A listing is essentially a home that is for sale. The term gets its name from the fact that these homes are often listed on a website or in a publication.

This is the agent who represents the seller in the home-buying process. On the other side is the buyer’s agent who represents the buyer.

A disposition of money or personal property by will.

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

A 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. The most common forms of legal description are rectangular survey, metes and bounds, and subdivision lot and block (plat).

An element that must be present in a valid contract. If a contract has for its object an act that violates the laws of the United States or the laws of a state to which the parties are subject, it is illegal, invalid, and not recognized by the courts.

The tenant who leases a property.

One who leases property to a tenant

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

To assess, 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 to satisfy an obligation.

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 that is limited in duration to the lifetime of its owner or some other designated person.

A person in possession of a life estate.

Liquidated damages occur when, by contractual agreement, defaulted earnest money becomes the personal property of the seller.

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

A public notice that a lawsuit affecting title to or possession, use, and enjoyment of a parcel of real estate has been filed in either a state or federal court.

A contract between a landowner (as principal) and a licensed real estate broker (as agent) by which the broker is employed as agent to list and 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 to a sale are initiated. The listing broker and the selling broker may, of course, by the same person.

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

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. Real estate terms that begin with M