English Country Houses

 

An English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a city house. This allowed them to spend time in the country and in the city—hence, for these people, the term distinguished between town and country. However, the term also encompasses houses that were, and often still are, the full-time residence for the landed gentry. These people were central to the squirearchy that ruled rural Britain until the Reform Act 1832.^[1] Frequently, the formal business of the counties was transacted in these country houses.
With large numbers of indoor and outdoor staff, country houses were important as places of employment for many rural communities. In turn, until the agricultural depressions of 1870s, the estates, of which country houses were the hub, provided their owners with incomes. However, the late 19th and early 20th centuries were the swan song of the traditional English country house lifestyle. Increased taxation and the results of World War I led to the demolition of hundreds of houses; those that remained had to adapt to survive.
While a château or a schloss can be a fortified or unfortified building, a country house is usually unfortified. If fortified, it is called a castle.

United states

 

United States

In the United States: Long Island, Bar Harbor on Mount Desert Island, and other affluent East Coast enclaves; the San Francisco Bay Area, early Beverly Hills, California, Montecito, California and other affluent West Coast enclaves; all had strong traditions of large agricultural, grazing, and productive estates modeled on those in Europe. However, after the Great Depression and World War II, by the late 1940s and early 1950s many were demolished and subdivided, in some cases resulting in suburban villages named for the former owners, as in Baxter Estates, New York.
Today large houses on at least several acres are often referred to as "estates", in a contemporary updating of the word's usage. In some real estate ventures however, the term's application is stretched, as in Jamaica Estates, Queens and others.
 

Estate

 

An estate comprises the houses and outbuildings and supporting farmland and woods that surround the gardens and grounds of a very large property, such as a country house or mansion. It is the modern term for a manor, but lacks the latter's now abolished jurisdictional authority. It is an "estate" because the profits from its produce and rents are sufficient to support the household in the house at its center, formerly known as the manor house. Thus "the estate" may refer to all other cottages and villages in the same ownership as the mansion itself, covering more than one former manor. An example of such great estates are Woburn Abbey in Bedfordshire, England, and Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire built to replace the former manor house of Woodstock.
"Estate", with its "stately home" connotations, has been a natural candidate for inflationary usage during the 20th century. An estate properly so-called should comprise several farms, and is not well used to describe a single farm.
 

Market sector value

Market sector value

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According to The Economist, "developed economies" assets at the end of 2002 were the following:

• Residential property: $48 trillion;
• Commercial property: $14 trillion;
• Stock: $20 trillion;
• Government bonds: $20 trillion;
• Corporate bonds: $13 trillion;
• Total: $115 trillion.

That makes real estate assets 54% and financial assets 46% of total stocks, bonds, and real estate assets. Assets not counted here are bank deposits, insurance "reserve" assets, natural resources, and human assets. It is not clear if all debt and equity investments are counted in the categories equities and bond.

Residential real estate

Residential real estate

The legal arrangement for the right to occupy a dwelling in some countries is known as the housing tenure. Types of housing tenure include owner occupancy, Tenancy, housing cooperative, condominiums (individually parceled properties in a single building), public housing, squatting, and cohousing. The occupants of a residence constitute a household.
Residences can be classified by, if, and how they are connected to neighboring residences and land. Different types of housing tenure can be used for the same physical type. For example, connected residents might be owned by a single entity and leased out, or owned separately with an agreement covering the relationship between units and common areas and concerns.

'Single-family detached home'

Major categories in North America and Europe

• Attached / multi-unit dwellings
  • Apartment - An individual unit in a multi-unit building. The boundaries of the apartment are generally defined by a perimeter of locked or lockable doors. Often seen in multi-story apartment buildings.
  • Multi-family house - Often seen in multi-story detached buildings, where each floor is a separate apartment or unit.
  • Terraced house (a.k.a. townhouse or rowhouse) - A number of single or multi-unit buildings in a continuous row with shared walls and no intervening space.
  • Condominium - Building or complex, similar to apartments, owned by individuals. Common grounds and common areas within the complex are owned and shared jointly. There are townhouse or rowhouse style condominiums as well.
  • Cooperative (a.k.a. co-op) - A type of multiple ownership in which the residents of a multi-unit housing complex own shares in the cooperative corporation that owns the property, giving each resident the right to occupy a specific apartment or unit.
• Semi-detached dwellings (in UK, a 'semi' is by definition two units with a party wall).
  • Duplex - Two units with one shared wall. (in UK, a duplex is an apartment on more than one storey)
• Single-family detached home
• Portable dwellings
  • Mobile homes - Potentially a full-time residence which can be (might not in practice be) movable on wheels.
  • Houseboats - A floating home
  • Tents - Usually very temporary, with roof and walls consisting only of fabric-like material.

The size of an apartment or house can be described in square feet or meters. In the United States, this includes the area of "living space", excluding the garage and other non-living spaces. The "square meters" figure of a house in Europe may report the total area of the walls enclosing the home, thus including any attached garage and non-living spaces, which makes it important to inquire what kind of surface definition has been used.
It can be described more roughly by the number of rooms. A studio apartment has a single bedroom with no living room (possibly a separate kitchen). A one-bedroom apartment has a living or dining room separate from the bedroom. Two bedroom, three bedroom, and larger units are common. (A bedroom is defined as a room with a closet for clothes storage.)

Major categories in India and the Asian Subcontinent

• Co-operative Housing Societies (CHS)
• Condominiums
• Builder flats
• Chawls
• Villas
• Kothis
• Havelis
• Independent Floors
• Lal Dora - Where people carry out commercial and residential activities both.

The size is measured in Gaz (square yards), Quila, Marla, Beegha, and acre.
See List of house types for a complete listing of housing types and layouts, real estate trends for shifts in the market and house or home for more general information.

Business sector

Business sector

Advertisement for the sale of villa lots in York, part of Toronto, from 1890.

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With the development of private property ownership, real estate has become a major area of business, commonly referred to as commercial real estate. Purchasing real estate requires a significant investment, and each parcel of land has unique characteristics, so the real estate industry has evolved into several distinct fields. Specialists are often called on to valuate real estate and facilitate transactions. Some kinds of real estate businesses include:

• Appraisal: Professional valuation services
• Brokerages: A mediator who charges a fee to facilitate a real estate transaction between the two parties.
• Development: The business of buying land and building on it, or improving land for use, or replacing buildings
• Net leasing
• Property management: Managing a property for its owner(s)
• Real estate marketing: Managing the sales side of the property business
• Real estate investing: Managing the investment of real estate
• Relocation services: Relocating people or business to a different country
• Corporate Real Estate: Managing the real estate held by a corporation to support its core business—unlike managing the real estate held by an investor to generate income

Within each field, a business may specialize in a particular type of real estate, such as residential, commercial, or industrial property. In addition, almost all construction business effectively has a connection to real estate.
Professional university-level education in real estate is primarily focused at the graduate level. Focus in towards the commercial real estate sector, primarily real estate development or investment rather than residential real estate sales conducted by a Realtor.
See also graduate real estate education for a discussion and list of university-level real estate programs.

Philippines

 

Philippines

In the Philippines, real estate is an area for growth. Aside from the development of high rise buildings in the Greater Manila area, nearby provinces are now seeing much land development with its continuous expansion for horizontal development projects in the nearby provinces such as Laguna, Cavite, Rizal, Bulacan, Pampanga and Batangas.
The major expansion in vertical real estate development outside Metro Manila are in Tagay south of the metropolis, Cebu and Iloilo in the Visayas, Cagayan de Oro and Davao in Mindanao, where medium‑to‑high rise buildings are beginning to appear.
Foreigners are generally not allowed to hold more than a 40% interest in any land, although there is an exemption for pensioners who deposit more than US$50,000 in a specified account.^[6] Philippine rules distinguish between a house and the land it sits on.
 

Real estate in Thailand

 

Real estate in Thailand

In Thailand it is possible for a foreigner to own a condominium freehold provided ownership does not exceed 49% of the total building; it is not easily possible for a foreigner to own land but normal practice is that property can be purchased then Land acquired under a 30 year lease option; Until recently it was considered by most legal advisors that the ownership of land by a foreigner through a Thai Limited Company was acceptable, although the Law clearly states that foreigners cannot own land in Thailand. The Government has now made clear that such ownership may be illegal. The legitimacy of such ownership depends on the status of the Thai Shareholders who must be shown to be active and financially participating shareholders.
 

Real estate in Mexico and Central America

 

Real estate in Mexico and Central America

 

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Real estate business in Mexico, Canada, Guam, and Central America operates differently from the United States.
Some similarities include legal formalities (with professionals such as real estate agents generally employed to assist the buyer); taxes need to be paid (but typically less than those in U.S.); legal paperwork will ensure title; and a neutral party such as a title company will handle documentation and money to make the smooth exchange between the parties. Increasingly, U.S. title companies are doing work for U.S. buyers in Mexico and Central America.
Prices are often much lower than prices in countries such as the U.S., but in many locations, such as Mexico City, prices of houses and lots are as expensive as houses and lots in countries such as the U.S. U.S. banks have begun to give home loans for properties in Mexico, but, so far, not for other Latin American countries.
In Mexico, foreigners cannot buy land or homes within 50 km (31 mi) of the coast or 100 km (62 mi) from a border unless they hold title in a Mexican Corporation or a Fideicomiso (a Mexican trust).^[4][5] In Honduras, however, foreigners may buy beach front property directly in their name. There are different rules regarding certain types of property: ejidal land — communally held farm property — can be sold only after a lengthy entitlement process, but that does not prevent them from being offered for sale.
Real estate agents in Costa Rica currently do not need a license to operate, but the transfer of property requires a lawyer. CCCBR (Camara Costarricense de Corredores de Bienes Raices) is the only official body that represents the Real Estate industry to the government. The Costa Rica MLS is the official MLS of the Costa Rica Chamber of Real Estate Brokers Board. The Chamber institutes the rules, regulations and ethical guide for officially licensed brokers in Costa Rica.
In Mexico, real estate agents do not need a license to operate, but the transfer of property requires a notary public.