Sale-leaseback - An agreement under which the owner-occupant of a real property agrees to sell all or part of it to an investor, then lease it back so as to continue occupying all or part of the property as a tenant.
Sales comparison value - A value derived by comparing the property under appraisal to similar properties that have recently been sold in the same area.
SBLC Funding - Standby Letter of Credit Funding. A financial instrument provided by banks to provide funding secured by future payments o contracts or orders.
Second-generation or Secondary space, SubLease - Previously occupied space that is available for lease, either as sublease space or directly from the landlord.
Secondary financing - A mortgage loan on real property, previously secured by a loan, which is secured by a lien junior to the first mortgage.
Secondary market - A market where mortgages are securitized and then bought and sold to other investors.
Secondary, or follow-on, offering - A public sale of previously issued stock or securities made by large investors, usually an institution or large public company.
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) - The Federal agency that oversees and supervises the issuance and exchange of public securities and cash instruments. The SEC administers Federal laws, creates and enforces rules to protect against malpractice and ensure that public companies provide full disclosure of their finances to investors.
Securitization - The process and the result of converting an illiquid asset, such as a mortgage loan or a pool of mortgage loans, into a tradable or marketable form, such as mortgage-backed securities.
Security deposit - A deposit of money by a tenant to a landlord to secure performance of a lease. It also can take the form of a letter of credit or other financial instrument.
Seisen (seizen) - Possession of real property under claim of freehold estate. Right to immediate possession according to the nature of the estate.
Self-administered REIT - When an REIT's managers are also employees of the REIT or the management company is the same or essentially the same as the REIT's economic ownership.
Self-managed REIT - A REIT whose property management functions are the responsibility of and performed by the employees.
Senior class, senior debt - The class of securities with the highest priority to receive the payments from the underlying mortgage loans.
Separate account - A relationship where a single pension plan sponsor retains an investment manager or adviser to source real estate product under a specified investment policy solely for that sponsor.
Servicer - A legal entity that acts on the behalf of a trustee for the benefit of security holders.
Setback - The distance from a curb, center line of road easement, property line or other reference point or boundary, within which construction of a building is forbidden.
Shares outstanding - The currently outstanding number of shares of common stock including the restricted shares held by company insiders. Used to calculate market capitalization and earnings per share.
Site analysis - An analysis to determine if a specific parcel of land is suitable for an intended specific use.
Site development - The installation of the necessary improvements to a site, such as sewer, water and roads, before construction of a building or project can begin on the site.
Site plan - A detailed drawing showing the location of all improvements on a parcel or piece of land.
Slab - The exposed wearing surface laid over the structural support members of a building or on grade to form the building's floor(s).
Social investing - Investments driven in whole or in part by social or political objectives. Under ERISA, social investing of a plan's assets is only economically justified if proper real estate fundamentals are first considered.
Soft cost - The portion of an equity investment, not including the actual improvement costs, which may be tax-deductible in the first year.
Space plan - A graphic representation of a tenant's space requirements, showing wall and door locations, room sizes and sometimes furniture layouts
Special assessment - Special charges levied against real property for public improvements that benefit the assessed property
Special servicer - A company employed by lenders to resolve delinquent or in default mortgages.
Specified investing - Investment in specified individual real properties, specified real property portfolios, or investment in commingled funds whose real estate assets are fully or partially specified prior to the commitment of an investor's capital.
Speculative space - Tenant space that is not leased prior to the start of a new building's construction.
Stabilized net operating income - Projected income less expenses that are subject to change but have been adjusted to reflect equivalent, stable property operations
Stabilized occupancy - The optimum range of long-term leases or subleases that an income-producing real estate property or project is likely to achieve after exposure for leasing in the open market after a reasonable time period at terms and conditions similar to other competitive market offerings.
Step-up lease (graded lease) - A lease agreement calling for set increases in rent at set intervals over the lease's term.
Straight lease (flat lease) - A lease agreement specifying a fixed rental rate to be paid periodically, typically monthly, over the lease's term.
Strip center - A shopping area made up of a row of retail stores traditionally anchored by a supermarket.
Subcontractor - A contractor, usually a tradesman, working under subcontract to and being paid by a general contractor. Normally a specialist at a trade in nature, such as an electrical contractor, cement contractor, or plumbing contractor, with certain trades in need of licensing by a local government.
Sublessee - A person or legal entity to which the rights of use and occupancy under a lease are transferred, while the original lessee retains primary responsibility to the lessor for the lease's obligations.
Subordinated classes - The classes of Commercial Mortgage-Backed Securities with the lowest priority to be given payments from the underlying mortgages.
Subordination - The disproportionate sharing of the risk of credit losses between two or more classes of securities, claims or debts.
Surety - Generally, the same as a guarantor, although some states make a distinction between the two. One who voluntarily binds himself to be obligated for the debt, duty or other promised obligation of another, and who is entitled to be indemnified by the person or legal entity who ought to have paid the debt.
Surface rights - A right or easement granted with mineral rights, enabling the possessor of the mineral rights to drill or mine through the soil and waters superincumbent upon the underlying mineral.
Survey - The process by which a parcel is measured and its metes, bounds and contents ascertained; also the plat, map or the statement of the survey's results with the courses and distances and quantity of the land.
Synthetic lease - A transaction that, from an accounting standpoint, is treated as a lease, but from a tax standpoint is treated as a loan, or vice versa.
