Common Real Estate Terms

Although the real estate market represents more than 70% of the peoples’ wealth, the real estate terms are misunderstood by the public and even by specialists, unfortunately. For example, there are many economists and those who work in media field do not know what the differences are between “a broker,” “a property developer,” and “a real estate marketer.” They would, metaphorically, use the term « Real estate agent » for everything above, in spite of the big difference between their specialties.

Through monitoring the Arabian real estate, Imtilak real estate noticed that there is a weakness in the awareness of real estate terms, so this article comes up to correct understanding of the most common real estate terms.

1. (The client, customer, or buyer): That would be the person or the entity who wants to purchase, has the ability to pay the property allowance, and has the ability to make a decision.

2. (Real Estate Marketing): It is a science by its own that studies the current and future needs and desires of the customers to own a property, and we manage to achieve that for an acceptable profit to the company. All that shall be done throughout researching, investigating, and knowing the customer’s desires and ambitions.

3. (Property Investment): It means the process of making and developing money in real estates and that would be, either by renting a home which guarantees a fixed monthly return or by buying a home and selling it after a period of time in acceptable increased profits.

4. (Property Development): It means the process carried out by individuals or companies in order to develop and improve neglected or old real estate units to take advantage of their location or to raise their investment value.

5. (Mortgages): They mean the financial loans that would allow the borrower, be that either an individual or institution, to buy an apartment or any other property, and his ownership to this property is a guarantee for the loan, in other words, the property remains conditional until the loan is paid off.

6. (Real Estate Swap): It means buying a property with a property, with valued bonds, or with a property and money.

7. (Valuation): It means determining the price of the real estate unit for the purpose of selling or otherwise.

8. (Property Management): there are many investors who have administrative or residential buildings, yet may not have the time or expertise to manage the daily operations of these buildings, so they assign the mission to an excellent real estate broker.

9. (Sale on Credit): It means the ownership of a property is transferred in exchange for a cash amount paid to the seller and that would be after a period of time agreed upon.

10. (Broker): This means the person who makes the buyer known to the seller in order to get a financial commission without having a license from the Property Brokerage License.

11. (Real Estate Broker): This means a person who is participating in making the buyer known to the seller and getting a commission for that. Yet, the Real Estate Broker has a license from the Property Brokerage License.

12. (Real Estate Agent): This means a real estate broker who passed an advanced and specialized course in real estate marketing and then received a license for that, on the other hand, he concluded agreements via legal contracts with construction real estate companies to market its products exclusively through him. (This definition literally represents Imtilak real estate, we are real estate agents).

13. (Seller or owner): This means a person or a construction company that wants to transfer his\its ownership of a property in exchange for cash, barter, or both.

14. (Real estate consultant): This means a person who provides consulting services to individuals and companies in the real estate investment or purchase.

15. (Commission): This means the fees charged by the real estate broker for the services he provides to both the buyer and the seller. The commission is set as a percentage of the transaction value.

16. (Deposit or Earnest): This means the amount of money provided to confirm the desire to purchase. It is non-refundable if the buyer retracts from the purchase. It is not more than 2.5% of the actual value of the property though.

17. (Instrument or Deed): This means the paper supporting the ownership of a real estate unit.

18. (Conveyance or Assignment): This means the assignment of the ownership of a property from the owner to the buyer in exchange for a financial allowance equal to the value of the property.

19. (Finishing): This means a group of construction operations relating to the exterior and interior finishing of the construction structures.