Contingent in Real Estate: The seller accepted an offer, still, some conditions to meet. Pending, on the contrary, implies all of the contingencies have been met, and the transaction is in the process of closing. During the pending stage, probability of the deal collapsing is significantly low. Knowing this difference will enable buyers and sellers to estimate how far away a property is in the process of being sold and whether they can still have a chance to offer the backup bid.