Where cozy means tiny and charming means needs work.
When one agent represents both buyer and seller in the same transaction, creating a conflict of interest wrapped in a commission opportunity. It's like having the same lawyer represent both parties in a divorce.
Annual net income divided by annual debt payments, basically whether you're making enough money to pay your mortgage.
A single building cleverly divided into two separate dwelling units, allowing property owners to live in one half while collecting rent from neighbors who share their walls. It's the real estate equivalent of having your cake and eating it too, assuming you don't mind hearing your tenant's TV through the drywall. In postal circles, it's also a fancy stamp cancellation, but nobody cares about that definition anymore.
A transaction where you simultaneously buy and sell properties, often used in wholesaling to hide profit margins from the actual buyer.
The percentage of your gross monthly income that goes toward debt payments, used by lenders to determine if you can afford a mortgage. It's basically a mathematical judgment of your life choices.
The soul-crushing process of moving farther from urban centers until home prices match your budget, trading your commute time for square footage. It's the reason some people spend three hours a day in traffic.
A known problem the seller admitted upfront—the legally mandated 'surprise spoiler alert.'
A court order making borrowers personally liable for the difference between foreclosure sale proceeds and loan balance. The foreclosure wasn't punishment enough—now they want your other assets too.
How long a property has been listed before sale—the real estate equivalent of checking your expiration date.
A lender's way of determining if you have too many bills relative to income, basically calculating how much of your paycheck goes to debt obligations.
Legal documents that prove you own property and transfer that ownership from one person to another. Think of a deed as the property equivalent of a receipt, except way more important and filed at the courthouse.
A mortgage clause requiring full repayment when the property sells, preventing assumption of loans on favorable terms.
A provision allowing a borrower to terminate a mortgage by substituting government securities with the same cash flow as the remaining loan payments. It's essentially swapping your mortgage debt for Treasury bonds.
That short private road connecting your house to the street, where you park your car and contemplate life's decisions. Real estate's way of saying 'personal road to your personal space.'