under Contract but Accepting Backup offers - the home is in the escrow process.
CCBS - Listing / Home is under Contract but the sale is Contingent upon Buyer's Selling their existing property.
TOM - Home is temporarily off the market
CNCLD - Listing is cancelled.
SOLD - self explanatory - SOLD, Venduto, Verkauft - sweetness to my ears.
Most homes today will go from Active to UCB and not to Pending.
The listing aggregators such as Zillow, Realtor.com, Trulia, etc show UCB listings as Active. This allows the real estate aggregators to have more properties to display and inquire about but it also allows listing agents to get more buyer leads "Thanks for calling about my listing at..., but we just received a contract on the home. But I have other homes that I can show you". UCB is a great lead generation tactic and way to pick up more buyers.
I also think that the Realtor organization / MLS encourages this to keep the Realtor relevant in the real estate sales process (but this is just my opinion).
I tell my clients to forward any UCB listings that they love to me and I can contact the listing agent, ask pointed questions about the listing and about the buyers who made the offer on the home. I've been selling real estate long enough where the other agent usually knows me and will be honest or I can spot a dishonest agent.
In reality, think about a UCB listing as Pending. This market is hot and a buyer who made an offer is usually very motivated to close on the home due to low inventory. Homes to fall out of contract and if my buyer loves the house, I'll call the listing agent and as professional courtesy to give me a heads up if they think that a listing is going south or the buyer's are active unsure about closing on the house.