Real Estate Final

Lintel

A beam that carries the load of a wall across a window or door opening.

Concrete Masonry Unit (CMU)

A block of hardened concrete, with or without hollow cores, designed to be laid in the same manner as a brick or stone.

Mortgage Broker

A broker who arranges a mortgage loan between a lender and a borrower for a fee.

Building Envelope

A building envelope is the maximum three-dimensional space on a zoning lot within which a structure can be built, as permitted by applicable height, setback and yard controls. One of the main goals of a

Assessments

A charge against real estate made by a unit of government to cover a proportionate cost of an improvement such as a street or sewer

Wrap-around Mortgage

A form of secondary financing for the purchase of real property. The seller extends to the buyer a junior mortgage which wraps around the existing in addition to any superior mortgages already secured by the property.

Rafter

A framing member that runs up and down the slope of a steep roof.

Special Assessment Districts

A geographic area in which the market value of real estate is enhanced due to the influence of a public improvement and in which a tax is apportioned to recover the costs of the public improvement.

Chain of Title

A history of conveyances and encumbrances affecting the title from the time the original patent was granted, or as far back as records are available, used to determine how title came to be vested in current owner.

Beam

A horizontal structural element. Joists, trusses, and girders are examples of a beam.

Mineral Rights

A landowner's right to receive a portion of the profits of any minerals that are extracted from the land.

Tax Lien

A lien imposed by law upon a property to secure the payment of taxes.

Exclusive Agency Listing

A listing agreement employing a broker as the sole agent for the seller of real property under the terms of which the broker is entitled to a commission if the property is sold through any other broker, but not if a sale is negotiated by the owner without the services of an agent.

Net Listing

A listing which provides that the agent may retain as compensation for agent's services all sums received over and above a net price to the owner.

VA Guaranteed Loan

A loan made to qualified veterans for the purchase of real property wherein the Department of Veteran's Affairs guarantees the lender payment of the mortgage.

Construction Loan

A loan secured by real estate which is for the purpose of funding the construction of improvements or building(s) upon the property.

Master Plan

A long-term planning document. It establishes the framework and key elements of a site reflecting a clear vision created and adopted in an open process. It synthesizes civic goals and the public's aspirations for a project, gives them form and organization, and defines a realistic plan for implementation, including subsequent approvals by public agencies.

Zoning District

A mapped residential, commercial, or manufacturing district with similar use, bulk and density regulations.

Package Mortgage

A method of financing in which the loan that finances the purchase of a home also finances the purchase of personal items such as a washer and dryer, refrigerators, stove, and other specified appliances.

FHA-Insured Loan

A mortgage loan in which payments are insured by the Federal Housing Administration.

Conventional Loan

A mortgage securing a loan made by investors without governmental underwriting, i.e., which is not FHA insured or VA guaranteed. This type of loan is customarily made by a bank or savings and loan association.

Mortgage Banker

A person whose principal business is the originating, financing, closing, selling and servicing of loans secured by real property for institutional lenders on a contractual basis.

Pre-Qualification

A process whereby a loan officer takes information from a borrower and makes a tentative assessment of how much the lending institution is willing to lend them.

Yard Setbacks

A required open area along the property lines of a zoning lot, which must be unobstructed from the lowest level to the sky.

Zoning Ordinance

A statement setting forth the type of use permitted under each zoning classification and specific requirements for compliance.

Pre-Approval

A step above pre-qualification, an evaluation of a potential borrower by a lender that determines whether the borrower qualifies for a loan from the lender, or the maximum amount that the lender would be willing to lend.

Party Wall

A structural wall that is shared between two adjoining

Abstract of Title

A summary or digest of all transfers, conveyances, legal proceedings, and any other facts relied on as evidence of title, showing continuity of ownership, together with any other elements of record which may impair title.

Flashing

A thin, continuous sheet of metal, plastic, rubber, or waterproofing used to prevent the passage of water through a joint in a wall, roof, or chimney.

Blanket Mortgage

A type of loan used to fund the purchase of more than one piece of real property. A blanket mortgage is often used for subdivision financing

Shingled Roofing

A type of roof covering that consists of individual overlapping elements. These elements typically consist of wood, slate, asphalt, metal, plastic, or composite material.

Residential Dwelling Unit

A unit intended to be used as a residence, that is primarily long-term in nature. Residential dwelling units do not include transient lodging (hotels)

Wythe

A vertical layer of masonry that is one masonry unit thick.

Column

A vertical structural element.

Ramp

A walking surface that has a running slope steeper than 1 to 20.

Bundle of Rights

All of the legal rights incident to ownership of property including rights of use, possession, encumbering and disposition

Property Management Report

An accounting report issued periodically by the property manager to the owner outlining all income and expenditures for that accounting period

Buyer Agent

An agent who represents the buyer in a real estate transaction.

Comparative Market Analysis

An analysis of the competition in the marketplace that a property will face upon sale attempts.

Special Assessment

An assessment made against a property to pay for a public improvement by which the assessed property is supposed to be especially benefited.

Multiple Listing Service

An association of real estate agents providing for a pooling of listings and the sharing of commissions on a specified basis.

Opinion of Title

An attorney's written evaluation of the condition of the title to a parcel of land after examination of the abstract of title.

Open Listing

An authorization given by a property owner to a real estate agent wherein said agent is given the nonexclusive right to secure a purchaser; _________ ____________ may be given to any number of agents without liability to compensate any except the one who first secures a buyer ready, willing, and able to meet the terms of the listing, or secures the acceptance by the seller of a satisfactory offer.

Tax Assessor

An elected or appointed official of a county, city, town or village whose function is to value real property for the purposes of taxation.

Listing

An employment contract between principal and agent authorizing the agent to perform services for the principal involving the latter's property; listing contracts are entered into for the purpose of securing persons to buy, lease, or rent property.

Appraisal

An estimate of the value of property resulting from an analysis of facts about the property. An opinion of value.

Redlining

An illegal lending policy of denying real estate loans on properties in older, changing urban areas, usually with large minority populations, because of alleged higher lending risks without due consideration being given by the lending institution to the credit worthiness of the individual loan applicant.

Underwriter

An individual at a lending institution who determines credit worthiness in order to qualify an applicant for a loan.

Partition

An interior non-load bearing wall. Partitions are typically comprised of wood or metal studs with gypsum board on either side.

personal property

Any property which is not real property.

Fixtures

Appurtenances attached to the land or improvements, which usually cannot be removed without agreement as they become real property; examples - plumbing fixtures, store fixtures built into the property, etc.

Trade Fixture

Articles of personal property annexed by a business tenant to real property which are necessary to the carrying on of a trade and are removable by the tenant

Frost Line

Depth in the earth to which the soil can be expected to freeze during a severe winter.

Readily achievable

Easily accomplished and able to be carried out without much difficulty or expense. Public accommodations are required to remove barriers when it is readily achievable to do so.

Chattel

Goods or every species of property movable or immovable which are not real property. Personal property

Tax purposes

In some cases, a current market value is needed for tax purposes. This can occur during the estate planning process, when determining taxes for an inheritance or a gift or for other reasons where it may be necessary to provide an estimated assessment value.

Title Insurance

Insurance to protect a real property owner or lender up to a specified amount against certain types of loss, e.g., defective or unmarketable title

Preventive Maintenance

Keeping property and equipment in a good state of repair so as to minimize the need for more costly repair work or replacement.

real estate

Land plus anything permanently attached to land.

real property

Land, things affixed to land, appurtenances, plus the bundle of rights.

Zoning Maps

Maps that indicate the location and boundaries of zoning districts within a municipality.

Private Mortgage Insurance (PMI)

Mortgage guaranty insurance available to conventional lenders on the first, high risk portion of a loan.

Buydown

Obtaining a lower interest rate by paying additional points to the lender.

Joist

One of a parallel array of light, closely spaced beams used to support a floor deck or flat roof.

Stud

One of an array of small, closely spaced, parallel wall framing members.

Appraiser

One qualified by education, training and experience who is hired to estimate the value of real and personal property based on experience, judgment, facts, and use of formal appraisal process.

Closing

Process by which all the parties to a real estate transaction conclude the details of a sale or mortgage. The process includes the signing and transfer of documents and distribution of funds.

Variable Expense

Property expenditures that vary depending on the operations of the property.

Single-ply Roofing

Roofing systems that are composed of insulation, a single-ply membrane, flashing and adhesive.

what are three most common types of single-ply membranes

TPO, EPDM, and PVD.

Lot Coverage

That portion of a zoning lot which, when viewed from above, is covered by a building.

Mortgage Insurance Premium (MIP)

The amount paid by a mortgagor for mortgage insurance on an FHA-insured loan.

Lot Area

The area (in square feet) of a zoning lot.

Variance

The authorization to improve or develop a particular property in a manner not authorized by zoning

Underwriting

The criteria with which a lender determines the credit worthiness in order to qualify them for the loan.

Emblements

The crops and other annual plantings considered to be personal property of the cultivator.

Time Value of Money

The idea that money available at the present time is worth more than the same amount in the future due to its potential earning capacity.

Loan to Value Ratio (LTV)

The percentage of a property's value that a lender can or may loan to a borrower.

Foundation

The portion of a building that has the sole purpose of transmitting structural loads from the building into the earth.

Parapet

The portion of an exterior wall that projects above the level of the roof.

Air Rights

The rights in real property to the reasonable use of the air space above the surface of the land

Zoning

The separation or division of a city or town into districts, the regulation of buildings and structures in such districts in accordance with their construction and the nature and extent of their use, and the dedication of such districts to particular uses designated to serve the general welfare.

Sill

The strip of wood that lies immediately on top of a concrete or masonry foundation in wood frame construction. The sill also refers to the horizontal bottom portion of a window.

Insured Value

The value of an asset or asset group that is covered by an insurance policy; can be estimated by deducting cost of non-insurable items (e.g. land value) from market value.

Footing

The widened part of a foundation that spreads a load from the building across a broader area of soil.

Marketable Title

Title which a reasonable purchaser, informed as to the facts and their legal importance and acting with reasonable care, would be willing and ought to accept.

Load Bearing Wall

Walls that support the floor or roof of a building. Load bearing walls are considered structural walls and help transfer the load of a building down to the foundation and footings.

Transfer of property

When a buyer and seller are involved in a real estate transaction, there needs to be a value placed on the property. There may also be instances where a property transfers ownership for other reasons that may require a market value.

Financial reasons

When a buyer is borrowing money, a property owner is considering refinancing or a property is being used as collateral, the lender will typically require the property be appraised.

Truth-in-Lending Act (TILA)

he name given to the federal statutes and regulations (Regulation Z) which are designed primarily to ensure that prospective borrowers and purchasers of credit receive credit cost information before entering into a transaction.

a lintel is also referred to as a...

header

concrete masonry units are commonly used where

in load bearing exterior walls

Floor Area Ratio (FAR)

is the principal bulk regulation controlling the size of buildings. ____________ ____ ____ is the ratio of total building floor area to the area of the zoning lot. Each zoning district has a ____ _____ _____ control which, when multiplied by the lot area of the zoning lot, produces the maximum amount of floor area allowable in a building on the zoning lot.

zoning analysis

is to determine the building envelope. A building envelope is also referred to as the "bulk" of a building.

Yard setbacks ensure

light and air between buildings.

Net Operating Income (NOI)

refers to the income a property produces before debt service and any capital expenditures.

Land

the materials of the earth, whatever may be the ingredients of which it is composed, whether soil, rock, or other substance, and includes free or unoccupied space for an indefinite distance upwards as well as downwards.

what are party walls commonly built using

using concrete masonry units; however, many older buildings use brick.

what are studs made of

wood or metal