Glossary
Thirty terms across commercial real estate and cartography, in plain prose. The language of the work, defined the way we use it.
The use of a property that produces the greatest value, legally permissible, physically po...
A system of land description that uses courses, distances, and monuments to define a parce...
A non invasive study of a property's historical and current uses to identify recognized en...
The operating cost of a building's shared areas, passed through to tenants under the lease...
A lease in which the tenant pays taxes, insurance, and maintenance in addition to rent. Th...
The ratio of a property's net operating income to its value. The cap rate is the last numb...
The record of a building's leases, tenants, rents, and expiration dates. The rent roll is ...
A projection of a property's income and expenses under a set of assumptions. The pro forma...
The actual income and expenses of a property over the most recent twelve months. The trail...
A lease of land only, under which the tenant owns the improvements. The ground lease separ...
A transaction in which a developer constructs a building to a tenant's specifications and ...
The government approvals required to develop a property for a particular use. The entitlem...
The local regulation of land use, density, height, and setback. Zoning is the overlay that...
The minimum distance a building must be from a property line or a right of way. A setback ...
The length of a parcel's boundary along a road or a right of way. Retail lives and dies on...
A right to use another's land for a specific purpose, such as access or utility. An easeme...
A map and description of a parcel's boundaries, area, and improvements, prepared by a lice...
A map of a parcel or a subdivision, recorded with the county. The plat is the drawing, and...
A reference surface or point against which measurements are made. A benchmark is a datum, ...
A fixed reference point of known elevation, used in surveying. A closed comparable is a be...
A line of constant elevation on a map. The contour governs the drainage, and the drainage ...
A landscape underlain by soluble rock, characterized by sinkholes and springs. The Inner B...
Pertaining to the registry of land ownership and boundaries. The cadastral record is the d...
A zoning or planning district that adds rules to an underlying zone. An overlay can protec...
A line across a landscape along which conditions are observed. A market transect runs from...
Information verified by direct observation in the field. We verify in the field before ass...
The condition in which a survey's courses and distances return to the point of beginning. ...
The amount of space leased or sold in a market over a period. Positive absorption tightens...
The share of a market's space that is unleased. Vacancy is a corridor by corridor number, ...
A property's income after operating expenses but before debt service and depreciation. NOI...