Investing Education

A preferred return is the share of profits that investors receive before the sponsor participates in the upside. It is one of the defining features of private real estate funds and syndications, and it

A real estate agent is a licensed professional who represents buyers or sellers in property transactions. Agents handle listing and marketing, negotiation, contract coordination, and the logistics of getting a deal from offer to

A probate sale is the sale of real estate through a court-supervised process, typically after an owner has died without leaving the property to a designated beneficiary. The court oversees the transaction to ensure

Principal reduction is the process of lowering the outstanding balance of a loan. On a standard amortizing mortgage it happens automatically, as a portion of every scheduled payment retires debt. It can also happen

In real estate financing, the principal is the amount of money borrowed to purchase a property. It is the core of the loan: the sum on which interest is calculated, the balance that must

The price-to-rent ratio compares the cost of buying a home to the cost of renting a comparable one. It is calculated by dividing a property’s price by its annual rent. A $360,000 house that

Pre-qualification is a lender’s initial, informal estimate of how much a borrower might be able to borrow, based on financial information the borrower reports about income, assets, and debts. It usually involves no document

Pre-approval is a lender’s conditional commitment to lend a specific amount to a borrower, issued after verifying the borrower’s income, assets, credit, and debts. It is the serious version of the mortgage conversation: documentation

Private Mortgage Insurance, or PMI, is insurance that conventional lenders require when a borrower’s down payment is less than 20% of the purchase price. It protects the lender, not the borrower, against loss if