Glossary
Reference — revised 2026-07-02
Most of the difficulty in a housing transaction turns out to be vocabulary rather than complexity. Nearly every term below names something a reader already understands, described in a word they have not been given a reason to learn. These are the terms used across this site, defined in the site's own words.
The transaction
- Offer
- A proposal to buy, consisting of a price and a set of terms. The terms often matter as much as the price. See the buying sequence.
- Contingency
- A condition written into a contract which, if unmet, allows a party to withdraw without penalty. Common ones concern financing, inspection and the sale of another property.
- Earnest money
- A deposit paid on agreement to demonstrate seriousness, normally credited toward the purchase at closing.
- Diligence window
- The agreed period after a contract is signed during which the buyer investigates the property. See surveys and searches.
- Closing
- The point at which money and documents change hands and ownership transfers.
- Days on market
- How long a listing has been available. One of the few public signals a buyer can read without specialist knowledge.
The money
- Principal
- The amount currently owed on a loan, excluding interest not yet charged.
- Amortisation
- The schedule by which a level-payment loan repays itself, with the interest share falling and the principal share rising over the term. See mortgages in plain terms.
- Term
- The number of years over which a loan is scheduled to be repaid.
- Fixed rate
- A rate that does not change for the life of the loan, so the payment is knowable throughout.
- Adjustable rate
- A rate fixed for an initial period and then reset periodically against a reference rate, within stated limits.
- Points
- Money paid at closing to obtain a lower rate. Whether it pays depends on how long the loan is actually held.
- Escrow
- Amounts collected alongside the loan payment and held to pay property taxes and insurance when due.
- Equity
- The difference between what a property would sell for and what is still owed against it.
- Carrying cost
- The full recurring cost of holding a property: interest, taxes, insurance, utilities and maintenance.
- Transaction cost
- The one-off cost of buying and later selling, which ownership must earn back before it breaks even against renting. See renting versus owning.
The building
- Envelope
- The parts of a building that separate inside from outside: roof, walls, windows, doors and foundation.
- Sill
- The timber that sits on top of the foundation and carries the frame. A recurring subject in older New England houses.
- Balloon framing
- A nineteenth-century method using long continuous studs running from sill to roof plate.
- Deferred maintenance
- Work postponed long enough to accumulate, usually visible as several small failures at once.
- Functional obsolescence
- A feature or layout that no longer suits how people live, regardless of its condition.
- Cape
- A compact storey-and-a-half house form built in very large numbers after the war. See the housing stock.
The land
- Parcel
- The unit of land described in a deed and shown on a town map.
- Setback
- The distance a building is required to sit back from its lot line.
- Easement
- A recorded right for another party to use part of the land, for example for access or utilities.
- Encroachment
- A structure that crosses a boundary line, whether or not anyone has ever objected.
- Title search
- An examination of the recorded history of ownership and of anything recorded against the property.
- Lien
- A recorded claim against a property securing a debt, which normally must be cleared before a clean transfer.
The market
- Stock
- All the housing in a place, whether or not any of it is for sale.
- Turnover
- The share of the stock that changes hands in a year.
- Listing depth
- How many genuinely comparable options a particular buyer can choose between. See how a local market works.
- Price band
- The bracket within which buyers search, which makes prices just above a boundary invisible to part of the audience.
- Negotiating range
- The span within which a sale is plausible, set by comparable sales, borrowing capacity and each side's urgency.