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BALANCE SHEET - financial statement that shows assets, liabilities, and net worth as of a specific date

BALLOON PAYMENT - The final payment of a note or obligation, which is substantially larger than the previous installment payments, and which repays the debt in full; the remaining balance which is due at the maturity of a note or obligation.

BANKRUPTCY - A proceeding in a federal court in which a debtor who owes more than his or her assets can relieve the debts by transferring his or her assets to a trustee.

BARGAIN AND SALE DEED - A deed which recites a consideration and conveys all of the grantor's interest in the property to the grantee.

BASE LINE AND MERIDIAN - An imaginary set of lines used by surveyors to locate and describe land under the Rectangular Survey Method of property description used in most mainland states.

BASIS - The financial interest which IRS attributes to the owner of an asset for purposes of determining annual depreciation and gain or loss on sale of the asset.

BEFORE-TAX INCOME - Income before taxes are deducted.

BENCH MARK - A mark affixed to a permanent reference or monument, such as an iron post or a brass marker (usually embedded in a cement sidewalk), used to establish elevations and altitudes over a surveyed area.

BENEFICIARY - A person who receives the benefits from the gifts or acts of another, such as one who is designated to receive the proceeds from a will, insurance policy or trust.

BILATERAL CONTRACT - A contract in which each party promises to perform an act in exchange for the other party's promise to perform.

BILL OF SALE - A written agreement by which one person sells, assigns or transfers his right to, or interest in, personal property to another.

BINDER - A preliminary agreement, secured by the payment of an earnest money deposit, under which a buyer offers to purchase real estate.

BIWEEKLY PAYMENT MORTGAGE - A mortgage that requires payments to reduce the debt every two weeks (instead of the standard monthly payment schedule). The 26 (or possibly 27) biweekly payments are each equal to one-half of the monthly payment that would be required if the loan were a standard 30-year fixed-rate mortgage, and they are usually drafted from the borrower's bank account. The result for the borrower is a substantial savings in interest.

BLANKET MORTGAGE - A mortgage which is secured by several structures or a number of lots. A blanket mortgage is often used to finance proposed subdivisions or development projects, especially cooperatives.

BLUE SKY LAWS - State securities laws designed to protect the public from fraudulent practices in the promotion and sale of securities, e.g., through limited partnerships, syndications, bonds.

BOND - An interest-bearing certificate of debt with a maturity date. An obligation of a government or business corporation. A real estate bond is a written obligation usually secured by a mortgage or a deed of trust.

BOOT - Money or other property given to make up any difference in value or equity between two exchanged properties.

BOUNDARIES - The perimeters or limits of a parcel of land as fixed by legal description which is usually a metes and bounds description.

BREACH OF CONTRACT - Violation of any of the terms or conditions of a contract without legal excuse; default, non-performance, such as failure to make payment when due.

BROKER - One who acts as an intermediary between parties to a transaction. A real estate broker is a properly licensed person who, for a valuable consideration, serves as an agent to others to facilitate the sale or lease of real property.

BROKERAGE - That aspect of the real estate business which is concerned with bringing together the parties and completing a real estate transaction. Brokerage involves exchanges, rentals, trade-ins and management of property, as well as sales.

BROKER RECIPROCITY - to display on Participants' public websites aggregated MLS active listing information through, at Participants' option, either downloading and placing the data on Participants' public access websites or by framing such information on the MLS or association public access website (if such a site is available) subject to the requirements of state law and regulation.

BUDGET MORTGAGE - A mortgage with payments set up to cover more than interest and principal reductions.

BUFFER ZONE - A strip of land separating one parcel from another.

BUILDING PERMIT - A written permission granted by the County Building Department and required prior to beginning the construction of a new building or other improvement (including fences, fence walls, retaining walls and swimming pools).

BUILDING RESIDUAL TECHNIQUE - A method of determining the value of an improvement normally used in appraising income property.

BULK TRANSFERS - Any transfer in bulk, and not in the ordinary course of the seller's business, of a major part of the materials, inventory or supplies of an enterprise.

BUNDLE OF RIGHTS - An ownership concept describing all those legal rights which attach to the ownership of real property, including the right to sell, lease, encumber, use, enjoy, exclude, will, etc.

BUSINESS DAYS - Days of the week excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays; normal working days.

BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES - Any type of business that is for sale.

BUYDOWN MORTGAGE - A temporary buydown is a mortgage on which an initial lump sum payment is made by any party to reduce a borrower's monthly payments during the first few years of a mortgage. A permanent buydown reduces the interest rate over the entire life of a mortgage.

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