Contracts, regulations, compliance, entity structures, zoning, permits, and landlord-tenant law.
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Foundation terms you need to know first (88 terms)
Development costs are all the expenses incurred during the process of acquiring land, designing, constructing, and preparing a real estate project for use or sale, from start to finish.
Base rent is the fixed, minimum rent amount paid by a tenant to a landlord for the use of a property, excluding additional charges like operating expenses, taxes, or utilities.
An absolute auction is a type of real estate auction where the property is sold to the highest bidder, regardless of the price, with no minimum bid or reserve price set by the seller.
The Lease Commencement Date is the official date specified in a lease agreement when the tenant's rights and obligations, including rent payments and property responsibilities, legally begin.
An application fee is a non-refundable charge paid by a prospective tenant to a landlord or property manager to cover the costs associated with processing a rental application, including background and credit checks.
Complex strategies and professional concepts (103 terms)
An Equity-for-Property Swap is an advanced real estate investment strategy where an investor exchanges equity in one or more properties or entities for direct ownership of another property, often to achieve tax deferral, portfolio restructuring, or strategic asset acquisition.
The accounting process of recognizing the estimated cost of an Asset Retirement Obligation (ARO) as a liability and capitalizing a corresponding asset, which is then depreciated over its useful life, reflecting the future costs associated with retiring a long-lived asset.
A legally binding contract that alters the priority of liens on a property, allowing a senior lienholder to voluntarily place their claim in a junior position to another, typically to facilitate new financing or complex transactions.
Unrelated Business Income Tax (UBIT) is a tax levied on the net income of a tax-exempt organization, including certain real estate investment vehicles, derived from a trade or business regularly carried on and not substantially related to its exempt purpose.
Inverse condemnation is a legal action initiated by a private property owner against a government entity to recover "just compensation" for a taking of their property, where the government has not formally exercised its power of eminent domain but has effectively deprived the owner of beneficial use or value.
A 1031 Exchange allows real estate investors to defer capital gains and depreciation recapture taxes when selling an investment property by reinvesting the proceeds into a new "like-kind" investment property within strict IRS timelines.
Accretion expense represents the periodic increase in the carrying amount of a liability or asset to reflect the passage of time, typically for obligations initially recorded at a discounted present value. It is a non-cash expense that aligns the book value with the ultimate settlement amount.
Additional Paid-in Capital (APIC) represents the amount of capital investors contribute to a company or partnership that exceeds the par value of the issued stock or the stated capital contribution in a partnership agreement. It is a crucial component of equity, reflecting premium contributions.
An Anti-Dilution Provision is a contractual clause, typically found in preferred stock agreements or limited partnership agreements, designed to protect early-stage investors from the dilution of their ownership percentage or investment value resulting from subsequent equity financing rounds at lower valuations.
Anti-dilution provisions are contractual clauses designed to protect investors' equity ownership percentage from being significantly reduced (diluted) by future equity issuances at a lower valuation, particularly in real estate syndications and private equity deals.
Appraisal fraud involves the intentional misrepresentation or manipulation of a property's value by an appraiser or other parties to deceive lenders or investors for financial gain, often leading to inflated loan amounts and increased risk.
The Asset Coverage Ratio (ACR) is a financial metric that assesses a company's or an investor's ability to cover its liabilities with its assets, providing insight into solvency and debt capacity, particularly crucial for real estate investment firms and large portfolios.
An Asset Retirement Obligation (ARO) is a legal obligation associated with the retirement of a tangible long-lived asset, recognized as a liability in financial statements at its fair value, typically the present value of estimated future costs.
Asset revaluation is the process of adjusting the book value of an asset to reflect its current fair market value, typically performed by real estate companies to provide a more accurate representation of their financial position.
The At-Risk Rules (IRC Section 465) limit the amount of deductible losses from an investment activity to the amount an investor is economically exposed to lose, including cash, property basis, and certain recourse or qualified non-recourse debt.
Auditing in real estate investment is a systematic, independent examination of financial records, operational processes, and compliance adherence within an investment entity or property to ensure accuracy, efficiency, and regulatory conformity.
A Bank Statement Loan is a non-qualified mortgage (Non-QM) product designed for self-employed individuals and real estate investors who cannot easily document their income through traditional tax returns, instead relying on 12-24 months of business or personal bank statements for income verification.
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