Not All Homes Listed As "Active" on Zillow Are Actually Available — Here's What the Term Means

It's 1 a.m., and you can't sleep. You're questioning your career choices. You open up Zillow to see how much it would cost for you to leave all your problems behind and buy a home somewhere far away and live off the grid. We've all been there.

Whether you're doomscrolling or seriously thinking of buying a home, you're bound to find some confusing terms on Zillow. Here's what to know about "active" listings.

A home listed as active on Zillow essentially means that the property is available for sale and actively being marketed, according to Bode Builders. The seller is seeking offers and is open to negotiations. However, it's good to keep in mind that Zillow's listings are not always accurate. Zillow compiles information from different sources, one of which is user-submitted information.

If a property is listed as "active under contract," it means that the seller has accepted an offer, but there are still contingencies that have to be met before the sale can go forward. The owner can still show the house and accept other offers in case the first one doesn't work out, per Zillow. If the contingencies of the deal are not met in the set amount of time (usually 30-60 days), the original deal can be canceled.

Sellers cannot actually accept any backup offers until the original sale falls through.

If a home is simply "under contract" rather than "active under contract," it means that it is no longer on the market, and the seller is not accepting backup offers.

"Active kick-out" means that the property seller has accepted an offer, but they can continue to market the house until everything is tied up in a bow. If the seller receives a better offer than the original one, the first buyer gets a chance to respond before the seller makes a decision.

Zillow pulls information from private listing services, which may use different keywords and filters for their listings. Because of this, listings may use different terms to show that they're available, as noted in a Reddit post on r/Zillow.

A realtor on Instagram shared that although Zillow pulls from MLS, the data is not always live. "Reality check: Zillow is not the MLS, folks," she said, adding that listings are often pending or already closed before Zillow updates. She added, "Those online home values, they are computer guesses, not market analysis."

Many realtors on social media cooberrate her account, with videos of their own, saying that clients often come to them with a new listing only to find out the home is not available. These videos are usually ads for their own businesses, though. All in all, it's best not to get your hopes up too soon about a new listing.