If you are buying or selling a home, the chances are good you struggle with the meaning of descriptive real estate terms. Heres the first in a series of articles explaining them.

The Wise Seller

Be very truthful if you are a seller advertising your home. Mention your homes best features, but do not exaggerate. If someone comes to look at your home and feels disappointed, they are not apt to buy. You are probably wasting your time and advertising money if your ads mislead.

The Wise Buyer

Take advertisements with a grain of salt and dont get too excited until youve seen the property. Many sellers do not take the advice given above.

Now lets examine some of the terms themselves and what they commonly mean.

Open Floor Plan

Describes a home in which rooms open out of each other and its possible to see from one room to another. Often entertaining rooms (living room, dining room, sun room, entrance foyer) are open to each other, and family living areas (kitchen, breakfast room, family room) are open to each other, while bedrooms have doors and open off a hall in a more traditional way.

Traditional Floor Plan

Used to describe a home with rooms opening off a hall or halls. Each room can usually be closed off with a door.

Split Bedroom Plan

A term often used to describe a home (usually one level) with the master bedroom on one side of the living areas and the rest of the bedrooms on the opposite side.

Dormer Window

A window in an upstairs room that has a slanting ceiling which follows the slope of the roof. The window is in an upright position, but that causes it to stick up above the roof, so it gets its own little roof (usually a gable roof) that is tied into the main roof where they meet at right angles.

If you can get the verbiage down, youll be way ahead in the real estate game. Look for future articles on this subject or visit our site to read more terms.