Real Estate Glossary

Real estate is an industry all on its own. All the individuals that are employed in the field are experts in their own right. Because it requires a certain expertise to work in, one who is interested in starting a business within the real estate world would need to understand the jargon spoken within the real estate industry. To do that, you would need to enrich your vocabulary and knowledge of the real estate terms you will surely encounter.

Here are some of the words commonly spoken by real estate brokers, agents and companies:

Amenity

The amenity or amenities are the features that are included with the property. For example, a hotel room would have amenities that are useful to the guests like a king-size bed, a spa bath, a sauna bath, a kitchenette, a television player, and many others. In a home property, amenities would be the lawn, the surrounding gardens, etc.

Amortization

This is the term that refers to the payment plan for the mortgage. When the real estate agent or broker is talking to you regarding the amount of money you put in monthly for repaying the financing of your home, then he is discussing to you the amortization plan for your property.

Annual Percentage Rate

This is the total cost of a mortgage loan. It involves a formula that takes as factors the annual interest rate, cost of insurance, etc.

Appraisal

When a property is to be sold, an appraisal is needed. This is a document that outlines the actual value of a property basing on current market factors. An individual called the appraiser usually comes up with the estimate, but it is the government assessor that is able to determine the actual market value of any given property.

Assumable Mortgage

When the current owner is no longer able to pay off his mortgage and decides to sell the property, the next owner will be able to continue paying off the loan if the house has an assumable mortgage. He will be able to assume the remaining costs of the mortgage upon purchase of the property.

Balloon Mortgage

The balloon mortgage is a type of loan that allows the borrower to enjoy low rates for a certain period of time. It is dubbed balloon because the borrower would have to deal with larger amounts of money when the period expires, since he would have to pay it in full or have it refinanced.

Bankruptcy

This is a legal situation wherein a borrower is unable to amass the necessary funds to pay off the mortgage loan. As a result, his assets are foreclosed and resold by the provider as payment for the obligation in default.

Building Code

The code is a law or regulation that governs how one can go about the construction of his property. This would include limitations or rules on what materials to use, the type of design or the manner of construction itself.

Certificate of Title

This is a document signifying ownership of the property.