January 24 2019
Did you know that Spanish is the second most widely spoken language in nearly every U.S. state? That means it's likely that you've either had clients or prospects that speak the language.
But even though translation apps have come far in recent years (more on that later), it's still difficult to accurately translate the specialized jargon of real estate into Spanish and other languages.
According to a government report, "translations may create more confusion than clarity. For example, when targeting materials and products to Latinos, financial education materials often are translated from English to their literal equivalent in Spanish, which may be unintelligible or difficult for the reader to understand."
So to help you better serve your Spanish-speaking clients and leads, we've compiled this list of 52 of the most-used real estate terms and their Spanish translations. It's drawn from the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau's Glossary of English-Spanish Financial Terms, a constantly updated list of hundreds of finance and real estate related terms.
You can bookmark or save this article to refer to later—or if you really want to boost your Spanish language skills, read on for a challenge that will help you master real estate's most commonly needed translations.
Ready for a low pressure way to build your Spanish vocabulary? We've included 52 real estate terms in this article--one for every week of the year. You can build your vocabulary slowly by committing to learning and using one term per week.
You can start this challenge now, next month, your birthday, the anniversary of your first sale, or any other date that motivates you. Here's the challenge:
Learn one term per week for 52 weeks, or exactly one year. Aim to use that term at least 1-3 times in your work during that week in order for it to really sink in. This is easy if you have Spanish speaking clients--just drop it into conversation, email, or text.
If you don't have any Spanish speaking clients, use that week's term to flex your online marketing skills. Write a blog post about the term, or share the term and its translation on social media with a memorable hashtag.
Dive in to the list below to get started!
Appraisal
Tasación, valoración de la vivienda
Assessment
Evaluación, cargo, tarifa
Buyer's Agent
Agente del comprador
Closing Costs
Costos de cierre, gastos de cierre
Closing date
Fecha de cierre
Commercial property
Propiedad comercial
Commission
Comisión
Comparative Market Analysis (CMA)
CMA (Análisis Comparativo de Mercado)
Contingency / Contingency clause of sale
Contingencia / Cláusula de contingencia de venta
Contract
Contrato
Costs
Costos, gastos
Counteroffer
Contraoferta
Deed
Escritura, título de inmueble
Disclosure
Revelación, divulgación
Down payment
Pago inicial, cuota inicial
Due diligence
Diligencia debida
Earnest money deposit
Depósito de buena fe, depósito de arras
Escrow
Depósito en garantía, reserva, escrow, depósito para impuestos y seguros de la vivienda
Estimated property value
Valor estimado de la vivienda
Fair Market Value
Valor de mercado, precio de mercado
Fiduciary Duties
Deberes fiduciarios
Foreclosure
Ejecución hipotecaria, embargo, reposesión, reposeer
For sale by owner (FSBO)
Casa en venta por el propietario (FSBO, por sus siglas en inglés)
Good faith estimate
Estimado de Buena Fe/Estimación de Buena Fe (GFE, por sus siglas en inglés)
Grantee
Cesionario, beneficiario
Grantor
Otorgante
Home buyer
Comprador de vivienda
Home Equity
Valor liquido, capital de su vivienda
Home, house
Vivienda, casa, hogar
Home Inspection
Inspección de la vivienda
Homeowner
Propietario de vivienda, propietario de casa, dueño de casa
Homeowner's association
Asociación de propietarios
Homeowner's Insurance
Seguro de la vivienda, seguro del propietario de vivienda, aseguranza de casa
Investment property
Propiedad adquirida con fines de inversión, propiedad de Inversión
Lien
Gravamen, derecho de retención, deuda, embargo preventivo
Listed for sale
En venta, para la venta
Listing price, list price
Precio anunciado, precio de lista
Loan-to-value ratio
Relación Préstamo - Valor (LTV, por sus siglas en inglés)
Mortgage
Hipoteca, préstamo
Preapproval, preapproved
Preaprobación, preaprobado
Prequalified
Precalificado
Principal, interest, taxes, and insurance
Principal, Interés, Impuestos y Seguro (PITI, por sus siglas en inglés)
Private mortgage insurance
Seguro hipotecario privado (pmi, por sus siglas en inglés)
Real estate agent
Agente de bienes raíces
Real estate broker
Corredor inmobiliario
REALTOR
Agente inmobiliario
Seller's Agent
Agente inmobiliario del vendedor, agente de bienes raíces que representa al vendedor
Short Sale
Venta en corto, venta corta
Title
Título (de la propiedad)
Warranty
Garantía
Zip code
Código posta
Zone / zoning
Zona, Zonificación
If language learning isn't quite your thing, lean on technology to provide the help you need. Google Translate is perhaps the most advanced, free translation app available today, and it takes advantage of several of your smartphone's features to do stuff like:
Google Translate is available for both Android and iOS devices.
For more on translation technology, see: