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TIME-SHARE PROJECT – A form of subdivision of real property into rights to the recurrent, exclusive use or occupancy of a lot, parcel, unit, or segment of real property, on an annual or some other periodic basis, for a specified period of time.

TIME-SHARE USE – A license or contractual or membership right of occupancy in a timeshare project which is not coupled with an estate in the real property.

TITLE – Indicates —fee‘‘ position of lawful ownership and right to property. —Bundle of Rights“ possessed by an owner. Combination of all elements constituting proof of ownership.

TITLE INSURANCE – Insurance to protect a real property owner or lender up to a specified amount against certain types of loss, e.g., defective or unmarketable title.

TITLE REPORT – A report which discloses condition of the title, made by a title company preliminary to issuance of title insurance policy.

TITLE THEORY – Mortgage arrangement whereby title to mortgaged real property vests in the lender. Some states give greater protection to mortgage lenders and assume lenders have title interest. Distinguished from Lien Theory States.

TOPOGRAPHY – Nature of the surface of land; topography may be level, rolling, mountainous. Variation in earth‘s surface.

TORRENS TITLE – System of title records provided by state law (no longer used in California)

TORT – Any wrongful act (not involving a breach of contract) for which a civil section will lie for the person wronged.

TOWNHOUSE – One of a row of houses usually of the same or similar design with common side walls or with a very narrow space between adjacent side walls.

TOWNSHIP – In the survey of public lands of the United States, a territorial subdivision six miles long, six miles wide and containing 36 sections, each one mile square, located between two range lines and two township lines.

TRADE FIXTURES – Articles of personal property annexed by a business tenant to real property which are necessary to the carrying on of a trade and are removable by the tenant.

TRADE-IN – An increasingly popular method of guaranteeing an owner a minimum amount of cash on sale of owner‘s present property to permit owner to purchase another. If the property is not sold within a specified time at the listed price, the broker agrees to arrange financing to personally purchase the property at an agreed upon discount.

TRANSFER FEE – A charge made by a lending institution holding or collecting on a real estate mortgage to change its records to reflect a different ownership.

TRUST ACCOUNT – An account separate and apart and physically segregated from broker‘s own funds, in which broker is required by law to deposit all funds collected for clients.

TRUST DEED – Just as with a mortgage this is a legal document by which a borrower pledges certain real property or collateral as guarantee for the repayment of a loan. However, it differs from the mortgage in a number of important respects. For example, instead of there being two parties to the transaction there are three. There is the borrower who signs the trust deed and who is called the trustor. There is the third, neutral party, to whom trustor deeds the property as security for the payment of the debt, who is called the trustee. And, finally, there is the lender who is called the beneficiary, the one who benefits from the pledge agreement in that in the event of a default the trustee can sell the property and transfer the money obtained at the sale to lender as payment of the debt.

TRUSTEE – One who holds property in trust for another to secure the performance of an obligation. Third party under a deed of trust.

TRUSTOR – One who borrows money from a trust deed lender, then deeds the real property securing the loan to a trustee to be held as security until trustor has performed the obligation to the lender under terms of a deed of trust.

TRUTH IN LENDING – The name given to the federal statutes and regulations (Regulation Z) which are designed primarily to insure that prospective borrowers and purchasers on credit receive credit cost information before entering into a transaction.

UNDERIMPROVEMENT – An improvement which, because of its deficiency in size or cost, is not the highest and best use of the site.

UNDERWRITING – Insuring something against loss; guaranteeing financially.

UNDUE INFLUENCE – Use of a fiduciary or confidential relationship to obtain a fraudulent or unfair advantage over another‘s weakness of mind, or distress or necessity.

UNEARNED INCREMENT – An increase in value of real estate due to no effort on the part of the owner; often due to increase in population.

UNIFORM COMMERCIAL CODE – Establishes a unified and comprehensive method for regulation of security transactions in personal property, superseding the existing statutes on chattel mortgages, conditional sales, trust receipts, assignment of accounts receivable and others in this field.

UNIT-IN-PLACE METHOD – The cost of erecting a building by estimating the cost of each component part, i.e., foundations, floors, walls, windows, ceilings, roofs, etc., (including labor and overhead).

URBAN PROPERTY – City property; closely settled property.

USURY – On a loan, claiming a rate of interest greater than that permitted by law.

UTILITIES – Refers to services rendered by public utility companies, such as – water, gas, electricity, telephone.

UTILITY – The ability to give satisfaction and/or excite desire for possession. An element of value.

VACANCY FACTOR – The percentage of a building‘s space that is not rented over a given period.

VALID – Having force, or binding force; legally sufficient and authorized by law.

VALLEY – The internal angle formed by the junction of two sloping sides of a roof.

VALUATION – Estimated worth or price. Estimation. The act of valuing by appraisal.

VA LOAN – A loan made to qualified veterans for the purchase of real property wherein the Department of Veteran‘s Affairs guarantees the lender payment of the mortgage.

VALUE – Present worth of future benefits arising out of ownership to typical users/investors.

VARIABLE INTEREST RATE – (VlRs or VMRs, Variable Mortgage Rates.) An interest rate in a real estate loan which by the terms of the note varies upward and downward over the term of the loan depending on money market conditions.

VENDEE – A purchaser; buyer.

VENDOR – A seller.

VENEER – Thin sheets of wood.

VERIFICATION – Sworn statement before a duly qualified officer to

correctness of contents of an instrument. VESTED – Bestowed upon someone; secured by someone, such as title to

property.

VOID – To have no force or effect; that which is unenforceable.

VOIDABLE – That which is capable of being adjudged void, but is not void

unless action is taken to make it so.

VOLUNTARY LIEN – Any lien placed on property with consent of, or as a result of, the voluntary act of the owner.

WAINSCOTING – Wood lining of an interior wall; lower section of a wall when finished differently from the upper part.

WAIVE – To relinquish, or abandon; to forego a right to enforce or require anything.

WARRANTY OF AUTHORITY – A representation by an agent to third persons that the agent has and is acting within the scope of authority conferred by his or her principal.

WARRANTY DEED – A deed used to convey real property which contains warranties of title and quiet possession, and the grantor thus agrees to defend the premises against the lawful claims of third persons. It is commonly used in many states but in others the grant deed has supplanted it due to the modern practice of securing title insurance policies which have reduced the importance of express and implied warranty in deeds.

WASTE – The destruction, or material alteration of, or injury to premises by a tenant.

WATER TABLE – Distance from surface of ground to a depth at which natural groundwater is found.

WEAR AND TEAR – Depreciation of an asset due to ordinary usage.

WILL – A written, legal declaration of a person expressing his or her desires for the disposition of that person‘s property after his or her death.

WRAP AROUND MORTGAGE – A financing device whereby a lender assumes payments on existing trust deeds of a borrower and takes from the borrower a junior trust deed with a face value in an amount equal to the amount outstanding on the old trust deeds and the additional amount of money borrowed.

X – An individual who cannot write may execute a legal document by affixing an —X“ (his/her mark) where the signature normally goes. Beneath the mark a witness then writes the person‘s name and signs his or her own name as witness.

YARD – A unit of measurement 3 feet long.

YIELD – The interest earned by an investor on an investment (or by a bank on the money it has loaned). Also, called return.

YIELD RATE – The yield expressed as a percentage of the total investment. Also, called rate of return.

ZONE – The area set off by the proper authorities for specific use; an area subject to certain restrictions or restraints.

ZONING – Act of city or county authorities specifying type of use to which property may be put in specific areas.