Encyclopedia of Real Estate Terms: Based on American & English Practice [Relié]

Abbott, a real estate specialist who heads his own consultant firm, presents a well-documented guide to the meaning, use, and significance of over 8000 real estate words and phrases. Definitions are generally longer than in other sources, e.g., Jae K. Shim's Dictionary of Real Estate (Wiley, 1995), and range in length from short phrases to, for example, three pages of specialized definitions for the term "easement." Typical definitions may include synonyms, See Also and cross references, citations to sources, corresponding terms used in other countries, and the bolding of words defined elsewhere. Definitions may also demonstrate the term's evolution and current usage, clarifying similarities and differences in how terms are used in different jurisdictions. The work reflects predominantly North American usage but considers material from France and Commonwealth countries, particularly for legal cases emanating from English common law. Also included are a user's guide and several useful appendixes, e.g., listings of organizations and professional associations and an extensive bibliography divided by country, and there are some reproductions and extracts from various legal codes and authoritative texts. Given its wide-ranging coverage, this work will find application in such fields as economics, insurance, taxation, and urban planning in addition to real estate management, and it will be of reference value to students, faculty, and specialists. For academic and large public libraries.DStanley P. Hodge, Ball State Univ., Muncie, IN
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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The 1,472 page ENCYCLOPEDIA OF REAL ESTATE TERMS is the MOST COMPREHENSIVE single-volume reference book on real estate terminology. It provides real estate definitions and explains in detail the meaning and significance of over 9,000 TERMS. The Encyclopedia is based on American and English practice, as well as terms from the civil law, Scots and French law.

The ENCYCLOPEDIA contains over 6,000 citations (cases, statutes and other authorities) and is supplemented by more than 5,000 bibliographical references, most of which are referenced by page or paragraph number. The cross-referencing system, which extends to over 30,000 entries, provides an exhaustive thesaurus of real estate terminology.

Based on every aspect of the real estate (appraisal, economics, finance, insurance, investment, law, taxation, urban planning and real estate management) the Second Edition of the Encyclopedia of Real Estate Terms is an essential reference guide for any real estate professional (attorneys, investors, appraisers, accountants, managers, teachers and students).

In addition, there is a separate BIBLIOGRAPHY of over 900 books and a description of over 50 National and International Real Estate Associations, with web addresses.

Exhaustive research into legal and financial materials makes this book unique.

Damien Abbott has specialized in real estate since 1966, when he graduated from the University of London. His experience has been gained in over twenty countries spread over four continents. He has worked with such companies as Ford Motor Company, Land Securities, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, CB Richard Ellis and INVESTCORP International. He has lived and worked in Abu Dhabi, Brussels, London, Istanbul, New York and San Francisco.

Damien Abbott's extensive experience has involved development, investment, appraisal, management and financing of real estate with a total value in excess of $3.0 billion dollars. His work has taken him from new town development, to international real estate investment and has included such diverse responsibilities as appraisal work in Cairo and Damascus; condominium development in California; acquiring or financing office investments and shopping centers in London, Boston, Washington D.C., Los Angeles, Brussels and Paris; industrial development in Dublin and Finland; property sales for Gucci; and collateralized-mortgage financing for Saks Fifth Avenue. In 1995 he left INVESTCORP International to form his own international real estate consultancy practice; although he now spends most of his time writing and traveling.

real estate

Land and anything permanently fixed thereto, as well as any rights or interests in land. A right or claim that attaches to the very substance of land; as distinguished from personal estate which belongs to a person and, as such, is temporary and movable. Historically, ‘real estate’ meant property that was capable of being recovered by a real action (i.e. an action which sought to recover true possession of the property and not merely a bare claim supported by recompense). Thus, in a strict legal sense, real estate does not include a leasehold, which is regarded in the common law as personal estate (a ‘chattel real’) and is capable of recovery only by a personal action between the parties (1 Co Litt 46a; Butler v Butler (1884) 28 Ch D 66; Montreal Light, Heat & Power Consolidated v Westmount (Town) [1926] SCR 515, 520 (Can); City of New York v. Mabie, 13 NY (3 Kern) 151, 159, 64 Am Dec 538 (1855); Pacific Southwest Dev. Corp. v. Western Pac. R. Co., 47 Cal.2d 62, 301 P.2d 825!

, 829 (1956)). However, this common law anachronistic interpretation of ‘real estate’ has been superseded generally by the more modern view that a leasehold (especially a lease for a fixed term of more than one year) is real estate (Anno: 103 ALR 826: Interest Created by Lease as Real Estate). (In the US, in some jurisdictions, real estate may even include an oil and gas lease, at least until the oil or gas is extracted (United States v. Texas Eastern Transmission Corp., 254 F Supp 114 (DC La 1965), cf. Pacific Southwest Dev. Corp. v. Western Pac. R. Co., supra at 829). In a statute that authorizes condemnation of "real estate", the term may include a lease (40 USCA § 258a; United States v. Fisk Building, 99 F Supp 592, 594 (DC NY 1951)).