Home Page - Kelowna Real Estate

BACHELOR APARTMENT:
A small rental dwelling unit which combines living and bedroom spaces into one room (and, sometimes, kitchen space as well). Also known as "efficiency suite" or "studio apartment".

BACK END RATIO:
A comparison of a borrower's monthly expenses to her gross monthly income used to assess her ability to carry a mortgage or other loan.

BACKUP CONTRACT:
An Agreement of Purchase and Sale for a particular property which is conditional (becomes binding) upon the failure of another Agreement for the same property.

BALANCE:
Often as in "balance due", the amount of principal on a loan remaining to be paid at any given time.

BALANCE SHEET:
A table of figures showing the assets, liabilities and net worth of a person or corporation on a given date.

BALLOON (LOAN) MORTGAGE:
A loan which is repaid by a series of small, periodic payments until a given date, when either the balance comes due in a single, large payment or the amount of the payments rises significantly.

BALLOON PAYMENT:
The single, large payment which pays out the balance due on a balloon mortgage.

BANKRUPT:
A noun or adjective. Noun - a person or business which has made an assignment in bankruptcy or has been petitioned into bankruptcy. Adjective - owing more money than you have assets or income to repay.

BANKRUPTCY:
The state of being unable to pay your debts such that you submit yourself to the protection of the state. A person or business may voluntarily assign himself into bankruptcy or may be petitioned into bankruptcy by his creditors. Once in bankruptcy, the person surrenders his assets to a trustee in bankruptcy who sells the assets for the benefit of the bankrupt's creditors, first secured creditors then unsecured creditors. Once a person is discharged from bankruptcy, none of his former creditors may pursue him for his former debts.

BAR DOWER:
The act of a wife waiving her rights to a specific property of her husband so that it may be transferred clear of her dower right.

BASE RENT:
The set rent payable by a tenant under a lease, to which is added Additional rents as required by the lease (for common area maintenance, for example, or for utilities).

BASIS POINT:
One 100th of 1%.

BEARER INSTRUMENT:
A valuable document (a bond or other security) which does not bear the name of its legal owner; may be redeemed by whoever is in possession of it.

BEDROOM COMMUNITY:
A neighbourhood or area which offers little in the way of employment opportunities but plenty of housing, similar to a "suburb" or commuter town.

BEFORE-TAX CASH FLOW:
Gross amount of money available for the use of the owner before taking into consideration taxes.

BEFORE-TAX INCOME:
A person or corporation's gross earnings before taxes are deducted.

BELOW-MARKET INTEREST RATE (BMIR):
A subsidized interest rate on a mortgage or loan, often provided by a government to allow for acquisition of property or reduction in rents charged to tenants.

BENCHMARK:
A permanent feature on land which is used as a point of reference for a land surveyor.

BENEFICIARY:
A person or corporate entity entitled to receive money or assets from a trust or an estate under a will.

BEQUEATH:
To leave an item of personal property to a certain person in a will (see "Devise", which refers to gifts of land in this context).

BEQUEST:
The item bequeathed under a will.

BETTERMENT:
The improvement of real estate that results in a rise in market value. Also, a legal concept of civil law: when a court award, judgment or order in favour of an injured party places that party in a better position than he would have been had his original injury never taken place.

BIANNUAL:
Or semiannual. Occurring every six months or twice per year.

BID:
An offer of a certain amount of consideration.

BIENNIAL:
Occurring once in every two years.

BILATERAL CONTRACT:
A contract which has a balance of consideration promised by the parties, where each promises performance of the contract.

BI-LEVEL:
A description of a house with two levels, where the main entrance to the house is between the two levels.

BILL OF SALE:
Documentary evidence that title to personal property (chattels) has passed to the Purchaser for valuable consideration.

BINDER:
A written commitment from an insurance company to insure a property or a certain risk.

BIWEEKLY LOAN OR MORTGAGE:
A loan which features payments equaling one half of the usual monthly payment made every two weeks (to total 26 in a year), thus substantially reducing the life of the mortgage and the interest payable over the life of the mortgage.

BLANKET INSURANCE POLICY:
A single insurance policy that applies to more than one person or property.

BLANKET MORTGAGE:
Where one loan is secured against m