Real Estate Jargon- Are You in the Know?
I just saw a listing that stated the home is “stick-built on site.” And when I saw this term I had no idea what it meant, but the image is not a good one. So when I looked up the term “stick-built on site” I was surprised to find out that it is a lot different from what I imagined. I thought it was a home built in some “sort of” flimsy way. But come to find out- a stick-built home is a wooden house constructed entirely or largely on-site; that is built on the site that it is intended to occupy upon its completion rather than in a factory or similar facility.
The term “stick-built on site” got me thinking about all the real estate terms there are, and just how important it is to understand them. And I am not talking about real estate terms such as a “cozy home”- (which is a term for very small home.) I am taking about important real estate terms, I am talking about real estate terms every buyer and seller need to know.
Now, there are too many real estate terms to address in one blog post, but in this blog post I will go over four major real estate terms every buyer and seller must know.
As-Is: When you see the real estate term “as-is” generally that means the seller offers no warranty- as well as the sellers make no commitment to making repairs.
Backup Offer: When you hear the term “backup offer,” it is pretty straight forward. If you have a backup offer, it means the seller has accepted an offer from someone else, and it puts you in line to buy the home if the home falls out of escrow.
Contingency: Contingencies are incorporated in your purchase agreement- as well as they can sometimes be attached to the purchase agreement. A contingency makes said offer dependent on other factors.
Earnest Money: The term “earnest money,” typically is the buyers money needed to open up escrow, and the earnest money becomes a portion of the down payment that’s needed to close escrow. It is important to note: The earnest money sits in an escrow account and can’t be released without the buyer and the seller signature. And if “for some reason” you want to back out of the deal, as long as you stay within the time frame of your contingencies, once seller and buyer instruct escrow to cancel the deal- escrow will refund your earnest deposit in full.
If you are about to buy or sell real estate, hopefully, you understand the real estate jargon before you agree to it. And not only is it important to know the four real estate terms I’ve addressed today, but you also need to understand many other (if not all) real estate terms before buying or selling real estate! If there’s a term you want to know “or” if you want to add a real estate term in the comment section, please do so.
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