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'Real estate' or immovable property is a legal term (in some jurisdictions) that encompasses land along with anything permanently affixed to the land, such as buildings. Real estate (immovable property) is often considered synonymous with 'real property' (also sometimes called ''realty''), in contrast with personal property (also sometimes called ''chattel'' or ''personalty''). However, for technical purposes, some people prefer to distinguish real estate, referring to the land and fixtures themselves, from real property, referring to ownership rights over real estate.
The terms ''real estate'' and ''real property'' are used primarily in common law, while civil law jurisdictions refer instead to immovable property.

Contents

Etymology

British, French, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish usages of the term

Business sector

Levels

Mortgages in real estate

Real estate in Mexico and Central America

See also

References

Etymology

In law, the word ''real'' means relating to a thing (from Latin ''/rei'', thing), as distinguished from a person. Thus the law broadly distinguishes between "real" property (land and anything affixed to it) and "personal" property (everything else, e.g., clothing, furniture, money). The conceptual difference was between immovable property, which would transfer title along with the land, and movable property, which a person would retain title to. (The word is not derived from the notion of land having historically been "royal" property. The word ''royal'' — and its Portuguese cognate ''real'' — come from the related Latin word ''-regis,'' meaning king.)

British, French, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish usages of the term

In British usage, however, “real property”, often shortened to just “property”, refers rather to land and fixtures as such while the term “real estate” is used mostly in the context of probate law, and means all interests in land held by a deceased person at death excluding interests in money arising under a trust for sale of or charged on land.^[1]
In French, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish, real estate is called "immovables" (''immobilier'' in French, ''immobili'' in Italian, ''imóvel'' in Portuguese and ''inmueble'' in Spanish); other property is called "movables" (''mobilier'' and ''mueble'').

Business sector

With the development of private property ownership, real estate has become a major area of business. Purchasing real estate requires a significant investment, and each parcel of land has unique characteristics, so the real estate industry has evolved into several distinct fields. Specialists are often called on to valuate real estate and facilitate transactions. Some kinds of real estate businesses include:

★ Appraisal - Professional valuation services

★ Brokerages - Assisting buyers and sellers in transactions

★ Development - Improving land for use by adding or replacing buildings

★ Property management - Managing a property for its owner(s)

★ Real Estate Marketing - Managing the sales side of the property business

★ Real Estate Investing - Managing the investment of real estate

★ Relocation services - Relocating people or business to a different country
Within each field, a business may specialize in a particular type of real estate, such as residential, commercial, or industrial property. In addition, almost all construction business effectively has a connection to real estate.
"Internet Real Estate" is a term coined by the internet investment community relating to the parallel that exists between high quality internet domain names and real-world, prime real estate. Many internet companies actually use the address of properties as domain names.

Levels

According to ''The Economist'', "developed economies'" assets at the end of 2002 was

★ Residential property: $48 trillion

★ Commercial property: $14 trillion

★ Equities: $20 trillion

★ Government bonds: $20 trillion

★ Corporate bonds: $13 trillion

★ Total: $115 trillion
That makes real estate assets 54% and financial assets 46% of total stocks, bonds, and real estate assets. Assets not counted here are bank deposits, insurance "reserve" assets, and human assets; also it is not clear if all debt and equity investments are counted in the categories equities and bonds. For US asset levels see FRB: Z.1 Release-- Flow of Funds Accounts of the United States.

Mortgages in real estate

In recent years, many economists have recognized that the lack of effective real estate laws can be a significant barrier to investment in many developing countries. In most societies, rich or poor, a significant fraction of the total wealth is in the form of land and buildings.
In most advanced economies, the main source of capital used by individuals and small companies to purchase and improve land and buildings is mortgage loans (or other instruments). These are loans for which the real property itself constitutes collateral. Banks are willing to make such loans at favorable rates in large part because, if the borrower does not make payments, the lender can foreclose by filing a court action which allows them take back the property and sell it to get their money back. For investors, profitability can be enhanced by using an off plan or pre-construction strategy to purchase at a lower price which is often the case in the pre-construction phase of development.
But in many developing countries there is no effective means by which a lender could foreclose, so the mortgage loan industry, as such, either does not exist at all or is only available to members of privileged social classes.

Real estate in Mexico and Central America

Real estate in Mexico and Central America is different from the way that it is conducted in the United States.
Some similarities include a variety of legal formalities, (with professionals such as real estate agents generally employed to assist the buyer); taxes need to be paid (but typically less than those in U.S.); legal paperwork will ensure title; and a neutral party such as a title company will handle documentation and monies in order to smoothly make the exchange between the parties. Increasingly, US title companies are doing work for US buyers in Mexico and Central America.
Prices are often much cheaper than most areas of the U.S., but in many locations prices of houses and lots are as expensive as the US, one example being Mexico City. U.S. banks have begun to give home loans for properties in Mexico, but, so far, not for other Central American countries.
One important difference from the United States is that each country has rules regarding where foreigners can buy. For example, in Mexico, they cannot buy land or homes within 50km of the coast or 100km from a border, while, in Honduras, they may buy beach front property. There are also different special rules regarding certain types of property: ''ejidos'' - communally held farm property - cannot be sold to anyone, but that does not prevent them from being offered for sale.
Many websites advertising and selling Mexican and Central American real estate exist, but they may need to be researched.

See also

★ Neighborhood Watch

★ Housing bubble

★ List of real estate topics

★ Property rights

★ Real estate broker (in the USA) and Estate agent (in the UK)

★ Buyer brokerage (in the USA)

★ Buying agent (in the UK)

★ Real estate appraisal

★ Real estate economics

★ Real estate pricing

★ Real estate trends

★ Real property

★ 1031 exchange, IRC 1031 Tax-Deferred Exchange

★ Real estate transfer tax

References

1. ''Oxford Dictionary of Law'' (4th edition), New York: Oxford University Press, 1997; See also Estate in land