alligator property

Definition

An investment property with carrying costs that exceed the rental income, effectively eating the owner alive month by month. Named because it takes bigger and bigger bites out of your bank account.

Example Usage

My alligator property in Florida is costing me $800 a month more than it generates—and yes, I appreciate the irony of the location.

Origin

Real estate investor slang from the 1970s-80s

Fun Fact

The term became especially popular during the 2008 housing crisis when millions of investors suddenly found themselves owning properties they couldn't sell or profitably rent.

Source: Real estate investment community slang

Related Terms

Intermediate

common area maintenance

Shared expenses for maintaining lobbies, parking lots, landscaping, and other communal spaces in commercial properties, billed proportionally to tenants. Abbreviated as CAM, it's where landlords demonstrate remarkable creativity in defining what counts as 'maintenance.'

🏠 Real Estate

Intermediate

Investment Property

A property you buy to rent out to strangers who will call you at 3 AM about a leaky faucet and somehow make it your emergency. It's passive income the same way running a marathon is a casual jog.

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Advanced

prescription

A legal doctrine where you can actually gain ownership of property by possessing it openly and continuously for a statutory period, essentially rewarding squatting with a deed. Also known as adverse possession, this concept turns 'finders keepers' into actual law, provided you're bold enough to act like you own something for long enough. It's the legal system's way of saying 'use it or lose it' to absentee property owners.

🏠 Real Estate

Intermediate

land contract

A seller-financed agreement where the buyer makes payments directly to the seller but doesn't receive the deed until paid in full. It's layaway for houses, with all the same risks.

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Intermediate

Fair Market Value

A completely made-up number that everyone pretends is scientific because an appraiser with a clipboard said so. It's "fair" the same way a casino is "fair" -- technically accurate but someone always feels robbed.

🏠 Real Estate

Advanced

income approach

A property valuation method based on the income stream it generates, using capitalization rates to convert annual income into present value. It's how commercial properties are valued, where buildings are essentially money-printing machines worth whatever those dollars command.

🏠 Real Estate

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