America's Real Estate Academy, Inc.

rights of an owner to an estate or real property. A record that establishes the rights of ownership.

is purchased by mortgage companies or lenders when securing a loan to insure that the title is free from reasonable doubt as to who the true owner is; free from the probable claims of others.

Real estate professionals should advise their clients that the insurance issued at closing is for the benefit of the lender not the homeowner. A separate policy would be required to be purchased for the homeowner.

the process of verifying the ownership of real estate.

system for the registration of real estate which requires the issuance of "certificate of title" by the government that conclusively establishes the property’s ownership. It is available in only a handful of states – Georgia being one of them – however, it is rarely used.

is a manufacturing style of real estate housing usually having a shared common wall between two units. It is not a form of ownership.

any item added or installed by a tenant of a lease to the real property that is removed by the tenant prior to the end of the lease.

A fee paid for the privilege of transferring ownership of the property. The tax rate in GA is $.10 for each $100 (or fraction thereof) of price paid minus any assumed mortgages.

is one of the four essential characteristics that must be present for any product to have value. Transferability refers to the ability to transfer the unrestricted use or ownership of the product to another individual. Without this quality, there would be limited or no “exchange value” potential for the product.

The four essential characteristics or elements of value are: Demand, Utility, Scarcity, and Transferability – a useful tool to remember them is the acronym DUST.