Glossary of Terms - Select Appropriate Category to View Additional Data
Definitions are referenced from various governmental real estate sites,
IAAO Gantt Chart
A form of bar chart used in project management. Each element (task) of a project
is represented by a horizontal bar. The bars are placed on the chart according to
a time scale. The left end of each bar indicates when the task is to begin. The
length of each bar indicates the duration of the task. The right end of each bar
indicates when the task is to be completed.
General Equilibrium Analysis
An economic analysis that attempts to understand how resources should be allocated
to maximize a society's welfare.
General Tax Policy
Any purposeful course of action by governmental bodies that affects or determines
the way taxes are created, levied, collected, or spent.
General Warranty Deed
The most common type of deed, a general warranty deed, implicitly promises that
(1) the grantor owns the property and may convey title, (2) there are no hidden
liens against the property, (3) no one else has better
title to the property, (4)
the grantor will obtain and deliver any documents needed to make good the transfer,
and (5) the grantor will be liable for damages if future competing claims to the
property prove valid.
Geocoding
Geographical referencing or coding of data.
Geodesy
(1) The science concerned with determining the size and shape of the earth. (2)
The science that locates positions on the earth and determines the earth's gravity
field.
Geographic Information System (GIS)
(1) A database management system used to store, retrieve, manipulate, analyze, and
display spatial information. (2) One type of computerized mapping system capable
of integrating spatial data (land information) and attribute data among different layers on a base map.
Geographical Specialization
Specialization of personnel, especially appraisers, by region rather than by type
of property. Compare functional specialization.
Geoid
A theoretical figure of the earth using a continuous surface that is perpendicular
at every point to the direction of gravity. The geoid would coincide with the ocean
surface if the latter were undisturbed and affected only by the earth's gravity
field.
Geometric Mean
A measure of central tendency computed by multiplying the values of all of the observations
by one another and then taking the result to an exponent equal to one divided by
the number of observations. The geometric mean is particularly appropriate when
a typical rate of change is being calculated, such as an inflation rate or a cost
index. GIM-See gross income multiplier.
Geometrical Transformations
Adjustments made in image data to change its geometric (spatial) character.
Ginnie Mae
Government National Mortgage Association.
Global Positioning System (GPS)
A navigational and positioning system by which the location of a position on or
above the earth can be determined by a special receiver at that point interpreting
signals received simultaneously from several of a constellation of special satellites.
Going-Concern Value
The enhanced or synergistic value of assets due to their existence within, or assemblage
into, an operating and economically viable business that is expected to continue
its operation in the future with no intention or necessity of liquidation or the
material alteration of the scale of operation.
Goodness-of-Fit Statistics
Statistics used in multiple regression analysis and other kinds of statistical modeling
to express the amount, and hence the importance, of the errors or residuals for
all the predicted and actual values of a variable.
Goodwill
The economic advantage over competitors that a business has acquired by virtue of
habitual patronage of customers.
Government National Mortgage Association (GNMA)
A government-owned and government-financed agency that subsidizes mortgages through
its secondary mortgage market and issues federally insured mortgage-backed securities.
This agency falls within the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Government Survey
A ground survey authorized by the Continental Congress in 1775 and by subsequent
acts; conducted in Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, and all states (except Texas)
north of the Ohio or west of the Mississippi, in which the land was divided into
townships approximately six miles square, each township normally containing thirty-six
sections and each section normally containing 640 acres. See also Public Land Survey
System.
Grade
See quality class.
Grantee
One who acquires property by voluntary conveyance.
Grantor
One who voluntarily conveys property, whether by sale, gift, lease, or otherwise.
Graticule
A network of lines on a map representing geographic parallels and meridians.
Green Buildings
Buildings that incorporate practices said to help the environment, reduce energy
use and costs by energy-efficient design, contribute to a healthier and more pleasant
environment for occupants, contribute to increased productivity, and experience
faster leasing at more favorable rates for the lessor.
Grid
(1) A network composed of two families of lines such that a pair of lines, one from
each family, intersects in no more than two points. (2) In geodesy, a grid composed
of two sets of uniformly spaced straight lines intersecting at right angles (derived
from a square Cartesian coordinate system).
Grid Tick
A very short line (tick) drawn perpendicularly to the neat line of a map, to indicate
a point on the neat line through which a line of a grid would pass if drawn. Grid
ticks come in pairs, one on each of two opposite neat lines.
GRM
Gross rent multiplier.
Gross Income Multiplier (GIM)
A capitalization technique that uses the ratio between the sale price of a property
and its potential gross income or its effective gross income. Once calculated for
several similar assets, a GIM may be multiplied against the income of a property
to obtain an estimate of value.
Gross Leasable Area
All area within the outside walls, including lobbies, washrooms, janitor's closets,
and so on, but excluding building stairs, fire towers, elevator shafts, flues, vents,
stacks, pipe shafts, and vertical ducts if they serve more than one floor.
Gross Rent Multiplier (GRM)
(1) The factor by which gross rent is multiplied in order
to obtain an estimate
of value (2) The ratio between sale price and potential gross income or effective
gross income. By convention, the gross rent multiplier is typically the term used
when developing the relationship based on monthly rent.
Ground Area of Building
The total area included at mean grade level within the outside surfaces of the exterior walls and the center lines of party walls, not including the area under open porches
or steps or in courts or shafts. Compare cubic content of building; floor area of
building.
Ground Rent
