EARNEST MONEY
Down payment made by a purchaser of real estate as evidence of good faith. A deposit or partial payment.

EASEMENT
A right, privilege or interest limited to a specific purpose which one party has in the land of another.

ECONOMIC LIFE
The period over which a property will yield a return on the investment over and above the economic or ground rent due to land.

ECONOMIC OBSOLESCENCE
A loss in value due to factors away from the subject property but adversely affecting the value of the subject property.

ECONOMIC RENT
The reasonable rental expectancy if the property were available for renting at the time of its valuation.

EFFECTIVE AGE OF IMPROVEMENT
The number of years of age that is indicated by the condition of the structure, distinct from chronological age.

EFFECTIVE DATE OF VALUE
The specific day the conclusion of value applies.

EFFECTIVE INTEREST RATE
The percentage of interest that is actually being paid by the borrower for the use of the money, distinct from nominal interest.

EMINENT DOMAIN
The right of the government to acquire property for necessary public or quasi-public use by condition; the owner must be fairly compensated and the right of the private citizen to get paid is spelled out in the 5th Amendment to the United States Constitution.

ENCROACHMENT
An unlawful intrusion onto another's adjacent property by improvements to real property, e.g. a swimming pool built across a property line.

ENCUMBRANCE
Anything which affects or limits the fee simple title to or value of property, e.g., mortgages or easements.

EQUITY
The interest or value which an owner has in real estate over and above the liens against it. Branch of remedial justice by and through which relief is afforded to suitors in courts of equity.

EQUITY BUILD-UP
The increase of owner's equity in property due to mortgage principal reduction and value appreciation.

EQUITY PARTICIPATION
A mortgage transaction in which the lender, in addition to receiving a fixed rate of interest on the loan, acquires an interest in the borrower's real property, and shares in the profits derived from the real property.

EQUITY OF REDEMPTION
The right to redeem property during the foreclosure period, such as a mortgagor's right to redeem within either 3 months or 1 year as may be permitted after foreclosure sale.

EROSION
The wearing away of land by the act of water, wind or glacial ice.

ESCALATION
The right reserved by the lender to increase the amount of the payments and/or interest upon the happening of a certain event.

ESCALATOR CLAUSE
A clause in a contract providing for the upward or downward adjustment of certain items to cover specified contingencies, usually tied to some index or event. Often used in long term leases to provide for rent adjustments, to cover tax and maintenance increases.

ESCHEAT
The reverting of property to the State when heirs capable of inheriting are lacking.

ESCROW
The deposit of instruments and/or funds with instructions with a third neutral party to carry out the provisions of an agreement or contract.

ESCROW AGENT
The neutral third party holding funds or something of value in trust for another or others.

ESTATE
As applied to real estate, the term signifies the quantity of interest, share, right, equity, of which riches or fortune may consist in real property. The degree, quantity, nature and extent of interest which a person has in real property.

ESTATE OF INHERITANCE
An estate which may descend to heirs. All freehold estates are estates of inheritance, except estates for life.

ESTATE FOR LIFE
A possessory, freehold estate in land held by a person only for the duration of his or her life or the life or lives of another.

ESTATE FROM PERIOD TO PERIOD
An interest in land where there is no definite termination date but the rental period is fixed at a certain sum per week, month, or year. Also called a periodic tenancy.

ESTATE AT SUFFERANCE
An estate arising when the tenant wrongfully holds over after the expiration of the term. The landlord has the choice of evicting the tenant as a trespasser or accepting such tenant for a similar term and under the conditions of the tenant's previous holding. Also called a tenancy at sufferance.

ESTATE AT WILL
The occupation of lands and tenements by a tenant for an indefinite period, terminable by one or both parties.

ESTATE FOR YEARS
An interest in lands by virtue of a contract for the possession of them for a definite and limited period of time. May be for a year or less. A lease may be said to be an estate for years.

ESTIMATE
A preliminary opinion of value. Appraise, set a value.

ESTIMATED REMAINING LIFE
The period of time (years) it takes for the improvements to become valueless.

ESTOPPEL
A legal theory under which a person is barred from asserting or denying a fact because of the person's previous acts or words.

ETHICS
That branch of moral science, idealism, justness, and fairness, which treats of the duties which a member of a profession or craft owes to the public, client or partner, and to professional brethren or members. Accepted standards of right and wrong. Moral conduct, behavior or duty.

ET UX
Abbreviation for "et uxor".. Means "and wife".

EVICTION
Dispossession by process of law. The act of depriving a person of the possession of lands in pursuance of the judgment of a court.

EXCEPTIONS
Matters affecting title to a particular parcel of real property which are included from coverage of a title insurance policy.

EXCHANGE
A means of trading equities in two or more real properties, treated as a single transaction through a single escrow.

EXCLUSION
General matters affecting title to real property excluded from coverage of a title insurance policy.

EXCLUSIVE AGENCY LISTING
A listing agreement employing a broker as the sole agent for the seller of real property under the terms of which the broker is entitled to a commission if the property is sold through any other broker, but not if a sale is negotiated by the owner without the services of an agent.

EXCLUSIVE RIGHT TO SELL LISTING
A listing agreement employing a broker to act as agent for the seller of real property under the terms of which the broker is entitled to a commission if the property is sold during the duration of the listing through another broker or by the owner without the services of an agent.

EXECUTE
To complete, to make, to perform, to do, to follow out; to execute a deed, to make a deed, including especially signing, sealing and delivery; to execute a contract is to perform the contract, to follow out to the end, to complete.

EXECUTOR
A man named in a will to carry out its provisions as to the disposition of the estate of a deceased person. (A woman is executrix.)

EXECUTORY CONTRACT
A contract in which something remains to be done by one or both of the parties.

EXPENSES
Certain items which appear on a closing statement in connection with a real estate sale.