As with any industry, real estate has its own jargon. These terms can add even greater complexity to an already complicated process for buyers or renters looking to make one of the largest purchases of their lives.
Deciphering agent code and industry lingo is yet another layer of effort many buyers lack the time for on top of their property search. Our goal is to provide you with a comprehensive guide to some of the most common real estate lingo.
Glossary of Real Estate Jargon:
- Off-Market: An off-market property transaction is a sale that hasn’t been officially marketed to the public. Moreover, it’s a method of sale that has benefits for vendors and buyers.
- As-is: In real estate, an as-is property is one that’s listed for sale in its current state, meaning that any issues or problems with the home will not be addressed by the seller.
- Due Diligence: Due diligence is the investigation of every aspect of a property that could affect its value and suitability as a home or investment. For many buyers, due diligence involves little more than a building and pest inspection and contract review. These steps are essential, but only form part of the process.
- Property Portfolio: A property portfolio is a collection of investment properties owned by an individual, a trust or a company. Individual investors typically live in one of the properties they own and rent out the others.
- Appraisal: An appraisal is required to gather the estimated value of a piece of real estate. During the home sale, the mortgage lender sends out an appraiser to get a professional opinion of the value of the property. This helps the lender decide if the property is worth the amount of the loan the potential buyer is seeking.
- 66W: 66w certificate is a certificate signed by a solicitor or conveyancer acting for the purchaser which has the effect of waiving the purchaser’s 5 business day cooling-off period.
- LUG: (Lock up garage) is essentially when the buyer has full access and the only set of key’s to the property. It refer’s to the point in time where you’re able to effectively ‘lock up’ the house. Reaching the lock up garage stage is a pretty significant milestone when you’ve completed your property search.
- Land Lease: Traditionally, when you purchase a home, you own the home and the land the property is built on. There are some circumstances that involve a land lease, which means you would own the home while paying rent to the landowner for the land.
- Vendor bid: A bid that is set by the auctioneer on behalf of the vendor during an auction, to establish a fair starting price.
- Title: A property titles hols a bundle of legal information about a piece of property, including details about the land and who owns it or has a mortgage on it.
- Seller’s market: A situation in which supply is scarce and demand for property is high, leading prices to remain high.
If you ever need help with any real estate terms, please don’t hesitate to contact a member of our team to help clarify.