Waiver

The intentional giving up on rights. For example, mortgage lender made a waiver on Ron’s property, meaning that lender gave up all rights to that property.

Walk-away Lease / Walk Away Lease / Closed-end Lease

An agreement which puts no obligation on the lessee by the end of a lease. For example, Ron leased a car for $60.000 for 5 years. The assumption is that in five years the value will go down. If the lender estimated that in five years the cost will go down to $45.000, but in fact in went down to $40.000, Ron will be required to pay $5000 as per agreement with the leaser. In a closed-end mortgage Ron is not required to pay anything by the end of a lease.

Walk-through / Walk Through

Final Inspection of property before change of ownership.

Waive Escrows

Authorization by lender to pay insurance and taxes directly, without escrow account.

Escrow account: A bank account where money for insurance and taxes is held until paid in full. When you make mortgage payment, part of that payment goes towards taxes and insurance. In order to make it more convenient, this money is deposited to an escrow account. Money is held there until it is time to pay the amount due for insurance and taxes.

Warehouse Lender / Wholesale Lender

Mortgage Lenders that give money to other lender to lend mortgages to end consumers. For example Groko Financial is a warehouse lender that lends money to 10 smaller mortgage lenders. Smaller lenders lend mortgages to people and then repay money + additional interest to Groko Financials. Smaller lenders then sell mortgages on a secondary mortgage market.

Warranty / Warranty Deed

In real estate warranty means that the title(ownership) to the property is clear. Third party companies are hired to ensure that there is only one owner of the property, to prevent future problems, since relatives may show up, claiming it belongs to them.

Wash Sale

Illegal activity of buying stocks through one broker and immediately selling them trough another. This is done to avoid or pay less in taxes.

Water Potability

If water is potable, means it is safe to drink.

Wire Transfer

Electronic money transfer system between banks.

Wire Transfer Fee

Fee charged by banks for wire transfer.

Wire Transfer: Electronic money transfer system between banks.

Whole Life Insurance

Insurance that provides coverage for the whole life of the insured person. Unlike term insurance, that only covers until a certain age limit.

Will

Legal declaration that specifies how his/her assets will be distributed after death. Will specifies who gets what and how much.

Wild Deed

Badly recorded will.

Will: Legal declaration that specifies how his/her assets will be distributed after death. Will specifies who gets what and how much.

Withholding

Method of taxation, where taxes are taken out of the paycheck, before you receive it.

Witness

Person who signs a document, guaranteeing he/she will back up the claims in court if necessary. For example, final step in a mortgage process requires signatures from both the borrower and the broker. In case either borrower or broker state that they never signed the document, witnesses will verify in court that they both did.

Workout / Workout Assumption

Practice where lenders change or stop mortgage payments in order to assist borrowers and stop foreclosure(lender taking property for non payment).

Wraparound Mortgage / Wrap-around mortgage

Mortgage that pays off all other mortgages on a property and offers one payment. This is usually done to reduce monthly payments, since paying 2 loans is more expensive than paying 1 loan.