General Vocab Flashcards
Represents evidence of the transfer
Deed
Right to sell
Legal Title
Right to use and possess
Equitable Title
A provision in a written mortgage, note, bond, or conditional sales contract that in the event of default, the whole amount of the principal and the interest may be declared due and payable at once.
Acceleration clause
Title to improvements or additions to real property is acquired as a result of the accretion of alluvial deposits along the banks of streams or as a result of the annexation of fixtures.
Accession
An increase or addition to land by the deposit of sand or soil washed up naturally from a river, lake, or sea.
Accretion
The actual, visible, hostile, notorious, exclusive, and continuous possession of another’s land under a claim to title. Possession for a statutory period may be a means of acquiring title.
Adverse Possession
The act of transferring property to another. Alienation may be voluntary, such as by sale, or involuntary, such as through eminent domain.
Alienation
The actual soil increase resulting from accretion.
Alluvion
The liquidation of a financial burden by installment payments, which include principal and interest.
Amortization
Belonging to; incident to; annexed to.
Appurtenant
The transfer in writing of rights or interest in a bond, mortgage, lease, or other instrument.
Assignment
A deed that carries with it no warranties against liens or other encumbrances but that does imply the grantor has the right to convey title. The grantor may add warranties to the deed at his or her discretion.
Bargain and sale deed
A permanent reference mark or point established for use by surveyors when measuring differences in elevation.
Benchmark
The person for whom a trust operates or in whose behalf the income from a trust estate is drawn. 2. A lender who lends money of real estate and takes back a note and deed of trust from the borrower.
Beneficiary
A provision in a will providing for the distribution of personal property.
Bequest
A written instrument given to pass title to personal property.
Bill of sale
A mortgage that covers more than one parcel of real estate and provides for each parcel’s partial release from the mortgage lien on repayment of a definite portion of the debt.
Blanket mortgage
The illegal practice of inducing homeowners to sell their properties by making representations regarding the entry, or prospective entry, of minority persons into the neighborhood.
Blockbusting
Deserted, defunct, and derelict toxic industrial sites in need of renewal. Federal legislation has diminished the innocent landowner’s liability exposure and provided the landowner the opportunity to expense cleanup costs rather than capitalize them.
Brownfields
A strip of land that separates one land use from another.
Buffer zone
A Latin phrase meaning, “let the buyer beware.”
Caveat emptor
The document generally given to a purchaser at a tax foreclosure sale. A certificate of sale does not convey title; generally, it is an instrument certifying that the holder may receive title to the property after the redemption period has passed and that the holder paid the property taxes for that interim period.
Certificate of sale
The statement of opinion on the status of the title to a parcel of real property, based on an examination of specified public records.
Certificate of title
The succession of conveyances from some accepted starting point by which the present holder of real property dervies his or her title.
Chain of title
Community planning tool that welcomes and improves public participation in discussions about a community’s future growth and development.
Charrettes
Personal property.
Chattels
Used as a factor in determining adverse possession claims. Adversely occupying another’s real estate for a statutory period of time may create a claim of right.
Color of title
The illegal act of a real estate broker who mixes the money of other people with that of his or her own; brokers are required by law to maintain a separate trust account for other parties’ funds held temporarily by the broker.
Commingling
A system of property ownership based on the theory that each spouse has an equal interest in the property acquired by the efforts of either spouse during marriage.
Community property
A method of determining the depreciation of a multi-building property using the average rate at which all the buildings are depreciating.
Composite depreciation
A judicial or administrative proceeding or process to exercise the power of eminent domain.
Condemnation
Securitized mortgages sold on the secondary market that meet certain requirements established by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
Conforming mortgages
Acts by the landlord that so materially disturb or impair the tenant’s enjoyment of the leased premises that the tenant is effectively forced to move out and terminate the lease without liability for any further rent. 2. A purchaser’s inability to obtain clear title.
Constructive eviction
Notice given to the world by recorded documents. All persons are charged with knowledge of such documents and their contents, whether or not they have actually examined them. Possession of property also is considered constructive notice that the person in possession has an interest in the property.
Constructive notice
A contract for the sale of real estate under which the sale price is paid in periodic installments by the purchaser, who is in possession and holds equitable title, although actual title is retained by the seller until final payment.
Contract for deed
A contract for sale of real estate in which the consideration is paid wholly or partly in property.
Contract for exchange of real estate
An appraising principle where the value of a property’s component parts are measured by their effect on the selling price of the whole. Appraisers use sold properties as “paired sales” to isolate component parts and to identify their monetary contribution to the whole.
Contributory value
A loan that is not insured or guaranteed by a government agency.
Conventional loan
A written instrument that evidences transfer of some interest to real property from one person to another.
Conveyance
A life estate, usually a fractional interest, given by some states to the surviving husband in real estate owned by his deceased wife. Most states have abolished curtesy.
Curtesy
A written instrument that when executed and delivered conveys title to, or an interest in, real estate.
Deed
A process by which the mortgagor can avoid foreclosure. Mortgagor gives a deed to mortgagee when mortgagor is in default according to terms of mortgage.
Deed in lieu of foreclosure
The instrument used to reconvey title to a trustor under a deed of trust once the debt has been satisfied.
Deed of reconveyance
An instrument used to create a lien by which the mortgagor conveys her or his title to a trustee, who holds it as security for the benefit of the noteholder.
Deed of trust
The clauses in a deed limiting the future users of the property. Deed restrictions may impose a variety of limitations and conditions, such as limiting the density of buildings, dictating the types of structures that can be erected, and preventing buildings from being used for specific purposes or from used at all.
Deed restrictions
A clause used in leases or mortgages that cancels a specified right on the occurrence of a certain condition, such as cancellation of a mortgage on repayment of the mortgage loan.
Defeasance clause
A personal judgment levied against the mortgagor when a foreclosure sale does not produce sufficient funds to to pay the mortgage debt in full.
Deficiency judgment
The hereditary succession of an heir to the property of a relative who dies intestate.
Descent
A fee-simple estate in which the property automatically reverts to the grantor on the occurrence of a specified event or condition.
Determinable fee estate
A transfer of real estate by will or last testament. The donor is the devisor and the recipient is the devisee.
Devise
An added loan free charged by a lender to make the yield on a lower-than-market-value loan competitive with higher-interest loans.
Discount points
The rate of interest a commercial bank must pay when it borrows from its federal reserve bank. Consequently, the discount rate is the rate of interest the banking system carries within its own framework. Member banks may take certain promissory notes that they have received from customers and sell them to their district federal reserve bank for less than face value. With the funds received, the banks can make further loans. Changes in the discount rate may cause banks and other lenders to reexamine credit policies and conditions.
Discount rate
A property that includes in its ownership the appurtenant right to use an easement over another’s property for a specific purpose.
Dominant tenement
The legal right or interest recognized in some states that a wife acquires in the property her husband held or acquired during their marriage. During the lifetime of the husband, the right is only a possibility of an interest; on his death it can become an interest in land.
Dower
The use of unlawful constraint that forces action or inaction against a person’s will.
Duress
A mortgage loan on approved property made to a qualified veteran by an authorized lender and guaranteed by the Department of Veterans Affairs to limit possible loss by the lender.
DVA loan
A right to use the land of another for a specific purpose, such as for a right-of-way or utilities; an incorporeal interest in land. An easement appurtenant passes with the land when conveyed.
Easement
Easement by necessity
Easement by necessity
An easement acquired by continuous, open, uninterrupted, exclusive, and adverse of the property for the period of time prescribed by state law.
Easement by prescription
An easement that is not created for the benefit of any land owned by the owner of the easement but that attaches personally to the easement owner.
Easement in gross
The period of time over which an improved property will earn an income adequate to justify its continued existence.
Economic life
Growing crops that are produced annually through the tenant’s own care and labor and that she or he is entitled to take away after the tenancy is ended. Emblements are regarded as personally property even prior to harvest, so if the landlord terminates the lease, the tenant may still reenter the land and remove such crops. If the tenant terminates the tenancy voluntarily, however, she or he generally is not entitled to the emblements.
Emblements
A fixture or structure, such as a wall or fence, that invades a portion of a property belonging to another.
Encroachment
Any lien that may diminish the value of the property, such as a mortgage, tax, or judgment lien; easement; restriction on the use of the land; or an outstanding dower right.
Encumbrance
The interest held by a vehicle under a contract for deed or an installment contract; the equitable right to obtain absolute ownership to property when legal title is held in another’s name.
Equitable title
The gradual wearing away of land by water, wind, and general weather conditions; the diminishing of property caused by the elements.
Erosion
The reversion of property to the state in the event that its owner dies without leaving a will and has no heirs to whom the property may pass by lawful descent.
Escheat
An interest for a certain, exact period of time in property leased for a specified consideration.
Estate for years
The degree, quantity, nature, and extent of interest that a persona has in real property.
Estate in land
An estate owned by one person.
Estate in severalty
A legal instrument executed by a mortgagor showing the amount of the unpaid balance due on a mortgage and stating that the mortgagor has no defenses or offsets against the mortgagee at the time of execution of the certificate.
Estoppel certificate
Legally allowed necessities, such as the right of a tenant to use timber on leased property to support a minimum need for fuel or repairs.
Estovers
Latin, meaning “and husband”.
Et vir
Latin, meaning “and wife”.
Et ux / Et uxor
A proof of ownership of property, which is commonly a certificate of title, a title insurance policy, an abstract of title with lawyer’s opinion, or a Torrens registration certificate.
Evidence of title
A federally chartered corporation created to provide a secondary mortgage market for conventional loans (Freddie Mac).
Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (FHLMC)
A federal administrative body created by the National Housing Act in 1934 to encourage improvement in housing standards and conditions, to provide an adequate home-financing system through the insurance of housing mortgages and credit, and to exert a stabilizing influence on the mortgage market.
Federal Housing Administration (FHA)
is the popular name for this federally chartered corporation, which creates a secondary market for existing mortgages. FNMA does not loan money directly, but rather buys DVA, FHA, and conventional loans.
Federal National Mortgage Association (FNMA)
The maximum possible estate or right of ownership of real property continuing forever.
Fee-simple estate
An article that was once personal property but has been so affixed to real estate that it has become real property.
Fixture
An estate in land in which ownership is for an indeterminate length of time, in contrast to a leasehold estate.
Freehold estate
The impairment of functional capacity or efficiency; the inability of a structure to perform adequately the function for which it currently is employed. Functional obsolescence reflects the loss in value brought about by factors that affect the property, such as overcapacity, inadequacy, or changes in the art.
Functional obsolescence
A lien on all real and personal property owned by a debtor.
General lien
A deed that states that the title conveyed therein is good from the sovereignty of the soil to the grantee therein and that no one else can successfully claim the property. This type of deed contains several specific warranties sometimes referred to as the English Covenants of Title.
General warranty deed
a federal agency and division of HUD that operates special assistance aspects of federally aided housing programs and participates in the secondary market through its mortgage-backed securities pools.
Government National Mortgage Association (GNMA)
Lease that provides for rent increases at set future dates.
Graduated lease
A mortgage loan for which the initial payments are low but increase over the life of the loan.
Graduated payment mortgage
A person who conveys real estate by deed; the seller.
Grantor
A lease of land only, on which the tenant usually owns a building or is required to builder her or his own building as specified in the lease. Such leases are usually long-term net leases; a tenant’s rights and obligations continue until the lease expires or is terminated through default.
Ground lease
An agreement between the broker and the seller that if the seller’s real property is not sold before a certain date, the broker will purchase it for a specified price.
Guaranteed sale plan
The deed clause beginning “to have and to hold,” which defines or limits the extend of ownership in the state granted by the deed.
Habendum clause
Every kind of inheritable property, including person, real corporeal, and incorporeal.
Hereditaments
A will that is written, dated, and signed in the handwriting of the maker.
Holographic will
The land and the improvements thereon designated by the owner as his or her homestead and, therefore, protected by state law, either in whole or in part, from forced sale by certain creditors of the owner.
Homestead provision
regulates FHA and GNMA.
HUD
The pledge of property as security of a loan in which the borrower maintains possession of the property while it is pledged as security.
Hypothecation
A method of creating an easement. One party may be using another’s property for the benefit of both parties.
Implied grant
Incomplete right, such as a wife’s dower interest in her husband’s property during his life.
Inchoate right
A nonpossessory right in real estate.
Incorporeal right
A method of reporting gain received from the sale of real estate when the sale price is paid in two or more installments over two or more years. If the sale meets certain requirements, a taxpayer can spread recognition of the reportable gain over more than one year, which may result in tax savings.
Installment sale
The ownership of real estate by two or more parties who have been named in one conveyance as joint tenants. On the death of a joint tenant, her or his interest passes to the surviving joint tenant or tenants by the right of survivorship.
Joint tenancy
The joining of two or more people to conduct a specific business enterprise. A joint venture is similar to a partnership in that it must be created by agreement between the parties to share in the losses and profits of the venture. It is unlike a partnership in that the venture is for one specific project only, rather than for a continuing business relationship.
Joint venture
The official and authentic decision of a court on the respective rights and claims of the parties to an action or suit. When a judgment is entered and recorded with the county recorder, it usually becomes a general lien on the property of the defendant for a ten-year period.
Judgment
A provision that may be included in notes, leases, and contracts by which the debtor, lessee, or obligor authorizes any attorney to go into court to confess a judgment against him or her for a default in payment. Also called a cognovit.
Judgment clause
An equitable doctrine used by the courts to bar a legal claim or prevent the assertion of a right because of undue delay, negligence, or failure to assert the claim or right.
Laches
A tenant’s right to occupy real estate during the term of a lease, generally considered to be a personal property interest.
Leasehold estate
A disposition of money or personal property by will.
Legacy
An element that must be present in a valid contract. If a contract has for its object an act that violates the laws of the United States or the laws of a state to which the parties are subject, it is illegal, invalid, and not recognized by the courts.
Legality of object
An interest in real or personal property that is limited in duration to the lifetime of its owner or some other designated person.
Life estate
A person in possession of a life estate.
Life tenant
A public notice that a lawsuit affecting title to or possession, use, and enjoyment of a parcel of real estate has been filed in either a state or federal court.
Lis pendens
The broker in a multiple-listing situation from whose office a listing agreement is initiated, as opposed to the selling broker, from whose office negotiations leading to a sale are initiated. The listing broker and the selling broker may, of course, by the same person.
Listing broker
A landowner’s claim to use water in large lakes and oceans adjacent to her or his property. 2. The ownership rights to land bordering these bodies of water up to the high-water mark.
Littoral rights
A description of real property that identifies a parcel of land by reference to lot and block numbers within a subdivision, as identified on a subdivided plat duly recorded in the county recorder’s office.
Lot and block description
A lease agreement that barely covers the costs of operation for the property.
Marginal lease
A good or clear salable title reasonably free from risk of litigation over possible defects.
Marketable title
The most profitable price a property will bring in a competitive and open market under all conditions requisite to a fair sale. The price at which a buyer would buy and a seller would sell, each acting prudently and knowledgeably, and assuming the price is not affected by undue stimulus.
Market value
A statutory lien created in favor of contractors, laborers, and materialmen or material suppliers who have performed work or furnished materials in improving real property.
Mechanic’s lien
The government regulation of the amount of money in circulation through such institutions as the Federal Reserve Board.
Monetary policy
A periodic tenancy – the tenant rents for one period at a time. In the absence of a rental agreement (oral or written), a tenancy generally is considered to be from month to month.
Month-to-Month tenancy
Fixed natural or artificial objects, used in metes-and-bounds description, to establish the boundaries; located at the corners.
Monument
A lien or charge on a mortgagor’s property that secures the underlying debt obligations.
Mortgage lien
One who, having all or part of title to property, pledges that property as security for a debt; the borrower
Mortgagor
An exclusive listing (generally an exclusive right to sell) with the additional authority and obligation on the part of the listing broker to distribute the listing to other brokers in the multiple-listing organization.
Multiple listing
The laws, regulations, and codes enacted by the governing body of a municipality.
Municipal ordinances
The act of putting an end to a contract by mutual agreement of the parties.
Mutual rescission
A lease requiring the tenant to pay not only rent but also costs incurred in maintaining the property, including taxes, insurance, utilities, repairs. If the tenant pays for everything, it is referred to as a triple net lease.
Net lease
A use of property that is permitted to continue after a zoning ordinance prohibiting it has been established for the area.
Nonconforming use
A lack of uniformity; dissimilarity. Because no two parcels of land are geographically alike, real estate is said to be nonhomogeneous, or heterogeneous.
Nonhomogeneity
Acceptance by parties to an agreement to replace an old debtor with a new one. A novation releases liability.
Novation
A mortgage loan expandable by increments up to maximum dollar amount, all of which is secured by the same original mortgage.
Open-end mortgage
A listing contract under which the broker’s commission is contingent on the broker producing a “ready, willing, and able” buyer before the property is sold by the seller or another broker; the principal (owner) reserves the right to list the property with other brokers.
Open listing
A method of financing in which the purchase of the land also finances the purchase of certain personal property items.
Package mortgage
A law that states that no prior or contemporary oral or extraneously written agreement can change the terms of a contract.
Parol evidence rule
The division of cotenants’ interests in real property when the parties do not all voluntarily agree to terminate the co-ownership; takes place through court procedures.
Partition
A lease commonly used for retail property in which the rental is based on the tenant’s gross sales at the premises; often stipulates a base monthly rental plus a percentage of any gross sales above a certain amount.
Percentage lease
Referred to as a PRM, it is a fixed object that leads the surveyor to the point of beginning (POB). In most surveys, two different PRMs are used to locate the POB.
Permanent reference marker
An interest in leased property that continues from period to period – week to week, month to month, or year to year.
Periodic estate
A map of a town, section, or subdivision indicating the location and boundaries of individual property.
Plat
A unit of measurement used for various loan charges; one point equals one percent of the amount of the loan.
Point
The starting point of the survey situated in one corner of the parcel in a metes-and-bounds description. All metes-and-bounds descriptions must follow the boundaries of the parcel back to the point of beginning.
Point of beginning
In a mortgage, the statement of the terms on which the mortgagor may pay the entire or stated amount of the mortgage principal at some time prior to the due date.
Prepayment clause
One of 35 north and south survey lines established and defined as part of the rectangular survey system (government survey method)
Principal meridian
The formal judicial proceeding to prove or confirm the validity of a will or proof of heirship and to settle the affairs of the deceased.
Probate
The effort that brings about the desired result. Under an open listing, the broker who is the procuring cause of the sale receives the commission.
Procuring cause
Latin, meaning “for the life of another.” A life estate pur autre vie is a life estate measured by the life of a person other than the grantee.
Pur autre vie
The act of determining a prospect’s motivation, then matching his or her needs with the available inventory.
Qualifying
A conveyance by which the grantor transfers whatever interest he or she has in the real estate without warranties or obligations.
Quitclaim deed
A six-mile strip of land measured east and west from the meridian lines.
Range
The federal law ensuring that the buyer and seller in a real estate transaction have knowledge of all the settlement costs when the purchase of a one to four-family residential dwelling is financed by a federally related mortgage loan. Prohibits kickbacks.
Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA)
An element of all valid contracts. Offer and acceptance in a contract usually are taken to mean that reality of consent also is present. This is not the case, however, if any of the following are present: mistake, misrepresentation, fraud, undue influence, or duress.
Reality of consent
A fund established in some states from real estate license funds to cover claims of aggrieved parties who have suffered monetary damage through the actions of a real estate licensee. To protect the public, some states mandate errors and omissions insurance as a requirement for licensur
Recovery fund
A system established in 1785 by the federal government that provides for surveying and describing land by reference to principal meridians and base lines.
Rectangular survey system
A period of time established by state law during which a property owner has the right to redeem her or his real estate from a foreclosure or tax sale by paying the sales price, interest, and costs. Many states do not have mortgage redemption laws.
Redemption period
The illegal practice of denying loans or restricting their number for certain areas of a community.
Redlining
A regulation of the Federal Reserve Board designed to ensure that borrowers and customers in need of consumer credit are given meaningful information with respect to the cost of credit.
Regulation Z
The remnant of an estate that has been conveyed to take effect and be enjoyed after the termination of a prior estate, such as when an owner conveys a life estate to one party and the remainder to another.
Remainder
The cost of construction at current prices of a building having utility equivalent to the building being appraised but built with modern materials and according to current standards, designs, and layout.
Replacement cost
The cost of construction at current prices of an exact duplicate or replica using the same materials, construction standards, design, layout, and quality of workmanship and embodying all the deficiencies, superadequacies, and obsolescences of the subject building.
Reproduction cost
The creation by a deed to property of a new right in favor of the grantor. Usually involves an easement, a life estate, or a mineral interest.
Reservation in a deed
The remnant of an estate that the grantor holds after he or she has granted a life estate to another person; the estate will return or revert to the grantor. Also called a reverter.
Reversion
An owner’s right to regain possession of leased property on termination of the lease agreement.
Reversionary right
An owner’s rights in land that borders flowing water, such as a stream or river. These rights include access to and use of the water.
Riparian rights
A transaction in which an owner sells her or his improved property and, as part of the same transaction, signs a long-term lease to remain in possession of the premises.
Sale and leaseback
A market for the purchase and sale of existing mortgages, designed to provide greater liquidity for mortgages; also called the secondary money market. Mortgages are originated in the primary mortgage market.
Secondary mortgage market
A document acknowledging the payment of a debt. Once filed, the collateral pledged (mortgage) is returned to the mortgagor for a “mortgage burning party.”
Satisfaction
A portion of a township under the rectangular survey system (government survey method). A township is divided into 36 sections numbered 1 to 36. A section is a square with mile-long sides and an area of one square mile, or 640 acres.
Section
A will in which the witnesses give their testimony at the time of signing. This testimony is preserved in a notarized affidavit to eliminate the problem of finding the witnesses at the maker’s death and to assist in the probating procedure.
Self-proving will
The real property owned by a husband and wife prior to their marriage.
Separate property
The land on which an easement exists in favor of an adjacent property; also called a servient estate.
Servient tenement
The amount of space local zoning regulations require between a lot line and building line.
Setback
The ownership of real property by one person only; also called sole ownership.
Severalty
The personal preference of people for one area of land over another, not necessarily based on objective facts and knowledge.
Situs
A deed in which the grantor warrants or guarantees the title only against defects arising during the period of his or her tenure and ownership of the property and not against defects existing before that time, generally using the language “by, through, or under the grantor but not otherwise.”
Special warranty deed
A lien affecting or attaching only to a certain, specific parcel of land or piece of property.
Specific lien
A legal action brought in a court of equity in special cases to compel a party to carry out the terms of a contract. The basis for an equity court’s jurisdiction in breach of a real estate contract is that land is unique, and mere legal damages would not adequately compensate the buyer from the seller’s breach.
Specific performance suit
A duly licensed real estate broker who employs a salesperson. Under law, the broker is responsible for the acts of her or his salespeople.
Sponsoring broker
The part of a state law that requires certain instruments, such as deeds, real estate sales contracts, and certain leases to be in writing to be legally enforceable.
Statute of frauds
That law pertaining to the period of time within which certain actions must be brought to court.
Statute of limitations
A lien imposed on property by statute, for example, a tax lien; in contrast to a voluntary lien, which an owner places on his or her own real estate, for example, a mortgage lien.
Statutory lien
The illegal practice of channeling home seekers to particular areas or avoiding specific areas, either to maintain or to change the character of an area, or to create a speculative situation.
Steering
A method of calculating depreciation for tax purposes computed by dividing the adjusted basis of a property less its estimated salvage value by the estimated number of years of remaining useful life.
Straight-line method
An agent appoints a subagent to help the agent in a specified transaction and to act on the principal’s behalf.
Subagency
A relegation to a lesser position usually in respect to a right or security.
Subordination
An agreement that changes the order of priority of liens between two creditors.
Subordination agreement
The substitution of one creditor for another, with the substituted person succeeding to the legal rights and claims of the original claimant. Subrogation is used by title insurers to acquire the right the sue from the injured party to recover any claims they have paid.
Subrogation
An appraisal principle stating that the maximum value of a property tends to be set by the cost of purchasing an equally desirable and valuable substitute property, assuming that no costly delay is encountered in making the substitution.
Substitution
A court suit initiated by a landlord to evict a tenant from leased premises after the tenant has breached one of the terms of the lease or has held possession of the property after the expiration of the lease.
Suit for possession
A legal action brought by either a buyer or a seller to enforce performance of the terms of a contract.
Suit for specific performance
A legal action intended to establish or settle the title to a particular property, especially when there is cloud on the title.
Suit to quiet title
An agreement by an insurance or bonding company to be responsible for certain possible defaults, debts, or obligations contracted for by an insured party; in essence, a policy insuring one’s personal and/or financial integrity. In the real estate business, a surety bond generally is used to ensure that a particular project will be completed at a certain date or that a contract will be performed as stated.
Surety bond
A charge against property created by the operation of law. Tax liens and assessments take priority over all other liens.
Tax lien
The tenancy of a lessee who lawfully comes into possession of a landlord’s real estate but who continues to occupy the premises improperly after her or his lease rights have expired.
Tenancy at sufferance
An estate that gives the lessee the right to possession until the estate is terminated by either party; the term of this estate is indefinite.
Tenancy at will
The joint ownership, recognized in some states, of property acquired by husband and wife during marriage. On the death of one spouse, the survivor becomes the owner of the property.
Tenancy by the entirety
A form of co-ownership by which each owner holds an undivided interest in real property as if he or she were the sole owner. Each individual has the right to partition. Unlike a joint tenancy, there is no right of survivorship between tenants in common, and owners may have unequal interests.
Tenancy in common
Everything that may be occupied under a lease by a tenant.
Tenement
Having made and left a valid will.
Testate
A will maker
Testator
A method of evidencing title by registration with the proper public authority, generally called the registrar.
Torrens system
The principal unit of the rectangular survey system. A township is a square with six-mile sides and an area of 36 square miles.
Township
The horizontal lines running at six-mile intervals parallel to the base lines in the rectangular survey system.
Township lines
The articles installed by a tenant under the terms of a lease and removable by the tenant before the lease expires.
Trade fixtures
A fiduciary arrangement by which property is conveyed to a person or institution, called a trustee, and held and administered on behalf of another person, called a beneficiary.
Trust
An instrument used to create a lien by which the trustor conveys his or her title to a trustee, who holds it as security for the benefit of the note holder (the lender).
Trust deed
One who as agent for others handles money or holds title to their land
Trustee
A deed executed by a trustee conveying land held in a trust to the beneficiary.
Trustee’s deed
Standard Fannie Mae Form 1004 used by appraisers.
Uniform Residential Appraisal Report (URAR)
Standard Fannie Mae Form 1003 used by loan originators.
Uniform Residential Loan Application Report (URLA)
The four unities traditionally needed to create a joint tenancy – unity of title, time, interest, and possession.
Unity of ownership
The practice of charging more than the rate of interest allowed by law.
Usury
The method by which a debtor’s property is placed in the custody of the law and held as security, pending the outcome of a creditor’s suit.
Writ of attachment
