Real Estate Terms - From Condominiums To Deeds Of Trust
By Raynor James, Fri Dec 9th

When buying or selling a property, it always helps to have abasic understanding of real estate terms. In this on goingseries of articles, we take a look at definitions starting with"condominium."

1) Condominium - A type of ownership in real property where allof the owners in a collection of properties jointly owneverything except the interior of each property. Accordingly,the jointly area is run by a homeowner's association, which canassess fees to the owners for improvements, etc.

2)



Contract, or Sales Contract, or Contract of Purchase and Sale- the agreement between buyer and seller. In most jurisdictionsit must be in writing in order to be enforceable. It covers suchthings as the identity of the property, the purchase price, anyconditions of the sale, the settlement date or escrow period,when the buyer will occupy the property, etc.

3) Contract for Deed - a written document which provides thatDeed does not pass to the buyer until the final payment has beenmade. In the event of default by the buyer, the property revertsto the seller. (One sees these occasionally. I've seen them whenan owner was financing the sale of raw land for a buyer.)

4) Deposit, or Good Faith Deposit - an amount of money tenderedby the buyer at the time a contract offer is made on realproperty. The contract spells out who holds it, andcircumstances under which the seller gets it, and circumstancesunder which it's returned to the buyer. Typically, the sellergets it as part of the purchase price at settlement, or asliquidated damages if the buyer defaults. The buyer usually getsit back if a condition of settlement is not met.

5) Deed - the written document which conveys title to realproperty. Some states are "record" states and ownership isdefined by the deed's being recorded at the courthouse in whichthe property lies.

6) Deed of Trust - the document which allows a third party toact for the lender should the lender need to forclose on realproperty used as collateral for a loan.

As you can image, there are many real estate terms for which youhave a general understanding. In our next article, we continuewith the terms starting with "Easement."

About the author:Raynor James is with http://www.fsboamerica.org - providing FSBOhomes For Sale By Owner. Visit our "sell my home" page athttp://www.fsboamerica.org/seller.cfm to list and sell your homefor free for one month. Visithttp://www.fsboamerica.org/buyer.cfm to see homes for sale byowner.

Here are some more For Sale By Owner articles...