Community Trust to Competitive Market Analysis

 

Community Land Trust

The community land trust is a grassroots land management and development model that has spawned over 250 projects throughout the United States, dedicated to preserving or providing affordable housing and promoting community development. In community land trust projects, a non-profit (tax-exempt) corporation owns the land and most other real property in the intended community. The trust then leases or sells parcels in the trust community for homes, sustainable farms and other community needs. Compare with the Cooperative and Equity Sharing entries.

Community Plan

See the Master Plan entry.

Community Property

The community property theory is an ownership concept based in Spanish and French law and applicable in nine states (Arizona, California, Idaho, Louisiana, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Washington and Wisconsin) for property ownership by married couples. This law considers all property acquired during a marriage to be co-owned by both individuals-with no right of survivorship and no recognition of curtesy or dower rights. The exceptions are gifts and inheritance property, which remain solely owned by the receiver. This lack of survivorship rights means that husband and wife each own 50% of their home and assets; when the wife dies, the husband doesn’t receive her assets. Instead, the deceased spouse’s assets must go through probate, unless provisions are made in the will. Compare with Joint Tenants with right of survivorship, Tenants in Entirety and Tenants in Common entries.

Community Reinvestment Act

The Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) is a federal legislation passed to prohibit discrimination and redlining by lenders, by monitoring the efforts of lenders to address the credit needs of their communities. On the positive enforcement side, the law was designed to encourage lenders and banks to serve the needs of all individuals in their community, especially those living in low- and moderate-income neighborhoods that often have few options for banking.

The law instructed federal agencies to consider a bank’s compliance with the CRA before approving that bank’s application for mergers, acquisitions and branch expansions – which has given many banks the incentive they needed to start serving more communities in their markets.

Community Shopping Center

The community shopping center is a mid-range type of retail mall or complex that serves the residents of its neighborhood. The typical community shopping center is anchored by a large grocery store or a small department store. A number of smaller stores join the anchor in the shopping center, to benefit from the foot traffic generated by the anchor. These smaller stores offer products and services that complement the anchor, and include dry cleaners, insurance agencies and even restaurants. This type of shopping center usually contains 150,000 square feet on ten to 35 acres of land.

Commuting Time

The amount of time required to travel between home and work is considered the commuting time. Average commuting time is important for many homebuyers, especially in highly congested areas. Commuting time applies for both drivers and for people using public transportation.

Comp

See the Comparable Property Entry.

Comp Check

The phrase comp check is a mortgage and real estate industry slang for reviewing comparables. Comparables are other recently sold properties that resemble the subject property. An appraiser will provide a thorough investigation and analysis of nearby comparables to determine the value of a subject property. By comparison, real estate agents and investors will often perform a quick comp check to calculate a rough estimate of the probable value of a property.

For example, Laura is considering buying a Cape Cod style home. Her Realtor does a quick comp check of Cape Cod homes in the surrounding community and finds that they are selling in the range of $110,000 to $140,000. That provides Laura with a working estimate of how much that property is probably worth. By comparison, an actual appraisal will go further and compare home sizes, condition, street placement and other amenities (such as garage, patios, etc.) to determine a more precise estimate of the subject property’s value.

Compaction

Compaction is a construction procedure that is sometimes necessary with site development to ensure that the soil is adequate to hold the planned building or improvements. This is especially true when soil is added to a lot. Non-compacted soil can shift and settle, which can damage any improvements built on it.

Comparable

See the Comparable Property Entry.

Comparable Property

Comparable properties are used by appraisers as a comparison tool to determine the value of a subject property. When developing the appraisal report, the appraiser will gather and analyze comparable properties to determine the estimated market value of the subject property. Comparable properties must be similar in structure and nearby to the subject property, as well as having sold or listed for sale recently.

Comparative Market Approach

The comparative market approach is one of the most common approaches used to estimate the value of a property. This appraisal method compares the subject property’s features with the price and features of comparable properties. By making adjustments to the prevalent sales prices of comparable properties-which adjustments are based on significant feature difference between the subject and the comparable-the appraiser can arrive for an estimated fair market value for the subject property.

Compartmentalization

In modern fire safety theory, compartmentalization is recommended as an effective method of passive fire protection. Compartmentalization creates divisions, whether in buildings, ships, traffic tunnels or submarines that can slow the spread of fire, gas or smoke. Compartmentalization will not fully prevent the spread of flames or smoke, but it can give individuals more time to escape or survive it. For example, fire doors that shut automatically or are closed by default, along with insulated walls can help to slow the spread of flames and smoke. Compartmentalization is a key element in commercial property design and development today.

Compensating Factor

In the mortgage loan industry, a compensating factor is an element of consideration used to offset loan underwriting problems. For example, if an applicant has very high debt-to-income ratios, the underwriter may still approve the loan if the applicant offers compensating factors such as excellent credit, employment stability or high level of reserve assets.

Competition Principle

The theory of competition principle is a concept used in the appraisal of real estate, especially with income-generating investment properties. This principle assumes that profit creates competition, and that big profits generate even more aggressive competition, which can have negative long-term effects on the local market. Similar principles that are taken into consideration when appraising real estate are the principles of anticipation, change, conformity and surplus productivity.

Competitive Market Analysis (CMA)

The competitive market analysis is a method used by many real estate agents to arrive at an estimated market value for a property. The CMA approach is not as concise as the standard appraisal.