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Real Estate Words You Should Know
When you are selling or buying a home, you will come across a variety of words you may never have seen before. Legal words, and those that are commonly used in the real estate business, can slow the process down if you don’t understand what they mean. At Royal Canadian Realty, we can help you feel more comfortable and prepared as you proceed in buying or selling your home. One way we can do this is by explaining what some of these real estate words mean.
Home Value Report
This is a report that assists in coming up with the listing price for the home. A qualified individual evaluates the home for sale and recommends a price. The recommendation uses many factors to determine this price, including the prices other houses in the area have sold for. A Home Value Report or Competitive Market Analysis (CMA) will help you understand the worth of your home.
Pre-Approval and Pre-Qualification
Pre-Approvaland Pre-Qualification sound very similar but are actually different aspects of the house buying or selling process. Pre-Approval happens before you give an offer on a home. The mortgage lender looks over your credit and other information, then approves you for up to 90 days for a set loan amount. Pre-Qualification just estimates how much you can afford to spend when you are looking for a home to purchase.
Escrow
This is an account that moves the funds between a home buyer and the seller. Escrow is a third party for transactions. You may hear the term, “held in escrow,” when talking about property taxes, insurance, and Earnest money.
Offer and Counter Offer
An offer is what you get when someone is interested in buying your home. Your agent will call you and talk to you about the amount the seller is willing to give, as well as the offer’s details. You don’t have to take the offer and can look at other offers. When you are buying a house, your agent will help you make a good offer. Offers don’t always get accepted. A counter offer is when an offer gets adjusted by the seller. A buyer sends in an offer, and after the seller looks it over, the seller sends back a counter offer. Agents, like those at Royal Canadian Realty, often take care of these situations.
Due Diligence Period
This is the time after an offer on the home is accepted, and the home for sale is looked over thoroughly. Buyers usually walk through the home one more time and bring an inspector. The inspector will look at everything from the roof, foundation plumbing, and lights. The inspector will make a report of any issues which is given to the seller to fix or make a deal with the buyers to take money off the sale and the buyers will fix it after closing. This is also the time where the buyer can back out of the deal.
Pending and Closing
Pending is when the buyer and seller are done discussing offers and the sale has little chance of falling through. The closing process takes time and there is a lot of signing papers. It is when the final deal is done when buying or selling a home, money is transferred, papers signed, and loan finalized.
Understanding these words will help you navigate the real estate world a bit easier. With Royal Canadian Realty, you can ask questions whenever you don’t understand a word or process. We are here to help you find your dream home and make it a memorable experience. Let our agents help you today, so you can move in tomorrow.