Glossary
The words a sale throws at you, in plain English
Every term links to the guides and calculators where it matters. No jargon defined with more jargon.
1031 Exchange
A 1031 exchange lets an investor defer capital gains tax by selling an investment property and reinvesting the proceeds into another investment property under strict IRS rules — including identifying replacements within 45 days and closing within 180.
Full definition →Ancillary Probate
Ancillary probate is a second, supplemental probate case opened in a state where a deceased person owned real estate but did not live. Because land is governed by the law of the state where it sits, a house in another state generally cannot be sold or transferred until that state's court has acted.
Full definition →ARV (After-Repair Value)
ARV is what a property would sell for after being fully renovated to the neighborhood's standard — not its current as-is value. Investors base cash offers on ARV, then subtract repair costs and their margin.
Full definition →As-Is Sale
An as-is sale means the buyer accepts the property in its current condition, and the seller makes no repairs and gives no repair credits. It does not remove the seller's duty to disclose known material defects, which most states still require.
Full definition →Bumpable Buyer
A bumpable buyer is a buyer whose accepted offer is contingent on selling their own home under a bump clause: the seller keeps marketing the property, and if a better offer arrives the first buyer gets a short deadline, commonly 24–72 hours, to drop the contingency or be bumped out of the contract.
Full definition →Buy Box
A buy box is an investor's written purchase criteria: the property types, locations, price range, and condition levels they actually buy. A property 'fits the buy box' when it matches what that buyer is looking for right now.
Full definition →Buyer Matching
Buyer matching is a seller-side process that profiles a property and compares it against the buy boxes of many vetted cash buyers at once, so only investors whose strategy fits the property are introduced — producing competing as-is offers instead of one 'we buy houses' number.
Full definition →Cap Rate (Capitalization Rate)
A cap rate is a property's annual net operating income divided by its price. Investors use it in reverse to price income property: a park or building netting $100,000 a year at an 8% cap rate is worth about $1.25 million, and a lower cap rate means a higher price for the same income.
Full definition →Cash for Keys
Cash for keys is a negotiated payment to an occupant — a tenant, former owner, or family member — to vacate a property voluntarily by an agreed date, avoiding a formal eviction's cost, months, and hostility.
Full definition →Closing Costs
Closing costs are the transaction fees both sides pay to complete a sale — title and escrow fees, transfer taxes, recording fees, prorated property taxes, and lender charges on financed deals. Sellers typically pay 1–3% of the price, plus any agent commission.
Full definition →Comps (Comparable Sales)
Comps are recent sales of similar nearby properties used to estimate what a home is worth — the standard being similar size, condition, and location, sold within roughly the last six months within about a mile.
Full definition →Deed in Lieu of Foreclosure
A deed in lieu is voluntarily transferring a home's title to the lender to satisfy the mortgage and avoid a foreclosure case. The owner walks away without an auction on their record — and without any equity the house had.
Full definition →Due Diligence Period
The due diligence or inspection period is the contractual window after signing when the buyer can investigate the property and often cancel with their deposit back. In investor contracts it's where offers quietly die or get renegotiated — the shorter it is, the more real the offer.
Full definition →Earnest Money
Earnest money is a deposit the buyer puts down when a contract is signed, held in escrow by a title company or attorney, showing they're serious. If the buyer walks without a contractual reason, the seller typically keeps it.
Full definition →End Buyer
The end buyer is the person or company that actually closes and funds a real estate purchase, the one who takes title. In wholesaling, it is the investor the wholesaler assigns the contract to; the seller often never meets them until closing, if at all.
Full definition →Escrow
Escrow is a neutral third party — usually a title company or attorney — holding money and documents until both sides of a sale have performed. The buyer's funds sit in escrow until closing, when the escrow agent pays off liens, disburses proceeds, and records the deed.
Full definition →Estoppel Letter
An estoppel letter is an association's official statement of what a property owes it — dues, fees, assessments, violations — as of a date. Title companies order one in every condo or HOA sale so the exact balance can be paid and cleared at closing.
Full definition →Et Vir
Et vir is Latin for 'and husband.' On a deed or title record, 'Jane Smith et vir' means Jane and her husband both hold (or both conveyed) the property without the husband's name being spelled out. Its counterpart et ux (et uxor) means 'and wife'; et al means 'and others.'
Full definition →Hard Money Loan
A hard money loan is short-term, asset-based financing investors use to buy and renovate properties — approved on the property's numbers rather than the borrower's income, at high rates (commonly 9–13%+) with points up front, for terms measured in months.
Full definition →Holding Costs
Holding costs are what a property costs to own per month regardless of use: property taxes, insurance, utilities, association dues, maintenance, and any loan payments. On vacant homes they commonly run several hundred to over a thousand dollars monthly.
Full definition →Homestead Exemption
A homestead exemption is a legal protection and tax break on a person's primary residence. Depending on the state it can reduce property taxes, cap assessment increases, shield the home from many creditors, and restrict who the home can be left to.
Full definition →iBuyer
An iBuyer is a technology company that makes near-instant, algorithm-priced cash offers on homes — Opendoor is the best-known example. iBuyers target relatively uniform, good-condition homes and charge a service fee, typically 5% or more.
Full definition →Lien
A lien is a legal claim against a property securing a debt — a mortgage, unpaid taxes, a court judgment, association dues, or a contractor's bill. Liens attach to the property itself, survive the owner's death, and generally must be paid or resolved before or at a sale.
Full definition →Lis Pendens
A lis pendens is a public notice that a lawsuit affecting a property has been filed — most commonly the start of a foreclosure case. It doesn't transfer ownership or block a sale by itself, but it warns every buyer and lender that the property's title is in dispute.
Full definition →Lot Rent (Pad Rent / Site Rent)
Lot rent is the monthly fee a manufactured-home owner pays a mobile home park for the land under the home and shared utilities or amenities. The home is the resident's; the lot is leased, which is why a park is valued on its lot rent and a home in a park sells separately by title.
Full definition →Non-Warrantable Condo
A non-warrantable condo is a unit in a building that fails Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac or FHA lending criteria — due to litigation, low reserves, too many rentals, or one owner holding too many units — so most lenders won't write mortgages there. Financed buyers fall away, leaving cash as the reliable path.
Full definition →Off-Market Sale
An off-market sale is one completed without listing the property on the MLS — sold directly to a buyer, through a marketplace, or via an agent's private network. Sellers trade maximum exposure for speed, privacy, and convenience.
Full definition →Park-Owned Home (POH) vs Tenant-Owned Home (TOH)
A park-owned home is a manufactured home the park itself owns and rents out; in a tenant-owned home (TOH) the resident owns the home and rents only the lot. Buyers capitalize lot rent but price park-owned homes separately, per unit, so the POH/TOH mix changes a park's value and which buyers want it.
Full definition →Partition Action
A partition action is a lawsuit in which one co-owner of real estate asks a court to divide the property or, far more often with a house, order it sold and the proceeds split. It is the legal remedy when co-owners, typically heirs, cannot agree to sell or buy each other out.
Full definition →Personal Representative
The personal representative — called the executor when named in a will — is the person a probate court appoints to act for an estate: paying its debts, managing its property, and signing sale documents. Court-issued 'letters' are the document proving that authority.
Full definition →Post-Closing Occupancy (Seller in Possession)
Post-closing occupancy lets the seller stay for a short, agreed period after closing under a written agreement setting the move-out date, daily rent, an escrow holdback, and who is responsible meanwhile. California's short-term form is the C.A.R. Seller License to Remain in Possession (SIP).
Full definition →Pre-Foreclosure
Pre-foreclosure is the period after a homeowner falls behind on the mortgage but before the home is sold at foreclosure auction — from the first missed payments and default notice through the pending court case. The owner still owns and can still sell the home.
Full definition →Probate
Probate is the court process that settles a deceased person's estate: validating the will, appointing someone to act for the estate, paying debts, and transferring what remains — including real estate — to the heirs. A house titled solely in the deceased's name generally can't be sold until probate authorizes it.
Full definition →Proof of Funds
Proof of funds is documentation — a bank statement or bank letter — showing a cash buyer actually has the money to close. Any legitimate cash buyer can produce it, and sellers should require it before signing a contract.
Full definition →Quiet Title Action
A quiet title action is a lawsuit that asks a court to settle who owns a property and wipe out competing claims — used when the chain of title has defects an ordinary payoff can't fix, like missing heirs, forged or lost deeds, or ancient unreleased liens.
Full definition →REO (Real Estate Owned)
REO is a property a lender owns after it failed to sell at foreclosure auction. 'Bank-owned' listings are REO inventory being resold, usually as-is through local agents.
Full definition →Save Our Homes
Save Our Homes is Florida's constitutional cap limiting how much a homesteaded property's assessed value can rise each year — 3% or the inflation rate, whichever is lower. The cap ends when the property changes hands, so inherited homes are generally reassessed at full market value.
Full definition →Settlement Statement
The settlement statement is the closing document itemizing every dollar in a sale: the price, payoffs, commissions, taxes, fees, and prorations, ending in the exact amount disbursed to the seller. Reviewing it before closing day is how surprises get caught.
Full definition →Short Sale
A short sale is selling a home for less than the mortgage balance, with the lender's written agreement to accept the reduced payoff. It requires lender approval, takes months, and is a tool for owing more than the house is worth — not a fast-sale method.
Full definition →Special Assessment
A special assessment is a one-time charge a condo or homeowners association levies on owners for major costs its reserves can't cover — roof replacement, structural repairs, insurance shortfalls. Assessments can reach tens of thousands per unit and typically must be disclosed and settled or transferred at sale.
Full definition →Stepped-Up Basis
Stepped-up basis is the tax rule that resets an inherited asset's cost basis to its fair market value at the owner's death. For an inherited house, appreciation during the previous owner's lifetime is generally never taxed to the heir — only gains after the date of death are.
Full definition →Subject-To Sale
A subject-to sale transfers a home's title to a buyer while the seller's existing mortgage stays in place and in the seller's name — the buyer makes the payments but never formally assumes the loan. The seller remains legally liable if the buyer stops paying.
Full definition →Title Search
A title search is an examination of public records to confirm who legally owns a property and what claims — mortgages, liens, judgments, unreleased loans — attach to it. Title companies run one before insuring any sale.
Full definition →Transfer-on-Death Deed
A transfer-on-death deed names who receives a property automatically when the owner dies, letting the home bypass probate. Not every state offers them; Florida's related tool is the enhanced life estate ('Lady Bird') deed.
Full definition →Wholesaling
Wholesaling is when someone puts a property under contract, then sells (assigns) that contract to an end investor for a fee before closing — the wholesaler never owns the house. The seller's price includes the wholesaler's margin, typically $5,000–$30,000.
Full definition →Past the vocabulary and ready for numbers?
Tell us about the property once and vetted cash buyers respond with competing written offers — free, no obligation.
Questions first? Read the FAQ →