Where cozy means tiny and charming means needs work.
The legislative process of changing zoning to allow less intensive land use, such as reducing permitted building height or density. It's how existing homeowners pull up the ladder behind them to prevent the neighborhood from changing.
Debt-to-Income ratio—the calculation that determines if you're financially responsible enough to borrow money, by comparing your debts to your income. It's how lenders mathematically judge your life choices.
Annual net income divided by annual debt payments, basically whether you're making enough money to pay your mortgage.
Discounted Cash Flow analysis—a valuation method projecting future cash flows and discounting them to present value; the quantitative investor's favorite way to prove their thesis.
A single building cleverly divided into two separate dwelling units, allowing property owners to live in one half while collecting rent from neighbors who share their walls. It's the real estate equivalent of having your cake and eating it too, assuming you don't mind hearing your tenant's TV through the drywall. In postal circles, it's also a fancy stamp cancellation, but nobody cares about that definition anymore.
A court order making borrowers personally liable for the difference between foreclosure sale proceeds and loan balance. The foreclosure wasn't punishment enough—now they want your other assets too.
A transaction where you simultaneously buy and sell properties, often used in wholesaling to hide profit margins from the actual buyer.
A lender's way of determining if you have too many bills relative to income, basically calculating how much of your paycheck goes to debt obligations.
A known problem the seller admitted upfront—the legally mandated 'surprise spoiler alert.'
How long a property has been listed before sale—the real estate equivalent of checking your expiration date.
A mortgage clause requiring full repayment when the property sells, preventing assumption of loans on favorable terms.