Whether you're in the market to sell Vaughan homes or buy Vancouver condos you're going to be dealing with a lot of real estate terminology. Most of it will just seem like garbled nonsense to you because you have no idea what they mean. That's understandable. For the most part, only real estate agents and real estate lawyers who deal with Vancouver or Toronto lofts for sale know what they mean.

If you have a real estate agent by your side during the buying or selling real estate process then you can defer to them when you hear real estate jargon such as discharge of mortgage, buyer's market, seller's market, conveyancing, and land transfer tax thrown your way. You're here to sell your piece of Vancouver real estate property or shop for homes for sale in Bradford and not be given an English lesson.

There are some real estate terms you should be familiar with before you get yourself started on the road to selling or buying real estate though. One such real estate term is short sale. Luckily for you we're going to provide you with a brief and simple short sale definition. When it comes to real estate, whether you're selling or buying Vancouver or Oakville homes for sale a short sale refers to the selling of a property that the home owner can no longer afford to pay off.

Basically, the home owner has fallen behind on their mortgage payments and can't repay the bank what they owe. So the mortgage lender forces the borrower to put the house on the market for sale at a reduced price. The bank figures that a small loss is better than getting nothing from the borrower or pressing them into some sort of re-payment agreement. The owner of the house or the borrower of the mortgage agrees to a short sale because it means they avoid foreclosure.

If you're a homeowner you want to obviously avoid such a situation. If you're in the market to buy Vancouver or Richmond Virginia houses for sale you want to be careful when it comes to short sales. While they might be tempting because of the discounted listing price you are dealing with a lender who has final say over your offer. The home owner can agree to your offer but the bank has to sign off on it. Such a situation can be frustrating as you're in a battle with the financial lender and they might not be inclined to take any offer.

Now that you know what a short sale is you'll be more equipped to talk about it the next time the topic comes up.