Real Estate Terms ? From Easements to Good Title

When buying or selling a property, it always helps to have a basic understanding of real estate terms. In this on going series of articles, we take a look at definitions starting with ?easements.?

1) Easement ? permission given to (or acquired by) someone who does not own a parcel of real property enabling that person (or entity) to use that parcel for a specific purpose. It may add or detract value. It may be neutral so far as the value of the property is concerned. Examples include easements to utility companies for the purpose of running power lines, easements to municipalities for running sewer lines, and an easement to a neighbor to use your driveway for ingress and egress to his property.

2) Encroachment ? a building, fence, wall, driveway, etc. which is intended to be part of one property and is found to be on, or partially on, another property.

3) Escrow ? money and other items of value held by a third party for the benefit of the buyer and seller of real property. In California, items are accumulated in escrow for a stated period of time until all items needed to finalize the sale are in the hands of the escrow agent and properly processed. In Virginia, the items are accumulated but are not signed until everyone meets at the settlement table. Then the deed is signed, the lender releases funds, and so on. It is usually the next day before the change of ownership can be recorded at the courthouse, so while it isn?t customarily referred to that way, the settlement agent is usually an escrow agent for about 24 hours in Virginia.

4) Equity ? The wealth value of a property for the owner. The equity in a property is equal to the fair market value minus any debts such as mortgages and taxes.

5) Good Title ? title to the real property being clear and clean enough that a title insurance company will insure it and a lender will make a loan with it as collateral.

As you can image, there are many real estate terms for which you have a general understanding. In our next article, we continue with the terms starting with ?Home Inspection.?

Posted by Katie Phillips on August 31, 2011 at 04:09 PM

About Katie Phillips
Katie Phillips is a Broker Associate with RE/MAX Affiliates in Valparaiso since 2003. Serving all of Porter County, portions of Lake and LaPorte county, I look forward to assisting clients in meeting their real estate goals. LOOKING TO EXCEED YOUR EXPECTATIONS!

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Local Information for Valparaiso, IN

Latitude: 41.604251 -- Longitude: -87.058442

ZIP Codes for Chesterton, Indiana	46304
Area Code for Chesterton, Indiana	219
Time zone for Chesterton, Indiana	CST

Other Area Cities: La Porte, IN Chesterton, IN Michigan City, IN Portage, IN

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Chesterton is a town in Porter County, Indiana, United States. The population was 10,488 at the 2000 census. As of the census of 2000, there were 10,488 people, 4,039 households, and 2,879 families residing in the town. The population density was 475.8/km² (1,232.0/mi²). There were 4,212 housing units at an average density of 191.1/km² (494.8/mi²). The racial makeup of the town was 96.29% White, 0.44% African American, 0.21% Native American, 1.37% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 0.51% from other races, and 1.16% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 3.31% of the population. There were 4,039 households out of which 36.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 57.3% were married couples living together, 9.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 28.7% were non-families. 23.7% of all households were made up of individuals and 8.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. -- Source: Wikipedia.com

Indiana 2000 Census Population Profile Map

	Chesterton	Indiana	United States
Population	10,488	6,080,485	281,421,906
Median age	36.7	35.2	35.3
Median age for Male	35.6	33.9	34
Median age for Female	37.8	36.5	36.5
Households	4,039	2,336,306	105,480,101
Household population	10,391	5,902,331	273,643,273
Average household size	2.57	2.53	2.59
Families	2,879	1,602,501	71,787,347
Average family size	3.06	3.05	3.14
Housing units	4,212	2,532,319	115,904,641
Occupied units	4,039	2,336,306	105,480,101
Vacant units	173	196,013	10,424,540

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Real Estate Terms ? From Easements to Good Title

Local Information for Valparaiso, IN

Latitude: 41.604251 -- Longitude: -87.058442

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