brickor mortis n.— «Falling house prices have caused property website Rightmove to coin a new phrase. “Brickor mortis” is the paralysing condition caused by sellers refusing to lower prices as they don’t accept their home’s value has dropped...
cash for keys n.— «Contractors say the damage at vacant homes can be significant, though it is not always clear who the culprit is. It could be an angry homeowner upset about losing a home, but it also could be vandals and thieves scouring homes...
caravanning n.— «Wilson & Co., like other local real estate firms, hosts broker open houses, a practice also called caravanning. One firm organizes a collective open house in the same area and allows agents who represent buyers or sellers to...
drive to qualify v. phr.— «In real estate parlance, families like the McCauslands “drive to qualify” for a mortgage; the big house they want is affordable only in far-out communities.» —“Long commutes, gas prices crimping American...
scraper n.— «Without those ongoing improvement costs, a house runs the risk of being what the building industry calls a “scraper.” That’s a house with so much deferred maintenance that it’s cheaper to scrape it off the foundation and start from...
reborn renter n.— «In addition to prospective buyers who are waiting it out, there also is the “reborn renter,” a term used to describe people who have lost their house to foreclosure and are now back on the rental market. “Those are the people we...