The Real Estate
Encyclopedia: A-E

Extralateral Rights are the rights of a lode mining claim owner to follow a mineral vein downward beyond the side boundaries of their claim, even when the vein passes underneath a neighbor’s land. The right depends on the vein’s apex, its highest point or the place...

Astronomic Meridian is a north-south line used in surveying that points to “true north,” found by observing the stars or the sun rather than by using a compass. To find it, surveyors traditionally sighted the North Star (Polaris) or the sun at a precisely recorded...

Allocation by Abstraction is a method used in real property appraisal for estimating the value of land on a parcel that has been improved with buildings or other structures, particularly where sales of comparable vacant land are scarce. It combines two related...

Arpent (from Old French, ultimately from Gaulish arepennis) is a pre-metric French unit of both length and area, historically used in land surveying throughout France and its North American colonies, including Quebec, Louisiana, and the Mississippi and Missouri river...

If you think an A-paper loan sounds like a good bet, you're right. An A-paper loan, also called an A-credit loan or prime loan, is a mortgage made to a borrower who meets a lender’s highest or near-highest credit standards. A-paper borrowers generally have strong...

A clawback in the mortgage lending industry may sound a bit desperate… and, well, it sort of is. A clawback generally refers to the recovery of money that was previously paid or transferred. The term can arise in several contexts. For example, a mortgage lender or...

A cramdown in a mortgage-related bankruptcy proceeding sounds terrible, but it actually helps the borrower in most situations. In the mortgage loan business, a cramdown generally refers to a bankruptcy court reducing the amount of a secured debt that is treated as...

Excess condemnation sounds like a bad thing, but it's actually meant to benefit homeowners whose land is condemned. Excess condemnation occurs when a government or other public authority takes more private property through eminent domain than is strictly necessary to...

A bullet loan may sound a bit violent, but don't worry, there's no need to call emergency services (unless you count your stock broker as an emergency contact). A bullet loan is a type of loan in which the borrower makes relatively small payments, consisting only of...

Allodial title is a form of land ownership in which the owner holds property independently, without owing rent, service, or other obligations to a superior landlord. This is a type of land ownership almost no one will ever experience. Allodial title is very rare for...