Conventional Life Estate to Corner Influence Table

 

Conventional Life Estate

The conventional life estate is one of two types of non-inheritable freehold (life) estates. The conventional life estate is created by a grantor through a deed, will or trust. There are two types of conventional life estates: ordinary (for the tenant’s life) and pur autre vie (for the life of someone other than the tenant). When the estate ends, the title passes to either a remainder interest or a reversionary interest. Compare with the Legal Life Estate entry.

Conventional Loan

A conventional loan is basically any mortgage loan that is not underwritten (not insured or guaranteed) by the government. Non-conventional loans include FHA, VA and FmHA loans. Note the difference between conventional and conforming loans.

Conventional Roof Frame

The conventional roof frame is the traditional design for roof frames, which uses sloped rafters attached to the central ridge board on one end and to the exterior wall at the other end. Unlike trussed rafters, conventional roof frames connect the paired rafters with horizontal collar beams, to provide additional support and stability.

Conversion Option

With mortgage loans, the conversion option allows borrowers to change programs or amortization. With balloon loans, the conversion option allows the borrower to convert the balloon loan into a standard fixed-rate or ARM loan. With ARM loans, the conversion option also allows the borrower to convert the ARM loan into a fixed-rate loan. Conversion options are primarily offered by conforming loans to borrowers with excellent payment records and normally must be exercised after the end of the first year and before the end of the fifth year. For example, an ARM loan may be converted after the second year into a 28-year fixed-rate loan.

Convertible Debt

See the Convertible Mortgage entry.

Convertible Mortgage

The convertible mortgage loan, sometimes found with commercial real estate projects, is a financing program which contains an option allowing the lender to convert the principal balance of the loan into ownership stake in the property. The lender usually will provide a lower-than-usual interest rate in exchange for this ownership interest. The ownership interest need not be full participation; it could merely be a stake in the operating income or equity appreciation, without full shareholder input. Compare with Shared Appreciation Mortgage entry.

Conveyance

The term conveyance refers to the legal process of transferring a property’s title, usually through a deed of conveyance.

Conveyance Tax

The conveyance tax is a state, county or local government tax charged for a deed conveyance. In some areas, it is called the transfer stamp.

Cookie Cutter Housing

The description “cookie cutter housing” refers to residential developments in which all of the houses look alike. This is a common complaint with many modern subdivisions, although this approach has been used with subdivisions since the turn of the century (and many of those older row house, bungalow and starter home subdivisions are now considered classics). However, it is that uniformity that allows developers to offer houses at lower costs to homebuyers.

Cooling Tower

Commonly associated today with nuclear power plants, cooling towers are actually used in many other facilities. Cooling towers use atmospheric air to remove heat from the cooling water used in many manufacturing and industrial processes. But smaller versions may also be used with HVAC units on commercial buildings. The typical structure of a cooling tower uses gravity and air flow to remove heat from warm water. Cold air is pumped or sprayed from the top. Dry air is then blown through the tower and comes out at the top as moist warm air, having removed the heat from the water. The cooled water is collected at the bottom in collection basins, before being put back in circulation.

Cooperative

The cooperative is a type of corporate ownership in which the stockholders own the entire property and lease the individual units. Unlike condominiums, the residents do not own individual units. Instead, stockholders own the cooperative, and the cooperative owns the building and leases individual units to the cooperative owners. The cooperative is created by an article of incorporation, which then provides the shareholder with a “proprietary lease” that gives the shareholder/tenant a right to occupy a unit in the building.

Coordinate Address System

The coordinate address system is the method used by many cities and metropolitan areas to organize their property addresses and number buildings, using the Cartesian coordinate system. Modern cities, especially in North America, use a grid layout with coordinate addresses, along with a block system. For example, the city of Chicago was rebuilt using the grid layout, and its buildings and property parcels use the coordinate address system. Chicago’s north-south dividing line is Madison Avenue, and each average-sized block adds 100 to the address.

Coping

The architectural term coping refers to types of borders or caps. With older building designs that have parapets on or above the roof line, coping refers to flat tops of the parapet wall. However, coping may also refer to the outer edge of a swimming pool.

Corbel

The corbel is an architectural element or material that extends outward from a wall to support an external load. It is usually a decorative piece of stone, used to support exterior balconies, sills and ledges. When timber is used, it is often called a tassel or a bragger.

Core Factor

See the Add-On Factor entry.

Core Space

The cores space refers to the parts in a building that includes the square footage used for the public corridors, elevators, restrooms, stairways, utility rooms and janitorial closets.

Corinthian Column

The Corinthian column is one that is usually topped with an ornamental capital, often consisting of scrolls, curls and waves. The capital topping the Corinthian capital is typical more decorative than the capital on Ionic or Doric columns.

Corner Bead

The corner bead is reinforcement used for wall corners. It helps prevent dry wall cracking and produces a straighter-looking corner.

Corner Influence

The corner influence refers to the corner (or near-corner) location’s effect on a property’s value. For example, a strip mall will normally charge a higher rate for units located near the outside corner, as corner units will have more visibility than interior units.

Corner Influence Table

The corner influence table is a statistical matrix that developers, investors and leasing agents use when estimating the lease or resale value of a corner location.