Home Buyers Handbook Glossary L

An equitable doctrine used by courts to bar a legal claim or prevent the assertion of a right because of undue delay or failure to assert the claim or right.

The earth’s surface extending downward to the center of the earth and upward infinitely into space.

See AGENT.

 A written or an oral contract between a landlord (the lessor) and a tenant (the lessee) transferring the right to exclusive possession and use of the landlord’s real property to the lessee for a specified period of time and for a stated consideration (rent). By state law, leases for longer than a certain period of time (generally one year) must be in writing to be enforceable.

 A tenant’s right to occupy real estate during the term of a lease, generally considered to be a personal property interest.

A description of a specific parcel of real estate sufficient for an independent surveyor to locate and identify it.

 a person who acquires or receives the use of property by contract See LEASE.

the party or person who assigns property the use of property by contract. See LEASE.

 The use of borrowed money to finance the bulk of an investment.

 To assess; to seize or collect. To levy a tax is to assess a property and set the rate of taxation. To levy an execution is to seize officially the property of a person in order to satisfy an obligation.

 1. A privilege or right granted to a person by a state to operate as a real estate broker or salesperson. 2. The revocable permission for a temporary use of land—a personal right that cannot be sold.

 A right given by law to certain creditors to have their debt paid out of the property of a defaulting debtor, usually by means of a court sale.

 An interest in real or personal property which is limited in duration to the lifetime of its owner or some other designated person.

A person in possession of a life estate. like-kind property (See EXCHANGE.)

The ability to sell an asset and convert it into cash at a price close to its true value.

 A contract between a landowner (as principal) and a licensed real estate broker (as agent) by which the broker is employed as agent to sell real estate on the owner’s terms within a given time, for which service the landowner agrees to pay a commission.

 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 up to a sale are initiated. The listing broker and the selling broker may, of course, be the same person. (See also MULTIPLE LISTING.)

 1. A landowner’s claim to use water in large lakes and oceans adjacent to his or her property. 2. The ownership rights to land bordering these bodies of water up to the high. watermark.

a term used to describe the amount of money loaned as a percent of the value of the property.  For example, an $80,000 loan on a home with an estimated value of $100,000 would have a LTV rating of 80%.

  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.