Have you always wondered about the different terms that real estate agents talk about whenever you’re consulting with them regarding a property? Just like any other industry, even the real estate industry has its own share of colorful lingo and acronyms. The purpose is pretty much the same with most acronyms and lingo; to make longer conversations shorter and with more variety. Also, clients like you would find it easier to listen to a real estate acronym rather than hear the entire word or sentence for each real estate term.
Since there are about a hundred or more real estate lingo and terms available out there, we’ll just pick the ones that are extremely important for real estate clients to learn and understand. Because once you’ve memorized these basic, but essential real estate terms, you can definitely help a friend or a relative understand the mildly confusing real estate terms that agents may introduce to them.
Are you ready? Then let’s start learning about real estate lingo!
1. 4B / 2B: You’ll most likely encounter this particular lingo not just with real estate agents, but essentially, even in online advertisements and in newspapers too. This means four bedrooms and two bathrooms, so if you ever encounter this particular acronym while browsing for a good condo or apartment to stay in Manila or Cebu, then it basically means that the property has four bedrooms and two bathrooms. Not bad, right?
2. Hi ceils: This means “high ceiling”, which is one of the good traits that most people like in a new home. The next time you hear two agents talking about a house or apartment with hi ceils, then perhaps it’s time to talk to these agents and negotiate a deal ASAP!
3. Fixture: When real estate agents talk about fixtures, it doesn’t mean a part of the house that needs fixing. Fixture means a permanent part of the house or land, such as trees, rocks, buildings, and the inherent rights of a particular person (or group of person, if many). Some examples of fixtures are wall-to-wall carpeting, window coverings, a landscaping project, and light fixtures.
4. Gar: Means the “garage”. If a house or apartment is being sold by real estate agents and they kept mentioning about the “gar”, then it means the house or apartment has a garage for use. However, don’t be confused with the word “Gard”; this one means “garden”.
5. MLS: This means Multiple Listing Services. In the Philippines, Multiple listing services help the common people in finding and tracking down the home of their dreams by sharing their list of property stored in their database.
6. Lo dues: While visiting a subdivision, you might want to listen in when real estate agents talk. When you hear the word “lo dues” from these people, you know that you’re getting the property for low homeowner’s association dues. The fee depends on how “low” exactly is the homeowner’s association dues.
7. Nr bst schls: You’ll see these bunch of words sometimes in online real estate advertisements, forums, and even websites. This means “near best schools”, which would be an awesome deal for parents who are concerned about getting property near good schools.
8. Assum. fin: This means “assumable financing” or, for a more local flavor, “assumable loan”. When someone can no longer keep on paying their monthly dues for a real estate property, then another person can “assume” the monthly payments for the housing loan.
9. Ability to Repay: The meaning is very simple; it’s a person’s capacity to pay a loan. And since we’re talking about real estate, it could either be your housing loan from a bank or the PAG-IBIG HDMF loan. You’ll encounter these words either from a real estate agent or from any document coming from the bank or from PAG-IBIG.
This is a term that one should definitely remember, because most banking loans and even the HDMF are very particular towards a person’s ability to repay.
10. Bi-Weekly Mortgage: This is a type of mortgage where principal and interest payments are due every two weeks, hence the term bi-weekly. Mortgage in the Philippines rarely come bi-weekly, but there are some real estate companies that adhere to this type of mortgage.
11. Capital Loss: The term used for the actual loss incurred due to a decrease of value of a real estate property. For example, if the value of the condo a person invested have decreased due to an unfortunate event (typhoons, floods, etc), any loss in profit or investment is treated as capital loss.
12. Bird Dog: A term used on any individual who is always on the lookout for cheap or under-priced properties that can be improved upon when brought by the said individual.
Basically, if a person buys a very cheap apartment with broken windows and other problems, but he/she later improves the apartment by renovating the place, that person is called a “bird dog”. Bird dogs are usually on the hunt in order to get a lot of profit for a small investment.
Did you get all that? If not, then don’t worry; our real estate agents would be more than happy enough to give you advise on any real estate issues that you may have. Don’t forget to contact us here!
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