print header

# 1 Commercial Real Estate Information Company

Commercial Real Estate Glossary

The building or suite contains some type of laboratory space. This may be a "clean room" or a complete "wet lab".
Land is presented as residential, commercial or industrial use based on its potential for development in any condition. Land can be for sale or lease. If subdivided (any use) it must be five lots or more.
Land Area
The total area of a land parcel, which may be expressed in square feet or acres.
Land Contract
A purchase agreement whereby a property is used and paid for in installments, with the deed transferring upon full payment being satisfied. Also commonly called a conditional sales contract, installment sales contract or real property sales contract.
Identifies a building that is registered as a city, state or federal landmark, or considered by the public to be a landmark. These buildings usually receive this designation due to architectural or historical significance. Examples include New York's Empire State Building, the Sears Tower in Chicago, or Washington, D.C.'s Union Station.
The angular distance measured north or south from the earth's equator.
A lease is a written document in which the rights for use and occupancy are transferred by the owner (or lessee in the case of a sublease) to another for a specified period of time in return for a specified rent.
Lease Commenced
The date the tenant's current lease began.
Lease Expiration Date
The date the tenant's current lease expires.
Lease Option
Lease Term
Refers to length of the term, in years, or may be "TBD" (to be determined).
Leased Fee Interest
The Lessor's interest or position in a lease. Primarily a combination of a lessor's/landlord's reversionary interest and the right to receive rent for the lease period. If a building is in place or when a building is constructed, then Leased fee interests must be placed on a land parcel that is cross-referenced to the leasehold (building) in the external property notes. Think "fees are flat" and "holds are high" (buildings).
Leased Space
Leased space refers to all the space that currently has a financial lease obligation on it. It includes all leased space, regardless of whether the space is currently occupied or not. For example, a sublease opportunity, where the company has moved out of the space but is still paying rent on it, is counted in the leased space totals.
Leasehold Interest
The lessee's interest or position in a lease. Essentially consists of the lessee's use and enjoyment of a property or space for the term of the lease, as long as they pay the rent. Leaseholds are generally the building only. Think "holds are high" and "fees are flat" (land). Leaseholds must have a cross-reference to the Leased Fee Interest in the external property notes. If a party acquires both the leased fee and the leasehold interests the interests are merged and the property is held in fee simple.
Leasing Activity
Leasing activity refers to the volume of square footage that is committed to and actually signed in a given period of time. It includes direct leases, subleases and renewals of existing leases. It also includes any pre-leasing activity in under construction, planned buildings or under renovation buildings.
Legal Description
Every parcel of land that is sold, leased or mortgaged must be properly identified or described. These descriptions are often referred to as legal descriptions. A good legal description is considered to be one that describes no other piece of property but the one in question, in such a way that the land can be positively identified. There are three general methods of describing property: (1) Metes and Bounds; (2) U.S. Government Survey AKA Public Land Survey System; and (3) Lot and Block system.
Also known as Levelors. Steel plates that are moved by auto-hydraulic lifts to level a loading dock with a truck bed. A fully loaded truck may sit 4" to 6" lower than a standard 48" high loading dock, versus an empty truck sitting 4" to 6" higher. The device is used to account for the difference so a forklift can be driven into and out of a truck. A building equipped with multiple loading docks may not have a levelator for each spot.
London Inter Bank Offered Rate - The London Interbank Offered Rate is a daily reference rate based on the interest rates at which banks borrow unsecured funds from other banks in the London wholesale money market (or interbank market).
An encumbrance against real property, typically used to secure payment for a debt, taxes, legal judgment or mortgage. The lien can be made against a specific property or against an owner, making it apply to all properties owned. The lien is a legal document that forces the owner to pay off debts. A lien is most often filed by banks and lenders for mortgage purposes. The property cannot be sold without the lien being removed by the person or organization that placed it. A bank or mortgage lender will file a "certificate of satisfaction" when the mortgage is paid in-full, which removes the lien. Other liens include a "mechanic's lien" which is filed by a contractor or repairman to guarantee payment for services rendered, a "utility lien" which is filed by a utility company (like water/sewer authorities) when their bills are not paid on-time, a "tax lien" which is filed by the local government when taxes are not paid or in the case of apartment buildings, a "wrongful housing lien" which is filed by a government housing authority when the owner fails to maintain the property according to the local housing code. Liens "cloud the title" to a property, making them unattractive to investors or potential buyers. In order to sell the property, all the liens must be removed; thus making the title "free and clear". If they are not removed, the property cannot be legally sold without the debts being paid off first. All liens are arranged in order by the date they were placed. This is called "position". A mortgage, mechanics lien and tax lien would be in first, second and third position, respectively. If the liens are not removed and a property is sold, the proceeds from the sale are applied to all liens. Any remaining money is then given to the seller. Most often, liens are resolved by the owner prior to sale.
Lifestyle Center
An upscale, specialty retail, mainstreet concept shopping center. An open center, usually without anchors, about 300,000 SF GLA or larger, located near affluent neighborhoods, includes upscale retail, trendy restaurants and entertainment retail. Nicely landscaped with convenient parking located close to the stores.
The amount of time, in weeks or months, the listing has been on the market.
Short for Exclusive Listing Agreement -- a contractual agreement between an agent/broker and the owner or tenant to sell a building or land, or lease land or space in a building. Listings may contain numerous availabilities. Listings with tenants are typically for sub-leases.
Listing Available
The total amount of space available (in square feet) in the listing.
Listing Counts
Any space for lease or property for sale.
Load Factor
The Load Factor or Add-On Factor is calculated by dividing the Rentable Building Area by the Usable Area. This factor can then be applied to the Usable area to convert it to RBA for comparison. So in markets were space is leased by the Usable area, if we know the Load Factor is 15%, we can multiply the Usable area by 1.15, which results in the RBA.
Loading Docks
Platforms located either on the interior or exterior of an industrial building. They are mostly level with the floor of a truck in order to allow for loading/unloading of inventory. Other terms used include "dock-high", "tailgate", or "tailboard".
Pre-world war II era, multi-story, industrial type building(s), constructed in an urban setting with an open floor design that was used for small, light manufacturing businesses or warehousing. They have floor-to-ceiling windows and typically a minimum of 12-foot high ceilings. Although renovations in these types of properties may convert the space use from manufacturing/warehousing to office or residential, the building will still maintain the loft style exterior appearance despite the particular use.
The angular distance measured east or west of the prime meridian.