Colorado Springs Real Estate Glossary

Colorado Springs Real Estate Glossary:

A

Abandonment- The voluntary surrender of property, owned or leased, without naming a successor as owner or tenant. The property will gentrally revert to one holding a prior intrest or in cases where no owner is apparent, to the state. Abandonment does not relieve obligations associated with lease or ownership unless the abandonment is accepted by the entity to which the obligation is owed.

Absolute Auction- A auction in which the subject property is sold to the highest bidder regardless of the amount of the winning bid. There is no reserve price.

Absorption Rate- An estimate of the rate at which a particular classification of space - such as new office space, new housing, new condominium units and the like - will be sold or occupied during a specific time frame.

Adjustable Rate Mortgage- (ARM ) A loan in which the interest rate periodically adjusts, the rate can move higher or lower based on a pre-selected index, such as Treasury bill rates. ARM loans can include interest rate caps for a given time period or over the life of the loan, additionally, these loans may include limits on the frequency of interest rate adjustments. ARM loans generally offer initial rates below market interest rates as a trade off for the borrower sharing the risk that interest rates may rise during the life of the loan.

ASHI-The American Society of Home Inspectors, founded in 1976, is North America’s oldest and most respected professional society of home inspectors. ASHI’s goals have always been to build customer awareness of the importance of a quality home inspection and enhance the professionalism of home inspectors.

B

Border Shadow Area (BSA)- These are neighboring areas. When someone does a search in the MLS the generally do that search for a specific area. For example BRI would normally return just the available homes in the Briargate area. With the addition of BSA’s the system would show homes that are close to Briargate but not in Briargate, in other words in the shadow of the border. This is similar to the feature on a retail website that says “Others the bought that item, also liked these items”.

C

CMA-Comparative or Competitive Market Analysis. A document or collection of documents that provides a pricing opinion and the supporting evidence for the recommended price. This is generally in relation to a residential property valuation. Not to be confused with an appraisal.

Comparable (Comps)- The most recent property sales of similar  properties in the area or nearby areas. This sales data is used by Realtors in  property valuation for marketing purposes and Appraisers for verification of  valuation during the appraisal process.

D

Declaration of Condominium Ownership- A legal document that allows a Condominium to be built or sold under relevant state law.

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Pre-Approval- A commitment from a Mortgage Lender to make a loan prior to actually identifying a particular property. The purpose is to make it easierto shop for a house. Different from a pre-qualification because the lender actually checks the applicant's credit.

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