Glossary
26 terms that show up in a Family Home Finder report — comp math, school metrics, federal data fields, and the affordability vocabulary families actually need.
Walk Score
Third-party 0–100 scores from walkscore.com measuring walkability and transit access at a given address. 90+ is a 'walker's paradise', 70–89 is 'very walkable', under 50 is car-dependent. Honest signal at the address level; less useful at the metro level where the scores are area averages.
HOA dues
Monthly fees paid to a homeowners or condo association covering shared amenities, building reserves, and sometimes utilities. Material to affordability — a $500/month HOA is the same monthly hit as $90,000 of additional mortgage at 6.5%. Always include HOA dues in PITI.
Mello-Roos / CFD
A California-specific special property tax assessment funding new infrastructure (schools, parks, roads) in newer-build communities. Adds 0.5–2% on top of the base ~1% property tax for 20–40 years. Common in Irvine, Folsom, Eastvale, and most Bay Area edge-city developments.
Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI)
Areas where homes meet undeveloped vegetation. WUI homes carry the highest wildfire risk and increasingly trigger ember-zone building-code requirements (Class A roof, ember-resistant vents). California, Colorado, Oregon, and Washington flag WUI status at the parcel level.
GreatSchools rating
A 1–10 score combining test-score growth, equity, and college readiness. Heavily weighted by standardized test results, which means it tracks neighborhood income closely. Read alongside Niche and parent-forum sentiment, not on its own.
Prop 13 (California)
California's 1978 amendment capping annual property-tax-base increases at 2%, regardless of market value. The base resets only on sale or major renovation. Long-time owners pay tax on a far lower base than a new buyer of an identical home next door — the 'lock-in' effect.
Sold comp
A recently sold home used as a price benchmark for a target home. The strongest comps are the same bed/bath count, similar square footage, in the same neighborhood, sold in the last 90 days. Active listings are not comps — only closed sales.
Price per square foot (PPSF)
Sale price ÷ interior square footage. Useful for comparing homes of different sizes inside the same neighborhood. Across neighborhoods or metros it's noisier — lot size, age, finishes, and HOA dues all distort it.
Days on market (DOM)
How many days a listing was active before it went under contract. In a balanced market, DOM under 14 means competition; over 60 means the price is high or something is wrong with the home. Always read alongside list-to-sale ratio.
School pipeline
The full elementary → middle → high sequence a child would attend if they live at a given address and follow the assigned (boundary) schools. A great elementary feeding a weak middle is a real problem; a weak elementary feeding a strong high school is usually fine.
Niche grade
A letter grade from Niche.com mixing federal data with parent / student / alumni surveys. Adds the soft signals (culture, teachers, college matriculation) that GreatSchools misses. Pressure-cooker schools often grade A+ on Niche while parents describe them as miserable — read the survey comments.
US News high-school ranking
An annual ranking by US News & World Report based on AP / IB performance and college-readiness indicators. Useful for high schools only; doesn't cover elementary or middle. Top-100 nationwide signals an academically intense environment, not necessarily a healthy one.
Pressure-cooker school
A high-performing school where the academic culture is unusually intense — high AP loads, heavy after-school tutoring, anxiety and burnout common in parent forums. Common in tech-heavy zip codes with strong Asian-American academic cultures. Worth flagging for families who want strong schools without a competitive culture.
Charter / magnet / district school
District schools assign by home address (boundary). Magnets are district-run but admit by lottery / test, often with a theme (STEM, arts). Charters are publicly funded but independently run, also lottery-admitted. Boundary doesn't help you with magnet or charter — you have to apply.
School capture
Whether a specific home address falls inside a desired school's attendance boundary. Boundaries can change; some districts do an annual lottery for popular schools instead of a hard boundary. Always verify with the district before buying for a specific school.
FEMA flood zone
A FEMA-designated risk category for a property: X (low / moderate), AE / A / VE (special flood hazard, mortgage requires flood insurance), or D (undetermined). Look up any address on the FEMA Flood Map Service Center.
Source: https://msc.fema.gov/portal/home
Special Flood Hazard Area (SFHA)
Any FEMA zone starting with A or V. If a federally backed mortgage finances the home, flood insurance is mandatory. National Flood Insurance Program premiums for an SFHA home typically run $2,000–$8,000 / year depending on elevation.
CALFIRE Fire Hazard Severity Zone (FHSZ)
California-specific wildfire risk classification: Moderate, High, or Very High. Properties in Very High FHSZ pay $5,000–$12,000 / year extra in homeowner insurance and can become uninsurable on the standard market — pushed to the FAIR Plan as a last resort.
Comfort target price
The home price where total monthly housing cost (mortgage + tax + insurance + maintenance) is at most ~30% of household take-home pay, salary alone — bonuses excluded. Lets the family ride out a layoff or bonus miss without forced selling.
Stretch target price
The maximum the family could afford if everything goes right — full bonuses, no career hiccups, double income forever. Useful as a ceiling, not a buying target. Most first-time buyers should not anchor here.
PI vs PITI
PI = principal + interest, the loan-only piece of the monthly payment. PITI = PI + property tax + homeowner insurance, the full housing payment a lender uses to evaluate affordability. Always run affordability math on PITI, not PI.
Conforming vs jumbo loan
Conforming loans are at or below the Fannie/Freddie limit ($766,550 in 2024 for most counties; higher in HCOL areas). Jumbo loans are above. Jumbo rates are typically 25–50 basis points higher and require larger reserves; in some HCOL markets jumbo rates have inverted below conforming.
Prop 2½ (Massachusetts)
Massachusetts's 1980 amendment capping a municipality's total tax levy growth at 2.5% per year (separate from individual assessment changes). Towns can override via ballot measure; some affluent towns override frequently to fund schools.
Save Our Homes (Florida)
Florida's homestead protection capping annual assessed-value growth at 3% (or CPI, whichever is lower) for primary residences. Non-homestead and second homes are capped at 10%. Snowbirds buying second homes in Florida should not assume Save Our Homes protection.
Transit Score
Walkscore.com companion to Walk Score — measures density and frequency of nearby public transit at a given address. 90+ is rider's paradise; 50–69 is good transit; under 25 is minimal. Most useful for families with kids commuting to magnet schools or one parent commuting to a city core while the family lives in a quieter outer neighborhood.
AQI (Air Quality Index)
EPA's daily 0–500 air-quality scale. 0–50 is good, 51–100 moderate, 101+ unhealthy for sensitive groups. Wildfire-prone Western metros spike into 150+ for weeks every summer; East Coast metros occasionally hit 200+ during regional smoke events. Worth checking annual averages, not just the day you visit.
See these terms in a worked example.
Every sample report applies the framework to a real family in a real metro, with the data sources and definitions above cited inline.