Terms A Flashcards
Parcels of land next to each other that share a common border.
Abutting
A summary of all of the recorded instruments and proceedings which affect the title of property, arranged in the order in which they were recorded.
Abstract of Title
Term given to the practice of paying off a mortgage loan faster than required by terms of the mortgage agreement.
Acceleration Clause
A mode of acquiring property that involves the addition of value to property through labor or the addition of new materials. For example, a person who owns a property on a river delta also takes ownership of any additional land that builds up along that riverbank due to natural deposits or man made deposits.
Accession
A second residential unit that may be contained within an existing single-family home, garage, or carriage house. An accessory apartment is usually required to be a complete housekeeping unit that can function independently with separate access, kitchen, bedroom, and sanitary facilities.
Accessory Apartment Uses
The use of land that is subordinate, incidental to, and customarily found in connection with the principal use allowed on a lot by zoning law. A garage is incidental to the principal use of a lot as a single-family residence and customarily found on a single-family parcel.
Accessory Uses
The addition of land through processes of nature, as by water or wind.
Accretion
A formal declaration before a duly authorized officer by a person who has executed an instrument that such execution is the person’s act and deed.
Acknowledgement
A measure of land equaling 43,560 square feet.
Acre
Describes a cause of action that can be brought in court to address a change in condition of a property brought about by a current tenant that damages or destroys the value of that property.
Act of Waste
Income for which service have been performed.
Active Income
A method of valuing insured property.
Actual Cash Value
Where one is either by force or by process of law, actually put out of possession.
Actual Eviction
Notice delivered in such a way as to give legally sufficient assurance that actual knowledge of the matter has been conveyed to the recipient.
Actual Notice
According to valuation.
Ad Valorem Taxes
The original cost of a property minus depreciation and sales of portions thereof plus allowable additions such as capital improvements and certain carrying costs and assessments. A bookkeeping rather than appraisal term.
Adjusted Basis
A mortgage loan with the interest rate on the note periodically adjusted based on an index which reflects the cost to the lender of borrowing on the credit markets.
Adjustable Rate Mortgage (ARM)
The Department of State’s ability to enforce license laws through reprimand and denial as well as the suspension and revocation of licenses.
Administrative Discipline
The seller or buyer agrees to dual agency before it occurs by indicating the same on the agency disclosure form.
Advance Consent to Dual Agency
A means of acquiring title where an occupant has been in actual, open, notorious, exclusive, and continuous occupancy of property under a claim of right for the required statutory period.
Adverse Possession
The net profit/loss realized after taxes are deducted.
After Tax Cash Flow
A written explanation, to be signed by a prospective buyer or seller of real estate, explaining to the client the role that the broker plays in the transaction.
Agency Disclosure Form
One who undertakes to transact some business or to manage some affair for another by authority of the latter.
Agent
Rights in real property to use the space above the surface of the land.
Air Rights
Allows lender to require the balance of a loan to be paid in full if the collateral is sold (also known as a “due on sale” clause).
Alienation Clause
The increase in the area of land due to sediment deposited by a river. This changes the size of a piece of land (a process called accession) and thus it value over time.
Alluvion
Describes the terms under which the cooperative gives permission to a shareholder before making any changes or improvements to the unit the shareholder occupies.
Alteration Agreement
A wide-ranging civil rights law enacted by the U.S. Congress in 1990, that prohibits, under circumstances, discrimination based on disability.
Americans with Disabilities Act
The process by which a loan principal decreases over the life of a loan.
Amortization
A unit measure of electricity.
Amperage
A key tenant in retail. Typically one of the larger stores in a shopping mall, usually a department store or a major retail chain (Macy’s, Nordstrom, etc.)
Anchor Stores
Any person who engages in the business of claiming, demanding, charging, receiving, collecting, or contracting for the collection of, a fee from a customer for furnishing information concerning the location and availability of real property, including apartment housing, which may be leased, rented, shared or sublet as a private dwelling, abode, or place of residence.
Apartment information Vendor
Any person who, for a fee, arranges, conducts, coordinates, handles or causes meetings between a customer and the current owner or occupant of legally occupied real property, including apartment housing, who wishes to share that housing with one or more individuals.
Apartment Sharing Agent
An estimate of a property’s value by an appraiser who is usually presumed to be expert in his work.
Appraisal
Monetary gain resulting from the increase in the market value of an investment, excluding additions of capital. For example, a house which is sold five years after it was purchased for 50% more than the purchase price.
Appreciation
A sum of money or total of assets devoted to a special purpose.
Appropriation
A city or town which has been certified by the State Board of Real Property Tax Services to have completed a revaluation or an update in conformance with its rules and regulations.
Approved Assessing Unit
Something which is outside property itself but belongs to the land and adds to its greater enjoyment such as a right-of-way or a barn or a dwelling.
Appurtenances
Oversees and upholds the quality and aesthetics of a neighborhood, town, or city.
Architectural Review Board
Permission to modify or exceed the bulk regulations imposed by local zoning ordinances.
Area Variance
The section of the New York Real Property Law pertaining to real estate salespersons and brokers.
Article 12-A
An appeal brought forth because of a ruling by a government agency.
Article 78 Proceeding
A legal term used to disclaim some implied warranties for an item being sold. Denotes that the seller is selling, and the buyer is buying a property in whatever condition it presently exists.
“As is”
A naturally occurring mineral fiber sometimes found in older homes. It is hazardous to health when a possibility exists of exposure to inhalable fibers. Homeowners should be alert for friable asbestos and always seek professional advice in dealing with it.
Asbestos
A chronic lung disease caused by inhaling asbestos fibers.
Asbestosis
A valuation placed upon property by a public officer or a board, as a basis for taxation.
Assessed Value
A city, county, town or village with the authority to value real property for purposes of taxation.
Assessing Unit
An independent tribunal established to hear assessment appeals.
Assessment Review Board
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.
Assessments
The method or manner by which a right or contract is transferred from one person to another.
Assignment
A licensed real estate broker who by choice elects to work under the name and supervision of another real estate broker.
Associate Real Estate Broker
A clause found in real estate contracts that may allows buyers to walk away form an agreed upon sale for any reason.
Attorney Review Clause
A sudden and perceptible loss or addition to land by the action of water, or a sudden change in the bed or course of a stream.
Avulsion
