---
title: "Glossary"
url: https://reagentinct.com/glossary/
description: "Plain-language definitions of the housing and transaction terms used across this site, each written in the site's own words."
published: 2026-08-17
updated: 2026-08-17
---

# Glossary

Published 2026-08-17

Reference — revised 2026-07-02

Most of the difficulty in a housing transaction turns out to be vocabulary rather than complexity. Nearly every term below names something a reader already understands, described in a word they have not been given a reason to learn. These are the terms used across this site, defined in the site's own words.

## The transaction

**Offer**: A proposal to buy, consisting of a price and a set of terms. The terms often matter as much as the price. See [the buying sequence](https://reagentinct.com/buying-sequence/).

**Contingency**: A condition written into a contract which, if unmet, allows a party to withdraw without penalty. Common ones concern financing, inspection and the sale of another property.

**Earnest money**: A deposit paid on agreement to demonstrate seriousness, normally credited toward the purchase at closing.

**Diligence window**: The agreed period after a contract is signed during which the buyer investigates the property. See [surveys and searches](https://reagentinct.com/surveys-and-searches/).

**Closing**: The point at which money and documents change hands and ownership transfers.

**Days on market**: How long a listing has been available. One of the few public signals a buyer can read without specialist knowledge.

## The money

**Principal**: The amount currently owed on a loan, excluding interest not yet charged.

**Amortisation**: The schedule by which a level-payment loan repays itself, with the interest share falling and the principal share rising over the term. See [mortgages in plain terms](https://reagentinct.com/mortgages-plain-terms/).

**Term**: The number of years over which a loan is scheduled to be repaid.

**Fixed rate**: A rate that does not change for the life of the loan, so the payment is knowable throughout.

**Adjustable rate**: A rate fixed for an initial period and then reset periodically against a reference rate, within stated limits.

**Points**: Money paid at closing to obtain a lower rate. Whether it pays depends on how long the loan is actually held.

**Escrow**: Amounts collected alongside the loan payment and held to pay property taxes and insurance when due.

**Equity**: The difference between what a property would sell for and what is still owed against it.

**Carrying cost**: The full recurring cost of holding a property: interest, taxes, insurance, utilities and maintenance.

**Transaction cost**: The one-off cost of buying and later selling, which ownership must earn back before it breaks even against renting. See [renting versus owning](https://reagentinct.com/renting-versus-owning/).

## The building

**Envelope**: The parts of a building that separate inside from outside: roof, walls, windows, doors and foundation.

**Sill**: The timber that sits on top of the foundation and carries the frame. A recurring subject in older New England houses.

**Balloon framing**: A nineteenth-century method using long continuous studs running from sill to roof plate.

**Deferred maintenance**: Work postponed long enough to accumulate, usually visible as several small failures at once.

**Functional obsolescence**: A feature or layout that no longer suits how people live, regardless of its condition.

**Cape**: A compact storey-and-a-half house form built in very large numbers after the war. See [the housing stock](https://reagentinct.com/housing-stock/).

## The land

**Parcel**: The unit of land described in a deed and shown on a town map.

**Setback**: The distance a building is required to sit back from its lot line.

**Easement**: A recorded right for another party to use part of the land, for example for access or utilities.

**Encroachment**: A structure that crosses a boundary line, whether or not anyone has ever objected.

**Title search**: An examination of the recorded history of ownership and of anything recorded against the property.

**Lien**: A recorded claim against a property securing a debt, which normally must be cleared before a clean transfer.

## The market

**Stock**: All the housing in a place, whether or not any of it is for sale.

**Turnover**: The share of the stock that changes hands in a year.

**Listing depth**: How many genuinely comparable options a particular buyer can choose between. See [how a local market works](https://reagentinct.com/how-a-local-market-works/).

**Price band**: The bracket within which buyers search, which makes prices just above a boundary invisible to part of the audience.

**Negotiating range**: The span within which a sale is plausible, set by comparable sales, borrowing capacity and each side's urgency.

[Return to the subject index](https://reagentinct.com/)