What does ‘contract ready’ mean on house ad?

[Bol87]

There’s an estate agent round our way that has 2 or 3 houses up with ‘CONTRACT READY’ in capital letters at the start of the ad - what does this mean? I assume different to chain free or they’d surely just say that? I obviously could just contact them but at the mo, I’m more just keeping an eye on the market at the mo! Thanks!

I don't think it's the same as chain-free - I think it would be "contract ready" if the vendors have found and done all the searches etc on the property they want to move to, but obviously can't sign their completion documents until they sell their current property so they want to move swiftly. It probably doesn't mean much. Any sale can fall through, even when chain-free. The phrase did its job which was to get you to pay some attention.