Property law
Part of the common law series
Types
Personal property Community property Real property Unowned property
Acquisition
Gift Adverse possession Deed Conquest Discovery Accession Lost, mislaid, and abandoned property Treasure trove Bailment License Alienation
Estates in land
Allodial title Fee simple Fee tail Life estate Defeasible estate Future interest remainder Concurrent estate Leasehold estate Condominiums Real estate Land tenure
Conveyancing
Bona fide purchaser Torrens title Strata title Deeds registration Estoppel by deed Quitclaim deed Mortgage Equitable conversion Action to quiet title Escheat
Future use control
Restraint on alienation Rule against perpetuities Rule in Shelley's Case Doctrine of worthier title
Nonpossessory interest
Lien Easement Profit Usufruct Covenant Equitable servitude
Related topics
Fixtures Waste Partition Practicing without a license Property rights Mineral rights Water rights prior appropriation riparian Lateral and subjacent support Assignment Nemo dat Quicquid plantatur Conflict of property laws Blackacre Security deposit
Other common law areas
Contract law Tort law Wills, trusts and estates Criminal law Evidence Higher category: Law and Common law
v t e

This aims to be a complete list of the articles on real estate.

Contents

• #
• A
• B
• C
• D
• E
• F
• G
• H
• I
• J
• K
• L
• M
• N
• O
• P
• Q
• R
• S
• T
• U
• V
• W
• Y
• Z

#

• 72-hour clause

A

• Abandonment
• Abstract of title
• Acceleration clause
• Accession
• Acknowledgment
• Acre – a measure of land area
• Action to quiet title
• Ad valorem tax
• ADA
• Adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM)
• Adjusted basis
• Administrator/Administratrix
• Adverse possession
• Agency – Real estate agency, Buyer brokerage
• Agent – Real estate agent or broker, Estate agent
• Agreement
• Air rights
• Alienation
• Allodial, Allodium
• Allodial title
• Alluvion
• Amenity
• American Land Title Association (ALTA)
• Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990
• Amortization calculator
• Amortization schedule
• Amortizing loan
• Anchor store
• Annexation
• Annual percentage rate
• Apartment
• Appraisal, real estate
• Appraised value – An estimate of the present worth of a property
• Appreciation
• APR
• Appurtenance
• Appurtenant easement
• ARELLO
• Arm's length transaction
• Arrears
• Article 4 of the United States Constitution
• Artificial person
• Asking price
• Assemblage
• Assignee
• Assignment
• Assignment of contract
• Assignor
• Assessed value – The value set upon a property for taxation purposes
• Assessment
• Association of Real Estate License Law Officials (ARELLO)
• Assumable loan
• Assumable mortgage
• Attorney-at-law
• Attorney-in-fact
• Auction
• Avulsion
• Assessor
• Assumption of mortgage

B

• Balance
• Balloon mortgage
• Bargain-and-sale deed
• Baseline – a line that is a base for measurement or construction, lines that divide north/south or east/west in surveying
• Basis
• Benchmark
• Beneficiary
• Bequest
• Bhoodan movement
• Bilateral contract – a contract in which only one party makes a promise
• Bill of sale
• Binder – In law, a binder (also known as an agreement for sale, earnest money contract, memorandum of sale, or contract to sell) is a short-form preliminary contract in which the purchaser agrees to buy and the seller agrees to sell certain real estate under stated terms and conditions, usually in the form of a purchase offer, and is enforceable in a court of law and used to secure a real estate transaction until a more formal, fully negotiated contract of sale can be signed. See offer and acceptance.
• Blanket loan, Blanket mortgage
• Block
• Blockbusting
• Boiler insurance
• Bona fide purchaser
• Book value
• Boot
• Boundary
• Breach of contract
• Broker
• Brokerage – Mortgage broker, Real estate broker, Buyer brokerage
• Broker's Price Opinion (BPO)
• BPO Standards and Guidelines
• Budget
• Building code
• Bundle of rights
• Buyer brokerage
• Buyer's agent

C

• Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA)
• Capital appreciation
• Capital gain
• Cap rate, Capitalization rate
• Cash flow
• Caveat emptor
• Certificate of occupancy
• Certified Relocation and Transition Specialist
• Chain – sequence of linked house purchases
• Chain – unit of measurement
• Chain of title
• Chattel
• Chattel mortgage
• City block
• Civil action
• Civil Rights Act of 1866
• Civil Rights Act of 1968
• Clause
• Client
• Closing costs
• Closing
• Closing statement
• Cloud on a title, Cloud on title
• Coinsurance, Coinsurance clause
• Collateral
• Color of title
• Commercial property
• Commingling
• Commission
• Comprehensive planning for community development
• Confiscation
• Commitment
• Common area
• Common law
• Community-based planning
• Community land trust
• Community planning
• Community property
• Comparables
• Compensatory damages, Expectation damages
• Competition
• Condemnation – building is deemed no longer habitable, government seizure through Eminent domain, or Urban decay
• Condominium
• Condominium conversion, Condo conversion
• Confidentiality, Confidential information
• Conformity
• Conservation land trust
• Consideration
• Construction loan, Construction mortgage
• Constructive eviction
• Consumer
• Contingency, Contingencies
• Continuing education requirement
• Contour map
• Contract for deed
• Contract of sale
• Contract
• Contribution
• Conventional mortgage
• Conversion – removal of personal property or building fixtures
• Conversion – process of changing a building to condominium
• Courtesy signing
• Covenants
• Convey, Conveyance, Conveyancing
• Cooling-off period
• Cooperating broker
• Cooperative apartment
• Co-op
• Co-ownership
• Copyhold
• Corporation
• Corporeal property
• Corrective maintenance
• Cost basis
• Council housing
• Counteroffer
• Courtesy tenure
• Covenant
• Covenant Against Encumbrances
• Covenant for Further Assurances
• Covenant of Quiet Enjoyment
• Covenant of Right to Convey
• Covenant of Seisin
• Covenant of Warranty
• CREA
• Credit
• Creditor
• Cul-de-sac
• Customer

D

• Damages for breach of contract
• Datum
• Debit
• Debt service coverage ratio
• Decedent
• Declaration of Condominium
• Declaration of Restriction
• Decree
• Deductible expense
• Deed
• Deed in bargain and sale
• Deed in lieu of foreclosure
• Deed in trust
• Deed of gift
• Deed of trust
• Deed restriction
• Default
• Defeasance clause
• Defeasible fee
• Defeasible estate
• Deficiency – physical condition or construction that is considered sub-standard or below minimum expectations
• Deficiency judgment
• Delivery and acceptance
• Demise
• Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)
• Depreciable asset
• Depreciated value
• Depreciation
• Descent
• Designated agency, Designated agent
• Devise – disposal of real property in a will and testament, or the property itself which has been disposed of
• Devisee – beneficiary of a will and testament
• Disability
• Discount points
• Disintermediation
• Documentary stamp
• Documentary stamp tax
• Domania
• Dominant estate, Dominant tenement
• Dominant portion
• Dominion Land Survey
• Double closing
• Double escrow
• Dower
• Dual agent, Dual agency
• Due-on-sale clause
• Duress

E

• Earnest money
• Earthquake insurance
• Easement
• Easement appurtenant
• Easement by condemnation
• Easement by implication
• Easement by necessity
• Easement by prescription
• Easement in gross
• ECOA
• Economic depression
• Economic rent
• Effective demand
• Effective interest rate
• Egress
• Egress window
• Ejectment
• Ejido
• Emblements
• Eminent domain
• Enabling act
• Encroachment
• Encumbrance
• Endorsement – signature on a contract thereby indicating the person's intent to become a party to the contract
• Enforceable
• Environmental Protection Agency
• Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA)
• Equitable title
• Equity
• Equity of redemption
• Escheat
• Escrow
• Escrow account
• Escrow agent
• Escrow instructions
• Escrow payment
• Estate – legal term for a person's net worth at any point in time alive or dead
• Estate – a very large property (such as country house or mansion) with houses, outbuildings, gardens, supporting farmland, and woods
• Estate agent
• Estate for years
• Estate manager
• Estate tax
• Estoppel
• Et al.
• Et ux., Et uxor
• Et vir
• Evaluation
• Eviction
• Exclusive agency
• Exclusive right to sell
• Executed contract
• Execution
• Executor
• Executory contract
• Executrix
• Exempt – Grandfather clause that allows a pre-existing condition to continue, Tax exemption that legally excludes income or other value to reduce taxable income
• Exercise of option
• Expectation damages
• Express contract
• Extended coverage

F

• Fair Housing Act of 1968
• Fair Housing Amendments Act of 1988
• Fair market value
• Fannie Mae
• Fed, the
• Freddie Mac
• Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (FHLMC or Freddie Mac)
• Federal Housing Administration (FHA)
• Federal National Mortgage Association (FNMA or Fannie Mae)
• Federal Real Estate Board
• Federal Reserve System
• Fee simple
• Fee simple absolute
• Fee simple determinable
• Fee simple subject to condition subsequent
• Feudal system as applicable to real estate
• FHA
• FHA-insured loan
• Field Card
• Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement Act of 1989 (FIRREA)
• Fire insurance
• FIRREA
• First mortgage – as opposed to Second mortgage
• Fixed-rate mortgage
• Fixer-upper
• Fixture
• Flat-fee MLS
• Flipping
• Flood hazard area
• Flood insurance
• Foreclosure
• Four unities
• Fraud
• Freehold
• Freehold estate
• For Sale By Owner
• FSBO
• Functional obsolescence
• Future interest

G

• General plan
• General warranty deed
• Gentrification
• Ginnie Mae
• GNMA
• Good faith estimate
• Government National Mortgage Association (GNMA or Ginnie Mae)
• Graduated payment mortgage
• Gramdan
• Grant bargain and sale deed
• Grant
• Grant deed
• Grantee
• Grantor
• Green belt
• Ground lease
• Ground rent

H

• Habendum clause
• Habitable
• Hard money
• Hard money lenders
• Hard money loan
• Hazard insurance
• Heirs, Heirs and assigns
• Hereditament
• Heterogeneous
• Highest and best use
• (HOA)
• Holographic will
• Home construction loan
• Home equity line of credit (HELOC)
• Home rule
• Home-equity debt
• Home equity loan
• Home inspection – especially Home buyers inspection before closing or Pre-delivery inspection of new construction
• Homeowners association (HOA)
• Homeowner's insurance
• Homeowner's policy
• Home warranty
• Homestead
• Homestead exemption
• Homogeneous
• Housing association
• Housing bubble
• Housing tenure
• Housing and Urban Development (HUD)
• Housing cooperative
• HUD
• HUD-1 Settlement Statement
• Hypothecation

I

• IBC
• Illusory offer, Illusory promise
• ILSA
• ILSFDA
• Immobility – immovable real estate
• Immovable property
• Implied contract
• Implied warranty
• Improved land
• Improvements – Home improvement or Land improvement
• Inspection
• Income approach for appraisal
• Income property – real estate rented out to provide income for the landlord
• Income shelter
• Incompetent
• Incorporeal property
• Indemnification
• Ingress
• Inheritance tax
• Injunction
• Installment land contract
• Installment sale
• Interest rate
• International Building Code (IBC)
• Internet Data Exchange (IDX)
• Instrument
• Insurable interest
• Interest
• Interstate Land Sales Full Disclosure Act of 1968 (ILSFDA or ILSA)
• Intestate
• Intestate succession
• Invalid
• Investing in real estate – Real estate investing, Real estate investment club, Flipping property
• Investment
• Investment rating for real estate
• Investment value
• Involuntary alienation
• Firm offer

J

• Jeonse
• Joint and several liability
• Joint tenancy
• Joint venture
• Judgment
• Judgment lien
• Judicial foreclosure
• Junior mortgage – smaller mortgage in addition to the primary mortgage; examples: second mortgage, 80-15-5 piggy-back loan, and home equity loan
• Jurisdiction

K

• Key money

L

• Laches
• Land
• Land bank, Land banking
• Land contract
• Land grant
• Land lease
• Land registration
• Land tenure
• Land Trust Alliance
• Land trust
• Landlocked
• Landlord
• Law of agency
• Lawful
• Lease
• Lease option
• Leaseback
• Leasehold
• Leasehold estate
• Legal capacity
• Legal description
• Legal entity
• Legal personality
• Legal interest rate – the opposite of Usury
• Lenders mortgage insurance
• Lessee
• Lessor
• Leverage
• Levy – a fine as penalty, seizure of debtor's property after judgment, financial charge such as tax
• Licensee
• Lien
• Lienee – property owner who grants the lien
• Lienor – person who benefit from the lien
• Lien holder – person who benefit from the lien
• Life estate
• Life tenant – owner of a life estate
• Like-kind property exchange
• Limited liability company (LLC)
• Limited partnership
• Liquidated damages
• Liquidation value
• Lis pendens
• Listing contract
• Litigation
• Littoral rights
• LLC
• LMI
• Loan origination fee
• Loan-to-value ratio (LTV)
• Location
• Lot
• Lot and Block survey system
• LTV

M

• Market
• Market analysis
• Market value
• Marketable title
• Master plan for community development
• Masters of Real Estate Development
• Material fact
• Materialman's lien
• Mechanic's lien
• Meeting of minds
• Menace
• Merger
• Metes and bounds
• Mill
• Millage tax
• Mineral lease
• Mineral rights
• Mini dorm
• Ministerial act
• Minor
• MIP
• Misrepresentation
• MLS
• Mortgage
• Mortgage Account Error Correction, see Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act
• Mortgage assumption
• Mortgage bank, Mortgage banker
• MGIC
• Mortgage insurance premium (MIP)
• Mortgage loan
• Mortgage broker
• Mortgage Guaranty Insurance Corporation (MGIC)
• Mortgage insurance
• Mortgagee – borrower
• Mortgagor – lender
• Multiple Listing Service (MLS)
• Mutual agreement
• Mutual assent
• Mutual mistake
• Mutual savings bank

N

• NAEA
• NAR
• NAREB
• National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA)
• National Association of Real Estate Brokers (NAREB)
• National Association of Realtors (NAR)
• National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)
• National Flood Insurance Program
• Negative amortization
• Negligence
• NEPA
• Net income
• Net lease
• Net operating income
• Notary Public
• Note
• Niche real estate
• Nonconforming use
• Notice of lis pendens
• Novation
• Null and void

O

• Obligee
• Obligor
• Obsolescence
• Offer
• Offer and acceptance
• Offeree
• Offeror
• Open listing or Open agency
• Operation of law
• Option
• Ordinance
• OREO
• Origination fee
• Other Real Estate Owned (OREO)
• Outdated
• Overimprovement – building and land improvements that far surpass other local properties
• Owner-occupancy
• Ownership

P

• Parol evidence rule
• Participation mortgage
• Partition
• Partnership
• Party wall
• Peak land value intersection
• Perc test, Percolation test
• Percolation
• Personal property
• PITI
• Planned community
• Plat
• Pledge
• Plottage
• PLSS
• PMI
• Pocket listing
• Points
• Police power
• Population density
• Positive misrepresentation
• Power of attorney
• Pre-delivery inspection
• Prepaid expenses
• Prepayment penalty
• Prescription
• Prescriptive easement
• Preventive maintenance
• Price fixing
• Pricing
• Prima facie
• Prima facie case
• Primary residence
• Prime rate
• Principal – the amount of money owed on a mortgage loan
• Principal meridian
• Principal residence
• Private equity real estate
• Private mortgage insurance (PMI)
• Private property
• Privity of contract
• Probate
• Profit à prendre
• Promissory note
• Promulgate, Promulgation
• Property management
• Property manager
• Proration
• Provision
• Public housing
• Public property
• Public Land Survey System (PLSS)
• Public record
• Public utility
• Punitive damages
• Pur autre vie

Q

• Quarter section
• Quiet enjoyment
• Quiet title
• Quiet title action
• Quiet title proceeding
• Quitclaim deed

R

• Racial steering
• Rate of return
• Ratification
• Ratify
• Rating for real estate investment
• Real estate
• Real estate agency
• Real estate agent
• Real estate appraisal (property valuation, land valuation)
• Real estate benchmarking
• Real estate broker
• Real estate brokerage
• Real estate bubble
• Real estate contract
• Real estate development
• Real estate economics
• Real estate investment trust (REIT)
• Real Estate Owned (REO)
• Real estate salesperson
• Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA)
• Real estate trading
• Real estate trends
• Real property
• Realtor
• Recording
• Recourse note
• Recovery and Enforcement Act (Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement Act of 1989, FIRREA)
• Redemption
• Redlining
• Refinancing
• Regress
• Regulation Z
• REIT
• Reject
• Remainder
• Remainderman
• Remise
• Rent
• Rent-back agreement, Rent-back clause
• REO
• Replacement cost, Replacement value
• Repossession
• Rescission
• Resident manager – Estate manager, Property manager, Building superintendent
• Residual income
• Restrictive covenant
• Revaluation of fixed assets
• Reverse mortgage, Reverse annuity mortgage
• Reversion
• Reversionary interest
• Revocation
• RICS
• Right of first refusal
• Right of redemption
• Right of survivorship
• Right to emblements
• Riparian rights, Riparian water rights
• Risk management
• Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS)
• Run with the land

S

• S corporation
• Sale and leaseback
• Sales contract
• Salesperson – Estate agent, Real estate agent
• Salvage value
• SAM
• Savings and loan association
• Scarcity
• Scavenger sale
• Second mortgage
• Secondary mortgage
• Secondary mortgage market
• Section – unit of land: 640 acres in the U.S., 1 square mile plots in Western Canada, the Alberta Township System
• Securitization
• Security deposit
• Seisin
• Seizing
• Self-build mortgage
• Seller agency
• Separate property
• Servient estate, Servient tenement
• Setback
• Settlement costs
• Settlement statement
• Settlement
• Shared appreciation mortgage (SAM)
• Sheriff's deed
• Situs
• Sole proprietorship
• Special agent – person acting under a Power of attorney
• Special assessment, Special assessment tax
• Special warranty deed
• Special flood hazard area
• Specific performance
• Speculation
• Spot zoning
• Squatter's rights
• Starker exchange, Starker Trust
• Starter home
• Statute of Frauds
• Statute of limitations
• Statutory foreclosure
• Steering
• Stigmatized property
• Straight–line depreciation
• Strata title
• Strict foreclosure
• Style obsolescence
• Sub-agent
• Subdivision
• Subdivision lot block and tract
• Subject-to
• Sublease
• Sublet
• Subordination
• Subordination agreement
• Supply and demand
• Survivorship
• Sweat equity

T

• Tacking
• Tax assessment
• Tax basis
• Tax credit
• Tax sale
• Tax shelter
• Tax-deductible expense
• Tax-deferred exchange
• Tenancy by the entirety
• Tenancy in common
• Tenant
• Tenements
• Testate – opposite of Intestate
• Testator
• Testatrix
• Theory of value
• TILA
• Timeshare
• Title
• Title insurance
• Torrens title
• Truth in Lending Act of 1968 (TILA)
• Township
• Tract
• Trespasser
• Trust deed
• Trust deed investment company
• Trust
• Trustee
• Trustor

U

• UCC
• Underimprovement – building and land improvements that are far below the level of other local properties
• Underwriting
• Undisclosed principal
• Undivided interest
• Undue influence
• Unencumbered property – a property without any encumbrance
• Unenforceable contract
• Uniform Commercial Code (UCC)
• Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP)
• Uniform Vendor and Purchaser Risk Act (UVPRA)
• Unilateral contract – contract in which all parties make promises
• Unintentional misrepresentation – also called innocent misrepresentation
• Unities
• Unlike-kind property exchange – opposite of Like-kind exchange
• USPAP
• United States housing bubble
• Urban renewal
• Urban sprawl
• Urban Land Institute
• Usufruct
• Usury
• Utility

V

• VA loan
• Valuable consideration
• Valuation
• Value in exchange
• Value in use
• Value theory
• Value
• Variance
• Vendee – buyer of goods or services
• Vendor – supplier/seller of goods or services
• Vicarious liability
• Void contract
• Voidable contract
• Voluntary alienation

W

• Warranty deed
• Warranty of title
• Waste
• Water right
• With reserve – in an auction, the price ("reservation price" or "reserve") below which the seller will not sell the item/property
• Words of conveyance
• Wraparound mortgage
• Writ of attachment

Y

• Yield
• Yield spread premium

Z

• Zoning
• Zoning map
• Zoning ordinance – local ordinance that controls land use and buildings