A term loan is a monetary loan that is repaid in regular payments over a set period of time. Term loans usually last between one and ten years, but may last as long as 30 years in some cases. A term loan usually involves an unfixed interest rate that will add additional balance to be...

Closing (or settlement) is the final step in executing a real estate transaction. The closing date is set during the negotiation phase, and is usually several weeks after the offer is formally accepted. On the closing date, the parties consummate the purchase contract, and ownership of the property is transferred to the buyer. In most...

An estate comprises the houses and outbuildings and supporting farmland and woods that surround the gardens and grounds of a very large property, such as a country house or mansion. It is the modern term for a manor, but lacks the latter’s now abolished jurisdictional authority. It is an “estate” because the profits from its...

In common law legal systems, a trust is a relationship whereby property (real or personal, tangible or intangible) is held by one party for the benefit of another.

Refinancing may refer to the replacement of an existing debt obligation with a debt obligation under different terms. The terms and conditions of refinancing may vary widely by country, province, or state, based on several economic factors such as, inherent risk, projected risk, political stability of a nation, currency stability, banking regulations, borrower’s credit worthiness,...

An owner-occupier (also known as an owner-occupant or home owner) is a person who lives in and owns the same home. It is a type of housing tenure. The home of the owner-occupier may be, for example, a house, apartment, condominium, or a housing cooperative. The immovable property of the owner, which includes the home...

A bridge loan is a type of short-term loan, typically taken out for a period of 2 weeks to 3 years pending the arrangement of larger or longer-term financing. It is usually called a bridging loan in the United Kingdom, also known as a “caveat loan,” and also known in some applications as a swing...

A fee is the price one pays as remuneration for services. Fees usually allow for overhead, wages, costs, and markup. Traditionally, professionals in Great Britain received a fee in contradistinction to a payment, salary, or wage, and would often use guineas rather than pounds as units of account. Under the feudal system, a Knight’s fee...

In finance, a loan is a debt evidenced by a note which specifies, among other things, the principal amount, interest rate, and date of repayment. A loan entails the reallocation of the subject asset(s) for a period of time, between the lender and the borrower. In a loan, the borrower initially receives or borrows an...

A business (also known as enterprise or firm) is an organization involved in the trade of goods, services, or both to consumers. Business plan and Business model determine the outcome of an active business operation. Businesses are predominant in capitalist economies, where most of them are privately owned and administered to earn profit to increase...

In lending agreements, collateral is a borrower’s pledge of specific property to a lender, to secure repayment of a loan. The collateral serves as protection for a lender against a borrower’s default – that is, any borrower failing to pay the principal and interest under the terms of a loan obligation.

A joint venture (JV) is a business agreement in which parties agree to develop, for a finite time, a new entity and new assets by contributing equity. They exercise control over the enterprise and consequently share revenues, expenses and assets. There are other types of companies such as JV limited by guarantee, joint ventures limited...

The term commercial property (also called commercial real estate, investment or income property) refers to buildings or land intended to generate a profit, either from capital gain or rental income. Commercial property includes multifamily apartment buildings, Office building, retail, industrial property, mobile home parks, self-storage, hotels. In many states, residential property containing more than a...

form of partnership

former term for the geologic period from 65 million to 2.58 million years ago

Real estate is “Property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals, or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this; (also) an item of real property; (more generally) buildings or housing in general. Also: the business of real estate; the profession of...

In finance, leverage (sometimes referred to as gearing in the United Kingdom and Australia) is a general term for any technique to multiply gains and losses. Common ways to attain leverage are borrowing money, buying fixed assets and using derivatives. Important examples are: A public corporation may leverage its equity by borrowing money. The more...

In accounting and finance, equity is the residual claim or interest of the most junior class of investors in assets, after all liabilities are paid. If liability exceeds assets, negative equity exists. In an accounting context, Shareholders’ equity (or stockholders’ equity, shareholders’ funds, shareholders’ capital or similar terms) represents the remaining interest in assets of...

An investor is someone who allocates capital with the expectation of a financial return. The types of investments include, — gambling and speculation, equity, debt securities, real estate, currency, commodity, derivatives such as put and call options, etc. This definition makes no distinction between those in the primary and secondary markets. That is, someone who...

A partnership is an arrangement where parties agree to cooperate to advance their mutual interests. Since humans are social beings, partnerships between individuals, businesses, interest-based organizations, schools, governments, and varied combinations thereof, have always been and remain commonplace. In the most frequently associated instance of the term, a partnership is formed between one or more...

Funding is the act of providing resources, usually in form of money, or other values such as effort or time, for a project, a person, a business, or any other private or public institutions. The process of soliciting and gathering fund is known as fundraising. Sources of funding include credit, donations, grants, savings, subsidies, and...

Property is any physical or intangible entity that is owned by a person or jointly by a group of people or a legal entity like a corporation. Depending on the nature of the property, an owner of property has the right to consume, sell, rent, mortgage, transfer, exchange or destroy it, or to exclude others...

A commercial mortgage is a mortgage loan made using commercial real estate as collateral to secure repayment. A commercial mortgage is similar to a residential mortgage, except the collateral is a commercial building or other business real estate, not residential property. In addition, commercial mortgages are typically taken on by businesses instead of individual borrowers....

A financial transaction is an agreement, communication, or movement carried out between a buyer and a seller to exchange an asset for payment. It involves a change in the status of the finances of two or more businesses or individuals. The buyer and seller are separate entities or objects, often involving the exchange of items...

A debt is an obligation owed by one party to a second party, the creditor; usually this refers to assets granted by the creditor to the debtor, but the term can also be used metaphorically to cover moral obligations and other interactions not based on economic value. A debt is created when a creditor agrees...