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Abstract of Title: A written history of ownership of a parcel of land, summarizing the material parts of any occurrence affecting title of said land.
Accounts Receivable: Money owed to a business for goods or services provided to customers.
Adverse Possession: The right by which someone occupying a piece of land acquires title against the real owner, if the occupant's possession has been actual, continuous, hostile, visible and distinct for a statutory period.
Affidavit: A sworn statement in writing, usually requiring notarization.
Appraisal: An opinion or estimate of value.
Appraisal by Capitalization: A valuation reached by capitalizing rents received from improved land, less a reasonable charge-off of those items required for maintenance.
Appraisal by Summation: A valuation reached by estimating the reproduction cost of an improvement, less accrued depreciation and obsolescence, and adding value of underlying land.
Appraisal by Comparison: A valuation reached by comparing the sale price of similar properties in similar neighborhoods.
Appurtenance: Anything belonging to or attached to land such as a barn, garage, or easement, that is part of the property and is therefore included in a sale or transfer.
Assessment: A value factor assigned to real property and used to determine real property taxes.
Assessed Value: Value assigned to real estate for tax purposes.
Assignee: One to whom some rights or interest is transferred.
Binder: Temporary hazard or title insurance granted prior to the issuance of a permanent policy. In real estate, a preliminary agreement between a buyer and seller which includes the price and terms of a contract.
Blanket Mortgage: A single mortgage which covers more than one (1) piece of real estate.
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Chattel: Personal property, such as household goods or removable fixtures.
Cloud on a Title: A claim or encumbrances against a person or property, which if valid, would impair clear title to a particular piece of property.
Condemnation: The taking of private property for public use with compensation to the owner, under the right of eminent domain.
Conveyance: The means or medium by which real estate is transferred.
Consideration: Something of value offered and accepted in exchange for a promise, without which a contract is unenforceable.
Courtesy: The right which a husband formerly had in his wife's estate at her death and which is now replaced by her husband's statutory interest under the Interstate Laws.
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Deed: A written agreement in proper legal form which conveys title to, or in an interest in real property.
Depreciation: The loss in value of buildings or land resulting from age, physical decay, changing conditions in neighborhoods and numerous other causes.
Dower: The rights a widow has to her husband's property at his death.
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Easement: A right to the limited use or enjoyment of land held by another.
Economic Life: The estimated remaining number of years during which a property may be considered to be profitably used.
Eminent Domain: The right of government bodies, public utilities, and public service corporations to take private property for public use upon payment of its fair market value.
Encroachment: An improvement that illegally violates another's property or right to use that property.
Encumbrances: Anything that affects or limits the fee simple title to property, such as mortgages, leases, easements, or restrictions.
Equity: The interest of an owner of real property represented by the difference between its market value and the aggregate amount of the mortgages and other liens.
Errors and Omission Insurance: Liability insurance coverage for errors, mistakes, and negligence in the usual activities of a mortgage banker.
Execution: A judicial order directing a appropriate office of the court to enforce a judgement against the property or person of the judgement debtor, in an attempt to satisfy the judgement.
Executor: A person named in a will to administer an estate. The court will appoint an administrator if no executor is named. Executrix is the feminine form of the noun.
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Fee Simple: The greatest possible interest a person can have in real estate, including the right to dispose of the property or pass it on to one's heirs.
First Mortgage: A mortgage that gives the mortgagee a security right over all other mortgages of the mortgaged property.
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General Warranty: A convenient in the deed whereby the grantor (seller) agrees to protect the grantee (buyer) in the purchase.
Grantee: The person to whom an interest in real property is conveyed.
Grantor: The person conveying an interest in real property.
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Intestate: To die leaving no valid will.
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Joint Tenancy: Form of co-ownership giving each tenant equal interest and equal rights in the property, including the right of survivorship.
Judgement Lien: Lien upon the property of a debtor resulting from the decree of the court.
Junior Mortgage: A mortgage that is subordinate to the claims of a prior lien or mortgage.
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Land Contract: An agreement to transfer title to a property once conditions of the contract have been fulfilled.
Lien: A legal hold or claim of a creditor on the property of another as security for debt. Liens are always against property, usually real property.
Life Estate: A freehold estate, terminated upon the death of the beneficiary, giving a beneficiary all the property rights except the right to sell.
List Pendens: A notice recorded in the official records of a county to indicate that there is a pending suit affecting land within the jurisdiction.
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Market Value: The highest price that a buyer and the lowest price that a seller would accept, neither one being compelled to buy or sell.
Mechanic's Lien: A claim created by law to secure priority of payment for work performed and materials provided by a vendor. Land may be attached as well as buildings, equipment or other property.
Metes and Bounds: A description of a parcel of land in a deed in which the boundaries are defined by directions and distances.
Mortgage: A pledge of property, especially real property, as a security for a debt.
Mortgage Note: A written promise to pay a sum of money at a stated interest rage during a specified term. A mortgage note is secured by a mortgage.
Mortgagee: The lender in a mortgage transaction.
Mortgagor: The borrower in a mortgage transaction who pledges property as a security for a debt.
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Note: A general term for any kind of paper document signed by a borrower that is an acknowledgement of the debt, and is by inference, a promise to pay.
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Partition: A division made of real property among those who own it in undivided shares.
Plat: A map representing a piece of land subdivided into lots with streets, boundaries, easements and dimensions shown thereon.
Plat Book: A book showing the lots and legal descriptions of the subdivision of an area, usually recorded and kept in city and government offices.
Purchase Money Mortgage: The seller's lien in the form of a mortgage given by the buyer to the seller against the property sold to secure the payment of the balance of the purchase price.
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Quit Title Action: Legal action taken to eliminate any interest or claim to property by others; the procedure used to perfect title when quitclaim deed is unobtainable.
Quitclaim Deed: A deed relinquishing all interest, title or claim on owner has in a property. A quitclaim deed implies no warranty.
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Real Estate Owned (REO): Property a lender acquires as the result of foreclosure.
Real Property: Land and objects permanently attached to it, such as buildings and fences.
Reconciliation: The last step in the appraisal process in which all data is compared and the approaches to value considered to arrive a a final estimate value.
Reconveyance: An instrument used to transfer title from a trustee to the equitable owner of real estate, used when the performance of debt is satisfied under the terms of a deed of trust.
Recording: The filing of documents or details of a legal document to make them a matter of a public record. Usually requires the witnessing and notarizing of the document or instrument to be recorded.
Redemption: The right to pay off or discharge a mortgage or the right to buy back within the period provided by statute, a property that has been sold for taxes or municipal claim.
Release of Lien: An instrument discharging secured property from a lien.
Release of Record: The act of recording a release deed or satisfaction of a mortgage.
Restrictive Covenant: A clause in a deed or lease that denies the buyer or lessor full rights to the property in question.
Reversion: A right to future possession retained by an owner at the time of a transfer of an owner's interest in real property.
Right of Survivorship: The survivor's right to the property of a deceased person. In the case of joint tenancy or tenancy by entirety (husband and wife), the undivided property passes to the survivor.
Right of Way: The right to pass over land owned by another. Also a strip of land used for a street or railway.
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Satisfaction of Mortgage: The recorded instrument the lender provides to evidence payment in full of the mortgage debt.
Second Mortgage: A mortgage that has right subordinate to a first mortgage.
Special Warranty Deed: A deed containing a covenant whereby the grantor agrees to protect the grantee against any claims arising during the grantor's period of ownership.
Super Lien: A government lien imposed on a property for violation of environmental and public health and safety rules.
Survey: A measurement of land, prepared by a registered land surveyor, showing the location of the land with reference to know points, its dimension, and the location and dimensions of any improvements.
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Tax Deed: A deed on property purchased a public sale for nonpayment of taxes.
Tax Lien: A claim against property for unpaid taxes.
Tenancy: The use of real estate under any kind of right title.
Tenancy at Will: A holding of real estate without agreement or fixed term of possession that can be terminated at the will of either the lessor or lessee.
Tenancy by Entirety: A form of ownership in which husband and wife are co-owners with right of survivorship.
Tenancy in Common: A form of undivided ownership interest by two (2) or more persons that provides for no right of survivorship. The interest need not be of equal percentage.
Tenancy in Partnership: A type of ownership whereby real property is held in the name of the partnership rather than in the name of the individual partners.
Testate: The state of condition of leaving a will at death.
Title: Written evidence of the right to or ownership in property. In case of real estate, the documentary evidence of ownership is the title deed that specifies in whom the legal estate is vested, and the history of ownership and transfers. Title may be acquired through purchase, inheritance, devise, gift or through foreclosure of a mortgage.
Title Binder: Written evidence of temporary title insurance coverage that runs for a limited time and must be replaced by a permanent policy.
Title Defect: Any legal right held by others to claim property or to make demands upon an owner.
Title Exception: An exclusion appearing in a title insurance policy against which the insurance company does not insure.
Title Insurance Policy: A contract by which the insurer agrees to pay the insured a specific amount for any loss caused by defects of tied to real estate, wherein the insured ahs an interest as a purchaser, mortgagee or otherwise.
Title Search: An examination of public records, laws and court decisions to ensure that no one except the seller has a valid claim to the property, and to disclose part and current facts regarding ownership of the subject property.
Torrens Certificate: A certificate issued by a public authority called a registrar of titles, establishing title in an indicated owner. Used when title to property is registered under the Torrens system land registration.
Transfer Tax: Taxes on the conveyance of real estate imposed by state and local governments.
Trust: A fiduciary relationship whereby legal title to a property is transferred to a trustee with the intention that such property be administered by the trustee for the benefit of another, the beneficiary, who holds equitable title to such property.
Trust Deed: The instrument given by a borrower (trustor) to a trustee vesting title to a property in the trustee to ensure the borrower's fulfillment of an obligAmerican Title, Inc.on. A mortgage.
Trustee: One who holds legal title to property for the benefit of another or to secure performance of an obligation.
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Unencumbered Property: A property that is free and clear of debts or liens.
Uniform Commercial Code (UCC): A comprehensive code of laws regulating important legal aspects of business and financial transactions. The code has been accepted by every state except Louisiana.
Usury: The act of charging borrowers a rate of interest greater than that permitted by law.
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Valuation: An approved special change in construction codes, zoning requirements, or other property use restrictions.
Vendor's Lien: An unpaid seller's right to a lien on property until the purchase price is recovered.
Vested Interest: A legal claim or right to the present or future enjoyment of real property.
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