REAL ESTATE GLOSSARY

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Implied Warranty of Habitability:	A legal doctrine that requires landlords to offer and maintain livable premises for their tenants. If a landlord fails to provide habitable housing, tenants in most states may legally withhold rent or take other measures, including hiring someone to fix the problem or moving out. See constructive eviction.

Impound Account:	An account held by the lender to which the borrower pays monthly installments, collected as part of the monthly mortgage payment, for annual expenses such as taxes and insurance. The lender disburses impound account funds on behalf of the borrower when they become due. (Also known as Escrow Account.)

Improvements:	Additions intended to increase the value of a property such as buildings, fences, roads, etc.,

Incidents of Ownership:	Any control over property. If you give away property but keep an incident of ownership--for example, you give away an apartment building but retain the right to receive rent--then legally, no gift has been made. This distinction can be important if you're making large gifts to reduce your eventual estate tax.

Income Approach:	An estimate of value based on the monetary returns that a property can be expected to generate; capitalization. Contrast with the cost approach to value and the market data approach to value.

Independent School District:	They do not fall under the direct control of any other local government, and their boundaries are not constrained by any city or county border lines. Each district is run by an elected school board, which appoints a superintendent and sets budgets and tax rates. Only the State has the authority to regulate and oversee the actions of an Independent School District.

Index:	A published rate used by lenders that serves as the basis for determining interest rate changes on ARM loans.

Ingress:	An entrance, or the act of entering. Compare egress.

Initial Rate:	The rate charged during the first interval of an ARM loan.

Inspection:	An examination of a property by the buyer, agent, title insurance company, or other interested party.

Inspection Clause:	A stipulation in an offer to purchase that makes the sale contingent on the findings of a home inspector.

Insurable Title:	A title which a title company will insure.

Interest:	(1) The sum paid in return for the use of money; could be considered rent for the use of money, calculated as a percentage of the remaining balance of the amount borrowed. (2) The type and extent of ownership in property.

Interest Rate Cap:	Consumer safeguards which limit the amount the interest rate on an ARM loan can change in an adjustment interval and/or over the life of the loan. For example, if your per-period cap is 1% and your current rate is 7%, then your newly adjusted rate must fall between 6% and 8% regardless of actual changes in the index.

Interest Rate:	The annual rate of interest on the loan, expressed as a percentage of 100.

Intestate:	Legal designation of a person who has died without leaving a valid will.

Intimidation:	As defined in the fair housing laws, it is the illegal act of coercing, intimidating, threatening, or interfering with a person in exercising or enjoying any right granted or protected by federal, state or local fair housing laws.

Invitee:	A business guest, or someone who enters property held open to members of the public, such as a visitor to a museum. Property owners must protect invitees from dangers on the property. In an example of the perversion of legalese, social guests that you invite into your home are called "licensees."

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