Wainscot
Wood panels on a wall.
Wainscoting
Wood paneling, tongue-and-groove boards, or similar material installed between a baseboard and a chair rail.
Waiver
Deliberately and voluntarily giving up or delaying a claim or right arising from a contractual agreement or surrounding circumstances.
Waiver of lien
Voluntary giving up of a right of a lien, usually on a temporary basis. The waiver may be explicitly stated or implied.
Walk-out basement
A feature that allows a door to open onto ground level.
Walk-through
A buyer's final inspection of the home to determine if conditions in the purchase agreement have been satisfied.
Walkaway risk
Risk involved when a potential buyer or seller of property decides not to buy or sell.
Walkup
Residential or commercial building of two or more floors that can only be accessed through stairs. It is more common in urban areas.
Wall
Divider made of plasterboard or plaster used to partition rooms. A room is created by the walls surrounding it.
Wall furnace
Small furnace placed between the studs of a wall. It is typically electric, but in the past more frequently was gas.
Wall panel
Exterior wall not supporting a load, mostly found in office buildings.
Wall tile
Tile placed on a wall as decoration, such as in a bathroom or kitchen.
Wall-bearing
Supports a structure.
Wallboard
Eight-by-four sheet of material attached to a wall's studs.
Warehouse property
Building or other structure used to receive, hold, and issue products and other goods for a fee. A warehouse is a commercial property typically located in an industrial area.
Warehousing
- . Interim loans from banks to other lenders for their underwritten stocks or bonds. The stocks and bonds are issued to investors, household and institutional, for their portfolios.
- . A mortgage banker puts together mortgages issued to borrowers and sells these mortgages in the secondary market to raise funds and/or reduce risk.
- . Storing of assets expecting them to be sold at a later date.
Warehousing requirements
Structural, storage, and shelving characteristics associated with a warehouse.
Warranted price (value)
Justifiable and fair amount for a real estate transaction based on the conditions and limitations involved in the exchange.
Warranty
Guarantee by a seller to a buyer to satisfy, for a specified time period, problems in the quality or performance of items within the home. There is usually no additional charge during the warranty period.
Warranty deed
Assures that the title is free of any legal claims including encumbrances. It includes covenants of seizin, freedom from encumbrance, express warranties of title, right to quiet enjoyment, and further assurance.
Warranty insurance
Taken out on property to replace or repair it if it malfunctions. It covers parts and/or service.
Warranty of habitability
Implied assurance from a landlord to a prospective tenant that an apartment is safe and void of health problems.
Waste
Misuse, alteration, destruction, or neglect of land by an individual right-fully in possession that breeds a significant and permanent reduction of its value to the legal interest owned by another individual.
Waste pipe
Gets rid of unwanted substances and materials from a residence or office building. Waste includes solids and liquids, hazardous and nonhazardous materials.
Wasting asset
Natural resource, such as oil, coal, and timber, having a limited useful life and subject to depletion. Such assets decrease in worth primarily due to the extraction of the valued commodity held by these assets.
Water level
Surface level of water.
Water mains
Pipes transporting water.
Water right
Landowner's legal right to the water found on his property.
Water table
Distance from the location of natural ground and water to the actual ground level.
Water-holding capacity
How much water may be retained in a unit, such as an expansion tank in a home.
Waterfront property
Residential or office structure adjacent to water such as a lake. Such property has a higher value because of the greater demand for it.
Waterproofing
Putting a waterproofing substance on the exterior cement walls of the structure to prevent water from entering the interior of structure. The cracks in the walls are patched up.
Watt
The unit used to measure the rate at which a device consumes electricity.
Weak market
Characterized by a low volume of real estate sale transactions.
Wear and tear
Physical decline in a property's value caused from use, old age, and environmental factors.
Weather stripping
Individual lengths of rubber or plastic used to plug air leaks around doors and window frames.
Weatherstriping
Additions made to a structure to protect it from damage due to inclement weather.
Weep holes
Number of small holes in a wall allowing water to drain from it. This makes the walls able to withstand water pressure.
Wet plaster
Water/plaster mix used as a surface for walls and ceilings.
Wetlands
Land located next to water that has and will continue to experience water damage. The land generally is not suitable to build a structure on. In some cases, federal or local government may take over the land to preserve it.
Widow's walk
Platform erected on a roof in some New England homes having a view of the sea. It was said widows of lost seaman would walk on the platform looking out at sea for their husbands to return from sea.
Wild deed
An improperly recorded deed.
Will
An individual's written statement of how he or she wants property to be distributed upon death. There must be witnesses for the will to be enforceable.
Windbreak
Something offering protection against the wind such as trees and fences.
Winder, wheel step
Wedge-shaped step found on a spiral staircase with a wider tread on its outside portion.
Window light
An individual pane of glass.
Window seat
A bench built under an interior window.
Window well
A curved, corrugated steel insert used to isolate basement windows from moisture if they're below the soil line.
Window well covers
Curved plastic covers designed to be installed on top of a window well to cover the opening.
Windowsill
Bottom frame of wood supporting a window. It should be strong in order to support something put in the window such as an air conditioner.
Wing
Part of a building that is connected to but leads away from the main structure.
Wire glass
Glass containing wire support to make it stronger.
Without recourse
The company is not responsible to a third party if an account or financial instrument is dishonored by the debtor. The creditor's recourse is solely to the debtor's property.
Woman's Council of Realtors (WCR)
Organization that is part of the National Association of Realtors and is designed to promote women activities in real estate transactions.
Wood-destroying insect
An insect, such as a termite, that "eats into" the wood and destroys it.
Woodland
Land that has trees on it.
Working drawing
Drawing for the entire structure or part of it that is detailed and in scale so that engineers and construction workers may readily follow it.
Workout
A debt which is in default but which the creditor allows the debtor to rectify by lengthening the time period of the loan, reducing the interest rate, or some other accommodation. An example is a bank that elects not to foreclosure on a mortgage because of the homeowner's nonpayment, but agrees to stretch out the payments.
Wraparound mortgage
A loan given to a buyer for the remaining balance on a seller's first mortgage and an additional amount requested by the seller. Payments on both amounts are made to the lender who holds the wraparound loan.
Wraparound mortgage (trust deed)
A mortgage (trust deed) that encompasses existing mortgages and is subordinate to them. The existing mortgages stay on the property and the new mortgage wraps around them. The existing mortgage usually carries a lower interest rate than the one on the new mortgage loan. This loan is a type of seller financing. It is often used with commercial property where there is substantial equity in the property, and the existing first mortgage has an attractive low interest rate. By obtaining a wraparound, the borrower receives dollars based on the difference between current market value of the property and the outstanding balance on the first mortgage. The borrower amortizes the wraparound mortgage which now includes the balance of the first mortgage, and the wraparound lender forwards the necessary periodic debt service to the holder of the first mortgage. Thus, the borrower reduces the equity and at the same time obtains an interest rate lower than would be possible through a normal second mortgage.
Writ
Judicial order requiring the named person or business to act or not act on something.
Writ of ejectment
Court order granted in favor of the landlord to remove a tenant from the property because of nonpayment of rent and/or damaging the property. The writ directs an officer of the law to execute it and contains any needed directions.
Writ of execution
Court order to seize and sell property because of the nonpayment of taxes, or foreclosure of property.
Writ of mandamus
Court order stopping or directing a judicial directive.
Write-down
Reduction of part of the balance of property by charging an expense or loss account. The reason for a write-down is that some economic event has occurred indicating that the asset's value has diminished.
Wrought iron
Type of metal material or substance typically made for railings around the outdoor front patio and for both sides of the stairs in the front and rear of house. Other examples are chairs and tables for the kitchen and patio. It has to be painted with special paint to preserve it so it does not rust.
