Business / Real Estate Glossary

Add-On Rate: Interest charged on a principal amount for specified term, regardless of any repayments of principal. The borrower is paying interest on the full principal sum for the entire loan period, ev . . . View Full Definition

Addendum: Additional material attached to and made part of a document. If there is space insufficient to write all the details of a transaction on the sales contract form, the parties will attach an a . . . View Full Definition

Ademption: Disposal by a testator in his or her lifetime of a specific property bequeathed in his or her will so the bequest is revoked.

Adjustable Rate Mortgage (ARM): A broad term for a loan (mortgage or deed of trust) with rates and terms that can change. The adjustable rate loan has become commonplace, with allowable ranges as to time intervals, percent . . . View Full Definition

Adjusted Basis: The original cost basis of a property reduced by certain deductions and increased by certain improvement costs. The original basis determined at the time of acquisition is reduced by the amo . . . View Full Definition

Adjustment: Decrease or increase in the sales price of a comparable property to account for a feature that the property has or does not have in comparison with the subject property.

Adjustment Period: In an adjustable rate mortgage (ARM), the adjustment period, is the period of time (i.e., one month, three months, six months, one year, etc.) between changes in one interest rate charged an . . . View Full Definition

Administered Price System: Federal National Mortgage Association securities purchasing procedure where required yields are adjusted daily to reflect financial market factors.

Administrative Agency: A government agency that makes rules and regulations to carry out the law. A states real estate commission develops regulations to complement license law.

Administrative Order: A legal document signed by the EPA directing an individual, business, or other entity to take corrective action or refrain from an activity. The order describes the violations and action to . . . View Full Definition

Administrator: A male person appointed by the court to settle the estate of a person who has died intestate (leaving no will). Sometimes referred to as the personal representative.

Administratrix: A female person appointed by the court to settle the estate of a person who has died intestate (leaving no will). Sometimes referred to as the personal representative.

Advance Fee: A fee paid before any services are rendered. Specifically, it is a practice of some brokers to obtain a nonrefundable fee from the seller in advance to cover the advertising of properties or . . . View Full Definition

Advance Fee Addendum: An agreement specifying services for which an agent or broker will be compensated including a provision for payment of an advance fee.

Adverse Action: A denial or revocation of credit, a change in the terms of an existing credit arrangement, or a refusal to grant credit either on the amount requested or on the terms requested.

Adverse Possession: The acquiring of title to real property owned by someone else by means of open, notorious, hostile and continuous possession for a statutory period of time. The burden to prove title is on t . . . View Full Definition

Aesthetic Zoning: Zoning for beauty. May regulate architectural styles, colors or signage.

Affidavit: A sworn written statement made under oath before a notary public or other official authorized by law to administer an oath. The term literally means has pledged ones faith. The affiant (pers . . . View Full Definition

Affidavit Of Title: A written statement, made under oath by a seller or grantor of real property and acknowledged by a notary public, in which the grantor 1. identifies himself or herself and indicates marital . . . View Full Definition

Affirmation: A formal declaration that an affidavit is true.

Affirmative Easement: Gives the owner of the dominant tenement the right to use the servient tenement.

After-Acquired Title: Title or interest acquired by the grantor after a property has been conveyed.

Agency: A relationship created when one person, the principal, delegates to another, the agent, the right to act on his or her behalf in business transactions and to exercise some degree of discreti . . . View Full Definition

Agency Coupled With An Interest: An agency relationship in which the agent is given an estate or interest in the subject of the agency (the property).

Agent: One authorized to represent and to act on behalf of another person (called the principal). Unlike an employee, who merely works for a principal, an agent works in the place of a principal. T . . . View Full Definition

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