An acceleration clause is a mortgage contract provision requiring the borrower to repay all of their outstanding home loan to the Lender if certain requirements, outlined by the Lender, aren’t met.

When a seller accepts an offer from a buyer, that offer is contingent upon the buyer’s ability to meet certain conditions before finalization of the sale. Contingencies might include the buyer reaching an agreement

A house is listed as “active under contract” when the seller has accepted an offer with contingencies, but still wants the house to be listed as active. In this situation, the seller is also

If a buyer or seller wants to change the existing contract, they might add an addendum outlining the specific part of the contract they’d like to adjust and the parameters of that change. The

An adjustable-rate mortgage, or ARM, is a type of mortgage in which the interest rate applied to the outstanding balance varies throughout the life of the loan. At the end of the initial fixed-rate

The adjustment date usually falls on the first day of the month after mortgage funds are advanced or dispersed to the borrower. This is the date your mortgage begins to accrue interest, though you

Median days that all active listings have been on the market during a given time period. This equals the median of the last day of the period, minus the listing added date, so long

Amortization is the schedule of your mortgage payments spread out over time. In real estate, a buyer’s amortization schedule is usually one monthly payment scheduled over a 15- or 30-year period of time.

The APR, or annual percentage rate, refers to the yearly rate charged for a loan. Used on everything from mortgages and car loans to credit cards, APR is a simple numerical term to express

An appraisal on your home is an unbiased estimate of how much a home is worth. When buying a home, the lender requires an appraisal by a third party (the appraiser) to make sure

In real estate, the term appreciation refers to the increase in the value of a property over time. The simplest way to calculate home appreciation is to divide the change in the home’s value

Sellers list their homes for sale as-is when they don’t want to make any repairs or renovations before closing. In other words, there are no guarantees from the seller on anything in the house