Where cozy means tiny and charming means needs work.
A home that needs so much work it should come with a hard hat and a therapist instead of keys. HGTV has convinced an entire generation that these are charming weekend projects and not financial sinkholes.
The practice of buying a terrible house, slapping on some gray paint and vinyl plank flooring, then selling it for twice the price. Thanks to reality TV, every person with a hammer now considers themselves a real estate mogul.
A completely made-up number that everyone pretends is scientific because an appraiser with a clipboard said so. It's "fair" the same way a casino is "fair" -- technically accurate but someone always feels robbed.
When the bank decides it wants its house back, like a toddler reclaiming a toy it forgot about until someone else started playing with it. One person's financial tragedy is another person's "investment opportunity."
Short for For Sale By Owner, which is real estate speak for "I watched one YouTube video and now I don't need a professional." The savings on commission are usually offset by the cost of mistakes only a professional would have caught.
Personal property that has been permanently attached to real estate and legally becomes part of the property. The eternal battleground of what stays and what goes when you sell.
The Federal National Mortgage Association, a government-sponsored enterprise that buys mortgages from lenders to increase housing market liquidity. Despite the folksy nickname, it's a massive financial entity that basically keeps the mortgage market from seizing up.
A FEMA-designated area with specific flood risk levels that determine insurance requirements and costs. It's the government's way of telling you that 'waterfront property' might be more literal than you hoped.
Full Interest Assumption—when a buyer takes over the seller's existing mortgage with full lender approval, including qualifying based on creditworthiness. The respectful way to inherit someone else's loan terms.
The ratio of total building floor area to the size of the land parcel, expressed as a decimal that determines building bulk. A FAR of 2.0 means you can build twice the square footage of your lot, just stack it up.
The Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, Fannie Mae's government-sponsored sibling that also purchases mortgages to stabilize the housing finance system. Together they're like the Batman and Robin of mortgage liquidity, if superheroes needed periodic taxpayer bailouts.
The bank's legal power move when you can't make mortgage payments, essentially repo'ing your house and evicting your dreams of homeownership. It's the financial equivalent of 'if I can't have you, nobody can,' except it's your lender and your property. The process involves courts, judgments, and that sinking feeling that you should have read the fine print.