The real estate business is constantly evolving, but the significance of language and word choices that you use has always persisted and is now more critical than ever. It can quickly become challenging for many people in the real estate industry to keep up with all the current information, industry-relevant terms, keywords, and more that many use today, especially for those new and just starting in real estate. So, if you are wondering what the top real estate buzzwords are that you should know, then keep reading, as we will discuss this in detail here. The next time a potential client asks you, ‘do you think you can successfully sell my home?’ you can be much more confident now that you have the knowledge of the following top real estate buzzwords under your belt.
1. Experiential Retail
A business using the space in its store for ‘experiences’ that it offers customers is experiential retail. It is a way for realtors to try and counter online competition, such as Amazon and other big-time e-commerce players, by presenting customers with merchandise for purchase and an experience that helps cultivate a more long-term relationship. Essentially, it is when retail stores or shopping centers have interactive aspects to the customers’ shopping experience that e-commerce, for the most part, can’t replace. Examples include pop-up shops, an on site playground, or an in-store master class.
2. Private Mortgage Insurance (PMI)
PMI, which stands for private mortgage insurance, refers to any amount generally rolled into a monthly fee along with a homebuyer’s mortgage payments to offset a smaller initial down payment on a home. It intends to protect the lender if the buyer cannot pay their mortgage. Typically, you’ll only see such fees with homebuyers who pay less than 20% of the closing price as a down payment. When the buyer builds a minimum of 20% equity in the home, the PMI payments can go away. The lender must cancel the PMI immediately once the buyer’s paid equity reaches 20%. For instance, if I want to sell my home and prescribe to this, I can only do so once I build at least 20% equity in my house with PMI.
3. Down Payment
A downpayment is a cost that a buyer spends upfront so that they can purchase a property. The amount of money this usually costs is between 5-25% of the property’s value. If I want to sell my home to someone, they would need to put a down payment upfront on the property to buy it in most cases.
4. Best and Final Offer
Suppose I want to sell my home and am facing a predicament where there are multiple offers for the property. Typically in this type of situation, if an interested bidder wants the house, they will need to raise the offer they make from the total price for the listing to overmarket. In that case, a listening agent will speak to each interested party and inform the real estate agents to send in their ‘best and final offer’ by a specified period.
5. Plug-And-Play
In real estate, plug-and-play refers to a situation in which a home or space is immediately habitable upon purchase. More specifically, it describes a condition in which the place is furnished entirely upon entry; all that is needed is for you to be present. The units often come equipped with many modern conveniences. Essentially, plug-and-play refers to a space ready to move in upon purchase.
6. Warm Vanilla Shell
Although this sounds like a delicious treat, it is nothing of the sort. A warm vanilla shell in real estate is when a commercial real estate property or individual suite only has a minimally finished interior. So this could typically include walls, flooring, ceilings, plumbing, lighting, and HVAC, among several other aspects. If you want to lease space as a tenant, this could be an excellent option if you want to customize the suite’s build-out to suit your needs and taste. With this tactic, the intention is generally to get the suite to a customizable appearance, with a relatively effortless plug-and-play answer for a tenant to put their last touch on the space.
7. Commercial Real Estate Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
In commercial real estate, CRM, which stands for customer relationship management, is a software system. It provides resources for managing properties, contracts, and sales leads. Ideally, commercial real estate CRM should be able to provide practical, integrated solutions for marketing, sales, and servicing residential and office tenants. It is a tool intended to help realtors manage interactions with current and prospective clients. Rather than using a disorganized and messy database or difficult-to-understand spreadsheets, you can manage and organize all the information in a streamlined and organized system. A realtor looking to sell my home might use a CRM system to do their job most effectively.