Different Types of Real Estate

Real estate is real property consisting of the dwellings and other buildings on it, and its accompanying natural resources like water, plants or metals; immovable property not adjoining the dwelling of a person, buildings or residential real estate; a lien vested upon the same, for the payment of money, whether on a capital or mortgage principle, or as partial compensation for the use, enjoyment, use or support of the real estate. Real estate includes all real possessions transferred to the owner from any predecessor in title, whether by inheritance or bequest or devise of property. Within the meaning of the word, real estate includes the real constructions now in use or under construction.

Real estate is of three main categories, namely: residential real property, which includes: mortgages and deeds of trust executed upon mortgages; co-ownership, which includes: mortgages and deeds of trust executed upon co-ownerships; vacant land, which includes: undeveloped land not used for any development, which may be used exclusively for agricultural purposes; barns, fencing, haystacks, horse boxes, mobile homes and snow sheds. These main categories of real estate include several others, especially those that have special significance only in certain areas or for a particular purpose. Within the residential category are: single family residences, condominiums, townhouses, apartment buildings, pre-construction buildings, manufacturing facilities, mobile homes, manufactured home parks, specialty lands and easements. Within the condominiums category are: cooperative homes, townhouses, condominiums with attached pools and land, single-family dwellings and condos with attached garages. Within the apartment building category are: privately owned residential spaces, row houses and cooperative houses.

The main categories of real estate do not indicate the degree of equity or price appreciation in the underlying real property but simply the legal titles by which the real estate is held. The process of transferring or selling the real estate does not start with the classification of the real estate as one of the main categories of real property. Rather, it begins with the initial application for the mortgage, which needs to be accompanied by an evaluation of the real estate by a qualified appraiser. Upon acceptance of the mortgage, the title to the real estate passes through the hands of the lender until it is sold either publicly or privately.