Because you risk losing the house if you fail to pay the mortgage, it encourages you to make the payments as required and gives the lender some sense of security. Your property will act as collateral if you take out a mortgage, giving your lender the right to claim the house if you stop making payments. This is the process of paying off a debt in regular installments over a specified period, which would be the case if you were to pay your mortgage off with a fixed repayment schedule. Though the form is standardized to allow the comparison of costs, it’s is still an estimate and the actual amount might be different. Your lender must give you this estimate less than three days after taking your loan application. It is also a requirement of the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA). This is an estimate of the amount due when you finalize your mortgage. Even so, your lender is required to provide a good-faith estimate. Though closing costs affect both the buyer and seller, you probably won’t know the exact figure until you finalize the loan. Closing costs usually include the loan’s origination fee, attorney fees, taxes, and title insurance. In simple terms, closing costs are the fees paid to get a mortgage and acquire the desired property. Closing agents are responsible for handling the closing as well as the legal transfer of ownership and title from seller to buyer. Closing AgentĪlso known as a settlement agent, this is the person who represents the buyer. As such, you can compare different mortgage offers using the APR. An annual percentage rate is the total cost of the mortgage, which includes the interest rate and any other payable fees. Annual Percentage Rate (APR)Īside from being a significant mortgage-related term to understand, APR involves much more than the interest rate. If your 30-year fixed rate mortgage has an interest rate of five percent, the rate will stay as is throughout the loan’s life. This type of mortgage is the exact opposite of an ARM because the interest remains the same throughout. While an ARM can sometimes save you money, it might not be the best choice if you intend to live in the property for a long time because you cannot predict whether the interest rate will rise or fall. For as long as it is active, the interest of an adjustable rate mortgage (ARM) will change based on market rates, with the period of adjustment depending on the type. You’ll pay interest on the mortgage you get. To help you master the most commonly used terms so that you’re confident as you start looking at homes or meet the lender, here’s a mortgage vocabulary cheat sheet. While most people will need a mortgage, the terminology will probably seem completely foreign to many. This is includes using spoken rather than written language, and natural conversational language rather than an academic language.įinally, I would also add, it is worth spending time learning phrasal verbs, as these are extremely common in spoken English and will help you sound much more natural.Buying property involves a lot more than finding the ideal house and making the payment. These are ones you don’t usually discuss everyday, and may include, Climate Change, economics, globalisation, law and similar topics or even more specialised topics such as photography, fishing, calligraphy, leadership… These are ones you might talk about everyday, and may include, family, home, hobbies, work, everyday life, shopping… economic (adj.), economy (n.), economise (v.)…) word families (words with the same root – e.g.antonyms (words with the opposite meaning – e.g.synonyms (words with similar meanings – e.g.These are expressions where the meaning of the expression is different from the meaning of the individual words.Ī wide range of vocabulary, enough to discuss a variety of topics, this will include These are words that commonly go together We can find out which ones are important very quickly by looking again at the IELTS Speaking Band Descriptors 52 words that make you sound smart when you use them.These words are great vocabulary builders. The words are fun to say and have a cool meaning. Different kinds of vocabulary are important for IELTS Speaking. A vocabulary list featuring 52 Interesting Words to Know.