Your Guide to ensure everyone is Speaking the same Language. There’s a lot of jargon, abbreviations, acronyms and more involved in the property market. When selling your home, the goal is a smooth, simple transaction where everything goes to schedule. The last thing you need is a battle just to understand what is happening at each stage of the buying and selling process. This property jargon buster will help make sense of the terminology.
You’d fall asleep if this list was exhaustive, but here are some key terms;
Acceptance – a document you sign and hand back to the mortgage lender to confirm you want to accept its offer.
Agreement in Principle (AIP) – a document from a mortgage lender that confirms it will lend you a certain amount based on your earnings, usually after a credit search and credit score. If you need a mortgage we can help, with the best “whole of market” advisors that you can find. Our advisors are used to dealing with buy to let, residential and high net worth mortgage clients. We can also help with commercial finance and Savings, Pensions and Investments with a team of financial advisors that specialise in different areas. We also have accountants that are property tax and investment experts.
Appraisal – an estimate of a property’s current value according to an estate agent or surveyor. For expert advice, and an instant, online valuation in less than 59 seconds click here.
Arrangement fee – a fee charged by some lenders to cover administration of arranging a mortgage.
Bridging loan – a high-interest temporary loan that offers short-term access to money, so you can buy a property before selling your existing home. Click here for details.
Chain – most people need to sell their current home to be able to afford to buy the next one, and the people they sell it to may need to sell their home as well. This is what is meant by a chain and if one link pulls out, the whole chain is at risk of collapsing.
Exchange – The point when buyer and seller exchange legally-binging contracts and set a completion date.
Completion – this is when you can move in! The sale of a property is finalised and the legal transfer of ownership passes from one party to another.
Conveyancing -the name for all the legal work involved in transferring the ownership of a property from one party to another.
Disbursements – fees that are paid by the solicitor on behalf of the buyer. These range from stamp duty and local authority searches to money transfer fees.
Mortgage term – the period over which a mortgage will be repaid.
Mortgage valuation – a report commission by the lender to assess property value and determine the maximum amount to be loaned on the property.