USA Real Estate License Network Terms Glossary

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PARITY WALL


A wall erected on the line between two adjoining properties that are under different ownership for the use of both owners.
PAROL


Oral or verbal.
PAROL EVIDENCE RULE


A rule of courtroom evidence that once the parties make a written contract, they may not then introduce oral agreements or statements to modify the terms of that written agreement. An exception exists for fraud or mistake, which will permit the parties to offer evidence to vary the terms of the writing.
PARQUET FLOOR


Hardwood flooring laid in squares or patterns.
PART TIME STATUS


Many real estate agewnts have other full-time jobs. . A part time agent cannot devote a full time effort to represent a client, therefore the failure to disclose a part time status is considered unethical real estate practice.
PARTIAL RECONVEYANCE


In a deed of trust or mortgage, a clause that permits release of a parcel or part of a parcel from the effects and lien of that security instrument. The release usually occurs upon the payment of a specified sum of money.
PARTITION ACTION


A legal action by which co-owners seek to sever their joint ownership. The physical division of property between co-owners, usually through court action.
PARTNERSHIP


An association of two or more persons to unite their property, labor or skill, or any one or combination thereof, in prosecution of some joint business, and to share the profits in certain proportions. An agreement of two or more individuals jointly to undertake a business enterprise. If it is a general?partnership, all partners have unlimited liability and, absent other agreements, share equally in the management and profits of the business.
PATENT


Conveyance of title to government land.
PAYMENT CLAUSE


A provision in a promissory note, deed of trust, or mortgage, permitting the debtor to pay off the obligation before maturity.
PENNY


The term, as applied to nails, that serves as a measure of nail length and is abbreviated by the letter d.
PERCENTAGE LEASE


A lease on property, the rental for which is determined by the amount of business done by the tenant, usually a percentage of gross receipts from the business, with provision for a minimum rental.
PERIMETER HEATING


Baseboard heating or any system in which the heat registers are located along the outside walls of a room, especially under the windows.
PERIODIC TENANCY


A leasehold estate that continues indefinitely for successive periods of time, until terminated by proper notice. When the periods are one month in duration, it is often called a month-to-month lease.
PERSONAL INJURY


A term commonly used in tort (e.g. negligence cases) indicating an injury to one's being or body (for example, cuts or broken bones) as opposed to injury to his property.
PERSONAL PROPERTY


Any property that is not real property. (See Real Property.) Property that is movable, as opposed to real property, which is immovable; also includes intangible property and leasehold estates.
PETITIONER


A person who petitions the court on a special proceeding or a motion.
PIER


A column of masonry used to support other structural members.
PITCH


The incline or rise of a roof.
PLAINTIFF


The party who initiates a lawsuit; the person who sues another.
PLATE


A horizontal board placed on a wall or supported on posts or studs to carry the trusses of a roof or rafters directly; a shoe or base member, as of a partition or other frame; a small flat board placed on or in a wall to support girders and rafters, for example.
PLEDGE


Deposition of personal property by a debtor with a creditor as security for a debt or engagement.
PLEDGEE


One who is given a pledge as security. (See Security Party)
PLEDGOR


One who gives a pledge as security. (See Debtor)
PLOTTAGE INCREMENT


The appreciation in unit value created by joining smaller ownerships into one large single ownership.
PLYWOOD


  1. Laminated wood made up in panels.
  2. Several thicknesses of wood glued together with grains at different angles for strength.
POCKET LISTING


When a real estate licensee convinces a seller that he can procure a buyer for the property and wants to withhold the information from the multiple listing service. This is considered unethical.
POINTS


Points paid for refinancing must be spread out over the life of the loan tobe deductible on a person's income tax.
POLICE POWER


The right of the state to enact laws and regulations and its right to enforce them for the order, safety, health, morals, and general welfare of the public. The power of the state to prohibit acts that adversely affect the public health, welfare, safety, or morals. (Zoning and building codes are examples of exercise of the police power.)
POWER OF ATTORNEY


An instrument authorizing a person to act as the agent of the person granting it. A special power of attorney limits the agent to a particular or specific act, as a landowner may grant an agent special power of attorney to convey a single and specific parcel of property. Under a general power of attorney, the agent may do almost anything for the principal that the principal could do himself or herself. A document authorizing a person (an attorney-in-fact) to act as an agent.
POWER OF TERMINATION


The future interest created whenever there is a grant of a fee simple subject to a condition subsequent estate. The future interest matures into a present interest estate only if the holder timely and properly exercises his right upon a breach by the current holder of the fee estate.
PREFABRICATED HOUSE


A house manufactured, and sometimes partly assembled, before delivery to the building site.
PREJUDGEMENT ATTACHMENT


An attachment of property made before the trial, with the intent of holding that property as security, to have an asset to sell if the court judgment is favorable to the attaching party.
PREPAYMENT PENALTY


Penalty for the payment of a note before it actually becomes due. A fee or charge imposed upon a debtor who desires to pay off his loan before its maturity. Not all prepayment clauses provide for a penalty, and in many real estate transactions the law regulates the amount of penalty that may be changed.
PRESCRIPTION


Securing of an easement by open, notorious, and uninterrupted use, adverse to the owner of the land for the period required by statute, which, in California, is five years. A method of obtaining an easement by adverse use over a prescribed period of time.
PRESENT INTEREST


An estate in land that gives the owner the right to occupy his property immediately; as opposed to a future interest, which grants only the right to occupy the premises at some future date.
PRESUMPTION


That which may be assumed without proof. A conclusion or assumption that is binding in the absence of sufficient proof to the contrary.
PRIMA FACIE


  1. Presumptive on its face.
  2. Assumed correct until overcome by further proof. Facts, evidence, or documents that are taken at face value and presumed to be as they appear (unless proven otherwise).
PRINCIPAL


The (client) employer of an agent. Someone who hires an agent to act on his behalf. The term also refers to the amount of an outstanding loan (exclusive of interest).
PRIORITY


That which comes first in point of time or right. superior, higher, or?preferred rank or position.
PRIVITY


Closeness or mutuality of a contractual relationship.
PROBATE


Court supervision of the collection and distribution of a deceased person's estate. This takes place in Superior Court within the county where the property is located.
PROCEDURAL LAW


The law of how to present and proceed with legal rights (for example, laws of evidence, enforcement of judgments). It is the opposite of substantative law.
PROCURING CAUSE


That event originating from another series of events that, without a break in continuity, results in an agent's producing a final buyer. Proximate cause. A broker is the procuring cause of a sale if his or her efforts set in motion an unbroken chain of events that resulted in the sale.
PROFIT A PRENDRE


An easement coupled with a power to consume resources on the burdened property.
PROMISSORY NOTE


A written promise to pay a designated sum of money at a future date.
PROPERTY


Anything that may be owned. Anything of value in which the law permits ownership.
PRORATION OF TAXES


Division of the taxes equally or proportionately between buyer and seller on the basis of time of ownership. PUFFING Putting things in their best perspective is not subject to disciplinary action.
PUNITIVE DAMAGES


Money awarded by the court for the sole purpose of punishing the wrongdoer, and not designed to compensate the injured party for his damages.
PURCHASE MONEY INSTRUMENT


A mortgage or deed of trust that does not permit a deficiency judgment in the event of foreclosure and sale of the secured property for less than the amount due on the promissory note. It is called purchase money since the deed of trust and mortgage was used to buy all or part of the property.
PURCHASE-MONEY MORTGAGE OR PURCHASE-MONEY DEED OF TRUST


A mortgage or deed of trust given as part or all of the consideration for the purchase of property or given as security for a loan to obtain money for all or part of the purchase price.


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