Waiting period - The time between a registration statement's initial filing and its effective date.

Waiver - A lender's agreement to overlook a borrower's failure to meet one or more contractual conditions attached to the granting of a loan or credit; conditions that, without a waiver, would give the lender the right to declare the loan in default.

Warranty deed - A deed where the seller guarantees that they hold clear title to a piece of real estate and have the right to sell it to the buyer. The guarantee is not limited to the time the seller owned the property; it extends back to the property's origins.

Weighted-average coupon (WAC) - The average interest rate charged to mortgage borrowers in the mortgage's underlying pool as of the issue date, with the amount of each mortgage used as the weighting factor.

Weighted-average equity - The net assets at the beginning of the period adjusted for weighted contributions and distributions used as the denominator of the fraction used to calculate investment-level income, appreciation and total returns on a quarterly basis.

Weighted-average rental rates - The average percentage of unequal rental rates in two or more properties within a given market

Working drawings - The set of plans for a building or project that encompass the contract documents that specify the precise manner in which a project is to be constructed.

Workout - The process by which a borrower seeks to renegotiate the structure of the borrower's debt with a lender rather than go through a foreclosure proceeding.

Write-down - An accounting procedure used when the book value of an asset is adjusted downward to more reflect its current market value.

Write-off - An accounting procedure used when the book value of an asset has been determined to be uncollectible or of no value and is therefore charged as a loss.