Buying a condominium, no matter where you are in the world, is a daunting process. Much more so talking with agents or brokers who have been in the industry for quite some time and real estate banter is already second nature to them without them realizing that their client might not be familiar with the industry lingo. For the untrained person, whose only goal is to get the best deal out of his/her property investment, this could lead to miscommunication.

Learning real estate jargon is not that hard. Think about it as a collateral knowledge that’s tied up with your property investment.

To give you a leg up, here are some of the commonly-used terminologies in real estate that may sound familiar but has extended meaning in real estate.

Real Estate Agent

A person representative of the buyer (buyer’s agent) or that of the seller (listing’s agent) whether a property developer, brokerage firm, or an individual person.

Listings

A reference which contains a list of real estate that is either for sale, for lease, or foreclosed.

Appraisal

A property’s current market value (real) commensurate to other properties sold in the area and the property’s actual status itself. It’s also called the Comparative Market Analysis (CMA).

Amortization

Regular payment scheme which was aimed at paying both the principal value of the property and its interest, as a result of a loan.

Mortgage

Loan typically employed by property buyers in order to raise funds and put a lien to it.

Lien

A legal claim on another person’s property.

Cash Reserves

The money left for the buyer after paying off all expenses, including down payment and other closing costs.

Closing Cost

The expenses shouldered by the buyer—and sometimes by the seller—when a deal is closed.

Closing

A legally binding agreement between the buyer and the seller in completing a deal.

Contingency

A clause in the agreement which prevents matters from being legal unless a certain condition is met, as agreed by both parties.

The Condominium Act

An act created to define the term “condominium,” lay out the requirements for its creation, and the handling of any incidents pertaining to it. The act also separates the condominium as an entity from a residential, commercial, or industrial building.

Escrow

A neutral third-party involved in the mortgage which ensures safe transactions involving payments and documents.

Counter Offer

An offer presented after rejecting the original, superseding the latter if agreement is made.

Earnest Money

Money typically handed over by the buyer to the seller to signify good intent and faith in the transaction.

Deed

The legal transfer of an ownership of a property to the buyer.

Depreciation

The decrease in value of a property over time as affected by a number of factors including deterioration, loss of utility, and/or bad marketing conditions.

Equity

The difference between the property’s selling price and the amount of money to be loaned.

Power of Attorney

A legal document which empowers a person (the attorney) to represent a person (the principal) on his own discretion in matters involving business and property.

These are just few of the real estate terms that hopefully help boost your confidence with your real estate dealings.

Bottom line – ASK. There’s nothing wrong in asking and making sure that both of you are on the same page and everything is clear. At the end of the day, it’s your hard-earned money that’s getting invested on a property that you rightfully deserve ensuring that there’ll be no after-sales drama resulting from technicalities that you had understood differently.