This glossary brings together the terms that come up when selling lots in Latin America, with the name they take in each country when it changes. Regional terms are kept in Spanish in italics, with their meaning explained. It's useful for developers who sell in more than one market, for agents who serve buyers from other countries and for anyone reading a contract or a regulation for the first time.
The project
- Lotización: dividing a piece of land into lots to sell them. It's the usual term in Ecuador.
- Lotificación: the same concept. Used in Mexico and Central America.
- Fraccionamiento: the most common term in Mexico for a project of lots or homes on subdivided land.
- Habilitación urbana: in Peru, the process and the permit to turn rural land into urban land, with lots, roads and utilities.
- Urbanización and parcelación: in Colombia, urbanización for urban projects and parcelación for lots on rural land.
- Loteo: the usual term in Argentina, Chile and Uruguay.
- Phase (etapa): each part of the project that is launched and sold separately.
- Pre-sale (preventa): selling lots before the project is finished or, sometimes, before its final approval. We explain it in how to sell a land subdivision.
The plan and the lots
- Masterplan: the project's general plan with blocks, lots, roads and common areas.
- Interactive masterplan: that plan published on the website, where each lot can be tapped to see its status, area and price. See what an interactive masterplan is.
- Block (manzana): a group of lots surrounded by roads. Together with the number, it forms the lot code (for example, block B, lot 12).
- Corner lot (lote esquinero): a lot fronting two roads. It usually has a different price per square meter.
- Frontage and depth (frente y fondo): the lot's measurements toward the road and toward the back.
- Usable or sellable area (área útil or área vendible): the sum of the lots that can be sold.
- Área de cesión: the part of the land handed over to the municipality for roads, green areas and facilities. The percentage is set by local regulation.
- Setback (retiro): the minimum distance between the building and the lot boundary, set by the municipality.
- Land use or zoning (uso de suelo or zonificación): what regulations allow to be built on a piece of land. In Ecuador, documents such as the línea de fábrica (a municipal certificate of boundaries and building rules) report these rules.
The sale and the payment
- Reservation (reserva, apartado or separación): a payment or commitment that holds a lot for a set period. A reservation with no deadline blocks the lot.
- Entrada or cuota inicial: the first payment of an installment purchase. In Mexico it's called enganche.
- In-house financing (crédito directo): financing provided by the developer itself, without a bank, with a down payment, installments and an interest rate.
- Amortization table (tabla de amortización): the breakdown of each installment, with its date, principal and interest.
- Price per square meter: the value that, multiplied by the lot's area, gives its price. It usually changes depending on the location within the project.
- Appreciation (plusvalía): the increase in the lot's value over time, due to works, services or demand in the area.
Documents and procedures
- Promesa de compraventa: a contract in which the parties commit to sign the purchase agreement later. Common in Ecuador and Colombia.
- Minuta: in Peru, the document drafted by the lawyer that is later formalized as a deed before a notary.
- Escritura pública: the purchase agreement signed before a notary and recorded in the property registry.
- Certificado de gravámenes or de libertad de gravamen: a registry document showing whether the land has mortgages, liens or restrictions. In Colombia, the certificado de libertad y tradición serves that purpose.
- Derechos y acciones: in Ecuador, buying a share of a piece of land that hasn't been legally subdivided. The buyer doesn't receive a title to a specific lot.
- Impuesto predial: the annual property tax collected by the municipality.
Sales tools
- Lot inventory the single list of lots with their code, area, price and status (available, reserved or sold).
- Real estate CRM a system where the team records leads, reservations, sales and payments. See what a CRM for selling lots should have.
- 360 tour a tour made of spherical panoramas, usually aerial, where the buyer turns the view and sees the real land. See 360 drone tour for land subdivisions.
- Equirectangular image the format in which a 360 panorama is stored. See what equirectangular images are.
How we use it at Royaltor360
At Royaltor360 we work with projects in Ecuador, Peru, Colombia, the United States, Mexico and other countries, and we adapt each market's terms in the interactive masterplan, the 360 tour and the CRM. If you want to see how your project would look, book a demo.