The 1-Year Challenge: Learn 52 Spanish Real Estate Terms in 52 Weeks

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.

The Challenge

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!

The List

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

Apps that can help

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:

• Translate text in the "real world" -- e.g., from street signs, newspapers, menus, etc. -- into the language of your choice by pointing your phone's camera at the object to be translated.
• Translate conversations in real time. Speak into your phone to translate your words into the language of your choice, and your conversation partner can do the same. Google Translate acts as an interpreter that produces audio translations of both sides of the conversation.
• Translate text from any app. No matter what app is open, Google Translate can step in and translate text for you. Simply copy the text to activate translate mode.
• And more.

Google Translate is available for both Android and iOS devices.

For more on translation technology, see:

• 4 Apps that Let Real Estate Professionals Smash Language Barriers
• Has Technology Brought Real-Time Translation to Real Estate?