Your Online Legal Resource Center for Professional Property Management

WAINSCOTING WOOD - Paneling, tongue-and-groove boards or similar material installed between a baseboard and a chair rail.

WAIVE - Giving up the right to make a claim.

WAIVER - A voluntary relinquishing of certain rights or claims.

WALK - OUT BASEMENT - A feature that allows a door to open onto ground level.

WALK-THROUGH - A buyer's final inspection of the home to determine if conditions in the purchase agreement have been satisfied.

WAREHOUSING - Holding a mortgage until the market for its resale improves; a fee may be charged to a borrower to offset a lender's mortgage costs.Warehousing occurs during tight money markets when discount rates charged by lenders exceed their profit margin, forcing them to hold mortgages until rates drop.

WARRANTY - A legally binding promise to do something in the future.

WASTING ASSETS - Assets which decrease in value through use and over a period of time, such as business equipment or a franchise.

WEAR AND TEAR - The normal decrease in value created by regular usage, such as wear and tear on carpet in a commercially leased office space; the lessor would usually be responsible for its replacement.

WEIR BOX - An apparatus that measures the flow of water through an irrigation canal.

WETLANDS - Watery areas as in swamps, marshes and floodplains.

WILD DEED - An improperly recorded deed.

WILD INTEREST - An interest in property which may not be properly reflected in public records due to an incorrect legal description or a changed name.

WILD LAND - Uncultivated land in its original state.

WILL - The most basic legal document outlining the disposition of a person's estate in the event of death.

WINDOW LIGHT - An individual pane of glass.

WINDOW SEAT - A bench built under an interior window.

WINDOW WELL - A curved, corrugated steel insert used to isolate basement windows below the soil line from moisture.

WINDOW WELL COVERS - Curved plastic covers designed to be installed on top of a window well to cover the opening.

WITHOUT RECOURSE - A type of mortgage which is secured by the property alone and does not become a liability of the borrower.

WITNESS - A neutral third party called upon to view (witness) the singing by interested parties of deeds, wills, or other legal documents.

WORKING CAPITAL - Money needed to operate a business from day to day; may be derived by borrowing against accounts receivable or liquidating assets.

WORKING DRAWING - See Specifications.

WRAPAROUND MORTGAGE - A loan to a buyer for the remaining balance on a seller's first mortgage and an additional amount requested by the seller. Payments on both loans are made to the lender who holds the wraparound loan.

WRIT OF EJECTMENT - Written instructions of a court directing the reposession of leased or rented property from a tenant.

WRIT OF EXECUTION - Written instructions directing that a court order judgment be fulfilled.