Terms Used In Virginia Code > Title 54.1 > Subtitle II > Chapter 20.1 - Real Estate Appraisers

• Amendment: A proposal to alter the text of a pending bill or other measure by striking out some of it, by inserting new language, or both. Before an amendment becomes part of the measure, thelegislature must agree to it.
• analysis: is a study of real estate or real property other than estimating value. See Virginia Code 54.1-2009
• Answer: The formal written statement by a defendant responding to a civil complaint and setting forth the grounds for defense.
• Applicant: means any and all persons seeking or holding a permit required under this chapter. See Virginia Code 10.1-1400
• Appraisal: A determination of property value.
• Appraisal: means an analysis, opinion, or conclusion relating to the nature, quality, value, or utility of specified interests in, or aspects of, identified real estate or identified real property. See Virginia Code 54.1-2009
• Appraisal report: means any communications, written or oral, of an appraisal. See Virginia Code 54.1-2009
• Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
• Blighted property: means any property that endangers the public health or safety in its condition at the time of the filing of the petition for condemnation and is (i) a public nuisance or (ii) an individual commercial, industrial, or residential structure or improvement that is beyond repair or unfit for human occupancy or use. See Virginia Code 1-219.1
• Board: means the Real Estate Appraiser Board. See Virginia Code 54.1-2009
• Board: means the Virginia Waste Management Board. See Virginia Code 10.1-1400
• board of supervisors: shall be construed as meaning "governing body. See Virginia Code 36-47
• Certified general real estate appraiser: means an individual who meets the requirements for licensure that relate to the appraisal of all types of real estate and real property and is licensed as a certified general real estate appraiser. See Virginia Code 54.1-2009
• Certified residential real estate appraiser: means an individual who meets the requirements for licensure for the appraisal of (i) all types of real estate and real property that a licensed residential real estate appraiser is permitted to appraise and (ii) such other real estate and real property as the Board, by regulation, may permit. See Virginia Code 54.1-2009
• City: means any city or town in the Commonwealth. See Virginia Code 36-55.26
• City: means an independent incorporated community which became a city as provided by law before noon on July 1, 1971, or which has within defined boundaries a population of 5,000 or more and which has become a city as provided by law. See Virginia Code 1-208
• Composting: means the manipulation of the natural aerobic process of decomposition of organic materials to increase the rate of decomposition. See Virginia Code 10.1-1400
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
• Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
• County: means any county in the Commonwealth. See Virginia Code 36-55.26
• county: shall be construed as meaning "municipality" and the terms "county housing authority" and "regional housing authority" shall be construed as meaning "housing authority of the city" and "consolidated housing authority" respectively, unless a different meaning clearly appears from the context. See Virginia Code 36-47
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Deed: The legal instrument used to transfer title in real property from one person to another.
• Department: means the Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation. See Virginia Code 54.1-2009
• Department: means the Department of Environmental Quality. See Virginia Code 10.1-1400
• Director: means the Director of the Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation. See Virginia Code 54.1-2009
• Director: means the Director of the Department of Environmental Quality. See Virginia Code 10.1-1400
• Disclosure statement: means a sworn statement or affirmation, in such form as may be required by the Director, which includes:

  1. See Virginia Code 10.1-1400

• Disposal: means the discharge, deposit, injection, dumping, spilling, leaking, or placing of any solid waste into or on any land or water so that such solid waste or any constituent thereof may enter the environment or be emitted into the air or discharged into any waters, including ground waters. See Virginia Code 10.1-1400
• Economically mixed project: means residential housing or housing development, which may consist of one or more buildings located on contiguous or noncontiguous parcels that the HDA determines to finance as a single economically mixed project, to be occupied by persons and families of low and moderate income and by other persons and families as the HDA shall determine. See Virginia Code 36-55.26
• Equitable: Pertaining to civil suits in "equity" rather than in "law." In English legal history, the courts of "law" could order the payment of damages and could afford no other remedy. See damages. A separate court of "equity" could order someone to do something or to cease to do something. See, e.g., injunction. In American jurisprudence, the federal courts have both legal and equitable power, but the distinction is still an important one. For example, a trial by jury is normally available in "law" cases but not in "equity" cases. ^{Source: U.S. Courts}
• Escrow: Money given to a third party to be held for payment until certain conditions are met.
• Evaluation: means an opinion of the market value of real property or real estate that may be utilized in connection with a real estate-related financial transaction where an appraisal by a state-certified or state-licensed appraiser is not required by the state or federal financial institution's regulatory agency engaging in, contracting for, or regulating such real estate-related financial transaction or regulating the financial institution or lender engaged in or about to engage in such real estate-related financial transaction. See Virginia Code 54.1-2009
• Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
• Federal government: means the United States of America or any agency or instrumentality, corporate or otherwise, of the United States of America. See Virginia Code 36-55.26
• Federal Reserve System: The central bank of the United States. The Fed, as it is commonly called, regulates the U.S. monetary and financial system. The Federal Reserve System is composed of a central governmental agency in Washington, D.C. (the Board of Governors) and twelve regional Federal Reserve Banks in major cities throughout the United States. ^{Source: OCC}
• Federally related transaction: means any real estate-related financial transaction which:

  1. See Virginia Code 54.1-2009

• Fee simple: Absolute title to property with no limitations or restrictions regarding the person who may inherit it.
• Fiscal year: The fiscal year is the accounting period for the government. For the federal government, this begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, fiscal year 2006 begins on October 1, 2005 and ends on September 30, 2006.
• Foreclosure: A legal process in which property that is collateral or security for a loan may be sold to help repay the loan when the loan is in default. ^{Source: OCC}
• Forgery: The fraudulent signing or alteration of another's name to an instrument such as a deed, mortgage, or check. The intent of the forgery is to deceive or defraud. ^{Source: OCC}
• Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
• Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
• Hazardous waste: means a solid waste or combination of solid waste that because of its quantity, concentration or physical, chemical, or infectious characteristics may:

  1. See Virginia Code 10.1-1400

• HDA: means the Virginia Housing Development Authority created and established pursuant to § Virginia Code 36-55.26
• Household hazardous waste: means any waste material derived from households (including single and multiple residences, hotels, motels, bunkhouses, ranger stations, crew quarters, campgrounds, picnic grounds, and day-use recreation areas) which, except for the fact that it is derived from a household, would be classified as a hazardous waste, including nickel, cadmium, mercuric oxide, manganese, zinc-carbon or lead batteries; solvent-based paint, paint thinner, paint strippers, or other paint solvents; any product containing trichloroethylene, toxic art supplies, used motor oil and unusable gasoline or kerosene, fluorescent or high intensity light bulbs, ammunition, fireworks, banned pesticides, or restricted-use pesticides as defined in § Virginia Code 10.1-1400
• Housing lender: means any bank or trust company, mortgage banker approved by the Federal National Mortgage Association, savings bank, national banking association, savings and loan association or building and loan association, mortgage broker, mortgage company, mortgage lender, life insurance company, credit union, agency or authority of the Commonwealth or any other state, or locality authorized to finance housing loans on properties located in or outside of the Commonwealth to persons and families of any income. See Virginia Code 36-55.26
• Housing sponsor: means individuals, joint ventures, partnerships, limited partnerships, public bodies, trusts, firms, associations, or other legal entities or any combination thereof, corporations, cooperatives and condominiums, approved by HDA as qualified either to own, construct, acquire, rehabilitate, operate, manage or maintain a housing development whether nonprofit or organized for limited profit subject to the regulatory powers of HDA and other terms and conditions set forth in this chapter. See Virginia Code 36-55.26
• in writing: include any representation of words, letters, symbols, numbers, or figures, whether (i) printed or inscribed on a tangible medium or (ii) stored in an electronic or other medium and retrievable in a perceivable form and whether an electronic signature authorized by Virginia Code 1-257
• Includes: means includes, but not limited to. See Virginia Code 1-218
• Indemnification: In general, a collateral contract or assurance under which one person agrees to secure another person against either anticipated financial losses or potential adverse legal consequences. ^{Source: FDIC}
• inhabitants: means with reference to any county, city, town, political subdivision of the Commonwealth or any combination thereof, the natural persons in such county, city, town, political subdivision or combination as shown by the unadjusted United States decennial census last preceding the time at which any provision dependent upon population is being applied or the time as of which it is being construed. See Virginia Code 1-235
• Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
• key personnel: includes all key personnel of that entity, provided that where such entity is a chartered lending institution or a reporting company under the Federal Securities Exchange Act of 1934, "key personnel" does not include key personnel of such entity. See Virginia Code 10.1-1400
• Land development: means the process of acquiring land for residential housing construction, and of making, installing, or constructing nonresidential housing improvements, including, without limitation, waterlines and water supply installations, sewer lines and sewage disposal and treatment installations, steam, gas and electric lines and installations, roads, streets, curbs, gutters, sidewalks, storm drainage facilities, other related pollution control facilities, and other installations or works, whether on or off the site, which HDA deems necessary or desirable to prepare such land primarily for residential housing construction within the Commonwealth. See Virginia Code 36-55.26
• Lease: A contract transferring the use of property or occupancy of land, space, structures, or equipment in consideration of a payment (e.g., rent). ^{Source: OCC}
• Liabilities: The aggregate of all debts and other legal obligations of a particular person or legal entity.
• Licensed residential real estate appraiser: means an individual who meets the requirements for licensure for the appraisal of any residential real estate or real property of one to four family residential units as the Board, by regulation, may permit, and such other real estate and real property as the Board, by regulation, may permit. See Virginia Code 54.1-2009
• Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
• Loan servicer: means any person who, on behalf of a housing lender, collects or receives payments, including payments of principal, interest, escrow amounts, and other amounts due, on obligations due and owing to the housing lender pursuant to a residential mortgage loan or who, when the borrower is in default or in foreseeable likelihood of default, works on behalf of the housing lender with the borrower to modify or refinance, either temporarily or permanently, the obligations in order to avoid foreclosure or otherwise to finalize collection through the foreclosure process. See Virginia Code 36-55.26
• Locality: means a county, city, or town as the context may require. See Virginia Code 1-221
• Month: means a calendar month and "year" means a calendar year. See Virginia Code 1-223
• Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
• Mortgage: means a mortgage deed, deed of trust, or other security instrument which shall constitute a lien in the Commonwealth on improvements and real property in fee simple, on a leasehold under a lease having a remaining term, which at the time such mortgage is acquired does not expire for at least that number of years beyond the maturity date of the interest-bearing obligation secured by such mortgage as is equal to the number of years remaining until the maturity date of such obligation or on personal property, contract rights or other assets. See Virginia Code 36-55.26
• Mortgage lender: means any bank or trust company, mortgage banker approved by the Federal National Mortgage Association, savings bank, national banking association, savings and loan association, or building and loan association, life insurance company, the federal government or other financial institutions or government agencies which are authorized to and customarily provide service or otherwise aid in the financing of mortgages on residential housing located in the Commonwealth for persons and families of low or moderate income. See Virginia Code 36-55.26
• Mortgage loan: A loan made by a lender to a borrower for the financing of real property. ^{Source: OCC}
• Mortgage loan: means an interest-bearing obligation secured by a mortgage. See Virginia Code 36-55.26
• Mortgagor: The person who pledges property to a creditor as collateral for a loan and who receives the money.
• Multifamily residential housing: means residential housing other than single-family residential housing, as hereinafter defined. See Virginia Code 36-55.26
• Municipality: means any city, town, county, or other political subdivision of the Commonwealth. See Virginia Code 36-55.26
• municipality: as used in this chapter shall mean any county, city or town in the Commonwealth. See Virginia Code 36-47
• National Credit Union Administration: The federal regulatory agency that charters and supervises federal credit unions. (NCUA also administers the National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund, which insures the deposits of federal credit unions.) ^{Source: OCC}
• Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
• Open dump: means a site on which any solid waste is placed, discharged, deposited, injected, dumped, or spilled so as to create a nuisance or present a threat of a release of harmful substances into the environment or present a hazard to human health. See Virginia Code 10.1-1400
• Partnership: A voluntary contract between two or more persons to pool some or all of their assets into a business, with the agreement that there will be a proportional sharing of profits and losses.
• Person: includes an individual, corporation, partnership, association, governmental body, municipal corporation, or any other legal entity. See Virginia Code 10.1-1400
• Person: includes any individual, corporation, partnership, association, cooperative, limited liability company, trust, joint venture, government, political subdivision, or any other legal or commercial entity and any successor, representative, agent, agency, or instrumentality thereof. See Virginia Code 1-230
• Personal property: All property that is not real property.
• Persons and families of low and moderate income: means persons and families, irrespective of race, creed, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, or gender identity, determined by the HDA to require such assistance as is made available by this chapter on account of insufficient personal or family income taking into consideration, without limitation, such factors as follows: (i) the amount of the total income of such persons and families available for housing needs, (ii) the size of the family, (iii) the cost and condition of housing facilities available, (iv) the ability of such persons and families to compete successfully in the normal private housing market and to pay the amounts at which private enterprise is providing sanitary, decent and safe housing, and (v) if appropriate, standards established for various federal programs determining eligibility based on income of such persons and families. See Virginia Code 36-55.26
• Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
• Pleadings: Written statements of the parties in a civil case of their positions. In the federal courts, the principal pleadings are the complaint and the answer.
• Process: includes subpoenas, the summons and complaint in a civil action, and process in statutory actions. See Virginia Code 1-237
• Quorum: The number of legislators that must be present to do business.
• Real estate: means an identified parcel or tract of land, including improvements thereon, if any. See Virginia Code 54.1-2009
• real estate: includes lands, tenements and hereditaments, and all rights and appurtenances thereto and interests therein, other than a chattel interest. See Virginia Code 1-219
• Real estate-related financial transaction: means any transaction involving:

  1. See Virginia Code 54.1-2009

• Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
• Real property: means all lands, including improvements and fixtures thereon, and property of any nature appurtenant thereto, or used in connection therewith, and every estate, interest and right, legal or equitable, therein, including terms for years and liens by way of judgment, mortgage or otherwise and the indebtedness secured by such liens. See Virginia Code 36-55.26
• Real property: means one or more defined interests, benefits or rights inherent in the ownership of real estate. See Virginia Code 54.1-2009
• Recycling residue: means the (i) nonmetallic substances, including plastic, rubber, and insulation, that remain after a shredder has separated for purposes of recycling the ferrous and nonferrous metal from a motor vehicle, appliance, or other discarded metallic item and (ii) organic waste remaining after removal of metals, glass, plastics, and paper that are to be recycled as part of a resource recovery process for municipal solid waste resulting in the production of a refuse derived fuel. See Virginia Code 10.1-1400
• Regulation: means any regulations promulgated by the Real Estate Appraiser Board pursuant to the Administrative Process Act (§ Virginia Code 54.1-2009
• Remainder: An interest in property that takes effect in the future at a specified time or after the occurrence of some event, such as the death of a life tenant.
• Residential housing: means a specific work or improvement within the Commonwealth, whether multifamily residential housing or single-family residential housing undertaken primarily to provide dwelling accommodations, including the acquisition, construction, rehabilitation, preservation or improvement of land, buildings and improvements thereto, for residential housing, and such other nonhousing facilities as may be incidental, related, or appurtenant thereto. See Virginia Code 36-55.26
• Resource conservation: means reduction of the amounts of solid waste that are generated, reduction of overall resource consumption, and utilization of recovered resources. See Virginia Code 10.1-1400
• Resource recovery: means the recovery of material or energy from solid waste. See Virginia Code 10.1-1400
• Sanitary landfill: means a disposal facility for solid waste so located, designed, and operated that it does not pose a substantial present or potential hazard to human health or the environment, including pollution of air, land, surface water, or ground water. See Virginia Code 10.1-1400
• Service of process: The service of writs or summonses to the appropriate party.
• Settlement: Parties to a lawsuit resolve their difference without having a trial. Settlements often involve the payment of compensation by one party in satisfaction of the other party's claims.
• Single-family residential housing: means residential housing consisting of four or fewer dwelling units, the person or family owning or intending to acquire such dwelling units, upon completion of the construction, rehabilitation, or improvement thereof, also occupying or intending to occupy one of such dwelling units. See Virginia Code 36-55.26
• Solid waste: means any garbage, refuse, sludge, and other discarded material, including solid, liquid, semisolid, or contained gaseous material, resulting from industrial, commercial, mining, and agricultural operations, or community activities, but does not include (i) solid or dissolved material in domestic sewage; (ii) solid or dissolved material in irrigation return flows or in industrial discharges that are sources subject to a permit from the State Water Control Board; (iii) source, special nuclear, or by-product material as defined by the Federal Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended; or (iv) post-use polymers or recovered feedstocks that are (a) processed at an advanced recycling facility or (b) held at or held for the purpose of conversion at such advanced recycling facility prior to conversion. See Virginia Code 10.1-1400
• Solid waste management facility: means a site used for planned treating, long-term storage, or disposing of solid waste. See Virginia Code 10.1-1400
• State: when applied to a part of the United States, includes any of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the United States Virgin Islands. See Virginia Code 1-245
• state agency: means the same as that term is defined in § Virginia Code 1-206
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
• Testify: Answer questions in court.
• Town: means any existing town or an incorporated community within one or more counties which became a town before noon, July 1, 1971, as provided by law or which has within defined boundaries a population of 1,000 or more and which has become a town as provided by law. See Virginia Code 1-254
• transportation: means any movement of property and any packing, loading, or unloading or storage incidental thereto. See Virginia Code 10.1-1400
• Treatment: means any method, technique, or process, including incineration or neutralization, designed to change the physical, chemical, or biological character or composition of any waste to neutralize it or to render it less hazardous or nonhazardous, safer for transport, amenable to recovery or storage, or reduced in volume. See Virginia Code 10.1-1400
• United States: includes the 50 states, the District of Columbia the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands and the United States Virgin Islands. See Virginia Code 1-255
• Usury: Charging an illegally high interest rate on a loan. ^{Source: OCC}
• valuation: is a n estimate of the value of real estate or real property. See Virginia Code 54.1-2009
• Vegetative waste: means decomposable materials generated by yard and lawn care or land-clearing activities and includes, but is not limited to, leaves, grass trimmings, and woody wastes such as shrub and tree prunings, bark, limbs, roots, and stumps. See Virginia Code 10.1-1400
• Waste: means any solid, hazardous, or radioactive waste as defined in this section. See Virginia Code 10.1-1400
• Waste management: means the collection, source separation, storage, transportation, transfer, processing, treatment, and disposal of waste or resource recovery. See Virginia Code 10.1-1400
• Yard waste: means decomposable waste materials generated by yard and lawn care and includes leaves, grass trimmings, brush, wood chips, and shrub and tree trimmings. See Virginia Code 10.1-1400