Glossary
Here’s a list of real estate lingo we use on this blog pretty often. They’re in no particular order right now. But we’ll update this page from time to time, so check back. Or suggest a term you’d like defined by emailing us at Admin@ThePhoenixAgents.
Short Sale – a home that’s still owned by the homeowner, who’s trying to sell it. But today’s prices are lower than the owner’s mortgage balance, so the seller’s lender needs to take a short payoff and write off the unpaid mortgage balance as bad debt. Sellers in this situation cannot sell their home unless their lender(s) approve the sale. As of Spring 2011, waiting for the seller’s lender to OK the sale takes 2 to 9 months, and you get a “yes” only about 15% of the time. Some people would ask, “Why bother?” Buyers bother because short sale homes are selling at an average price significantly lower than “regular” sales. Sometimes, short sales are worth the wait.
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Search only short sale homes
Foreclosure – a house that’s been foreclosed on by the bank that used to hold the mortgage on the house. Sometimes people use the word as a verb, as in “the bank foreclosed on the owners who stopped paying the mortgage.” See also “REO”, below.
REO – short for Real Estate, Owned, it’s a term used to describe homes that banks have foreclosed on and re-possesed. You buy these directly from the bank; the former owners are long gone. They almost always need some elbow grease and work to make them wonderful, but the prices are lower than “regular” sales, and sometimes lower than short sales, so they’re worth a look.
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