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Do You Speak Real Estate Language?

Have you got your real estate lingo down yet? Check out the commonly used real estate language to filter the deals you really want, and decipher real estate listings and ads.

Motivated Seller

A motivated seller is someone eager to sell their house in a hurry, and often at a discount. That is typically due to some form of distress. The seller could be deep in debt, and have liens and past due taxes piled up against the home. Or the property could have major flaws. It may need a new roof, septic tank, or foundation.

Cozy

A small house or apartment. Probably very small. Could be a struggle getting your furniture in.

Needs a Light Cleaning

Prepare to have to bring in a professional cleaning crew. You could be up to your knees in sewage, have to battle mold, or scrub away graffiti.

Handyman Special

Get ready for some serious rehab work. There is likely to be some major repairs to be made.

Partial View

If you stand on a chair, on your tip toes and strain your neck, you might be able to see a sliver of something besides the neighbors’ brick wall.

Starter Home

A small cheap home that probably needs some fixing up.

Unique

A really special, quirky property which probably doesn’t fit in with the neighborhood. May have weird angles, be oddly colored, and have abstract landscaping.

Rustic or Vintage

An old out of date home. May need significant work to bring up to date.

Airy

Could have missing windows or doors. Maybe there are even holes in the floor or roof, or an entire wall could be missing.

Good Bones

There may not be much to this home except for the bones. There may be some frame, but expect to have to replace everything else.

Up and Coming Area

This could be a rundown dangerous, in need of intervention and revitalization – move there if you dare. It may be trendy, and the prices may be better, but it could have a way to go before it really catches on.

Credit Challenged

A prospective tenant with bad credit.

No Closing Cost Loan

Loans on which the mortgage lender may not charge their own closing costs. They may roll points, processing, and underwriting fees into a slightly higher interest rate. Note that there still will likely be third party closing costs including title insurance, closing fees, recording fees, taxes, and prorated property taxes and insurance.

Get to know your real estate language to rapidly sift through the opportunities out there, and craft good listings and ads for your own properties you may be selling or renting.

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Jacob Blackett

Originally from Reno, Nevada, Jacob began his real estate career in 2010 as a sophomore at the University of Nevada, Reno, when he bought and sold his first two residential “fix and flip” properties in Southern California.

In 2014 Jacob founded Holdfolio and by the end of 2019, Holdfolio had amassed a rental portfolio of 141 single-family homes and 412 apartment units. At this time Holdfolio was fully vertically integrated, meaning they were operating every aspect of the investment cycle which included acquisitions, procuring bank loans, raising capital from investors, running a full-service property management company, a licensed construction company, and performing their own asset management.

Fueled by low interest rates and strong rent growth, real estate values increased steadily and dramatically between 2010 and 2020, and by early 2020 Holdfolio could not pay as much as other firms on new acquisitions. Jacob took this as an opportunity to sell all of Holdfolio’s holdings and pivot the business model to see more deal flow and invest with much larger and more experienced firms, which is how Holdfolio operates today.

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Ready to invest in real estate?

We make real estate investing simpler, more transparent, and accessible to individual investors.