Not sure how it's done elsewhere, but here in Michigan houses were typically taken off the market once an offer was accepted..it is considered a pending sale and the home was in essence taken off the market. In today's market, since there are so many foreclosures, the bank owned proproperties and shortsales are marked CCS after an offer is accepted...this means agents can continue to show the home and write back-up offers until the bank has officially accepted the offer and the agent is sure the first deal will close. In a typical sale with an owner occupied property the home is considered to have a pending sale because to do otherwise is unfair to the potential buyer and frustrating to the seller. Imagine how you would feel as a seller to accept an offer only to have someone bring your agent a higher offer after you had accepted the first? In regards to the for sale sign still being up the day of closing, there are a few reasons for that..first of all, if the deal doesn't go through for any reason the agent has to pay to have a new sign installed, secondly, the sign may still generate calls to the office, it's considered advertising for the agent and thirdly, some agents I have known consider it 'bad luck' to remove the sign before closing. As I said, I'm sure things are different in other areas. Right now I'm taking the Florida Real Estate class and so far have not seen any major differences between Michigan and Florida (except I'm can be sure I'll never run into a gator here!)
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