Mortgage Terminology

I came across this very helpful guide about the terms used in mortgage brokering.

WHATS A FIXED PRICE ?
When properties are advertised at a fixed price this means that the seller ( vendor ) is looking for that price and not looking to negotiate / accept a lower figure – therefore if the asking price is £ 200,000 that is what the seller wants – it does not stop you however offering less.

WHAT DOES OIRO MEAN ?
OIRO means ‘ Offers in the Region Of ‘  therefore if a property is advertised at OIRO £ 200,000 the seller is looking for a figure around this amount but would indicate that they would accept a lower figure – for example £ 190,000 or £ 195,000 so always worth starting off with a lower offer.

WHAT DOES OIEO MEAN ?
OIEO means ‘ Offers in Excess Of ‘ therefore if a property is advertised as OIEO £200,000 the seller is looking for offers above this figure – for example £ 210,000/ £215,000 etc – again through there is no reason why not to offer a amount below the £ 200,000.

WHAT DOES GUIDE PRICE MEAN ?
A Guide Price is usually associated with a property that is going to be sold at Auction – therefore the Auctioneer has advertised a price that they feel is the minimum the property should sell for – usually in reality properties at auction usually sell for much more than their Guide Price and is a way of attracting purchasers to the auction.  

WHAT DOES CORPORATE SALE MEAN ?
When a property is advertised as a Corporate Sale it usually means that the property has been repossessed by a Bank or Building Society as the mortgage client has defaulted on the mortgage payments and the lender has appointed a company to sell the property to repay the mortgage / loan outstanding on it.

Corporate property sales are usually done via an Estate Agency, the main disadvantage is that you have to go through the Estate Agent to negotiate the price with the company and this can be a very slow process and even once your offer has been accepted the property will remain on the market until you exchange contracts – therefore you could have paid for a valuation, solicitors search fees and lenders admin fees and about to exchange when the corporate company accepts a higher offer from  somebody else.   

MAKING OFFERS
Always consider making a lower offer whatever the price or condition put on it – start low – you can always increase the offer at a later date.