- Estate home
- In this corridor, a custom or semi-custom single-family residence of roughly 4,000 square feet and up on a homesite large enough to hold it comfortably — typically with a defined approach, substantial ceiling heights, and secondary spaces such as a prep kitchen or a primary-level guest suite.
- Homesite
- The platted lot on which a home is built, described by its recorded dimensions, easements, buffers, and building envelope rather than by usable yard alone. Two lots of identical acreage can yield very different building envelopes.
- Building envelope
- The three-dimensional area of a homesite within which structures may be built, defined by front, side, and rear setbacks, easements, buffers, and any covenant-imposed limits on height or footprint.
- CCRs (declaration of covenants, conditions and restrictions)
- The recorded private contract that governs a community and runs with the land, binding every present and future owner. It defines assessments, use restrictions, architectural control, and the association's powers. See the HOA & Covenants guide.
- Architectural review committee (ARC)
- The body empowered by the covenants to approve exterior construction and alterations before work begins, judging submittals against published design guidelines for massing, materials, roof pitch, color, and siting.
- Assessment
- The dues an owners' association levies to fund common-area maintenance, insurance, administration, and reserves. A special assessment is a one-time levy for a capital need not covered by reserves.
- Reserve study
- A professional analysis of a community's shared capital assets, their remaining useful life, and the funding required to replace them. In a pond-and-trail community, dam and shoreline work usually dominates it.
- Plat
- The recorded survey map of a subdivision showing lot lines, dimensions, easements, common areas, rights-of-way, and buffers. The authoritative source for what a homesite actually is.
- Easement
- A recorded right permitting someone other than the owner to use part of a property — utility, drainage, access, or conservation. Easements often restrict where you may build, fence, or plant.
- Setback
- The minimum required distance between a structure and a property line, imposed by zoning and often tightened further by covenants.
- Riparian / pond frontage
- Homesites fronting a pond or water feature. Frontage typically commands a premium and usually carries additional covenant obligations regarding shoreline treatment, docks, and vegetation.
- Semi-custom vs. full custom
- Semi-custom builds start from a builder's plan library with elevation and finish selections; full custom begins with an architect and a site-specific design. Both exist in this corridor, and the distinction shows up most clearly in massing and in how a home sits on its lot.
- Allowance
- A budgeted dollar figure in a construction contract for a category not yet selected — lighting, plumbing fixtures, appliances, tile. Underset allowances are the most common source of overruns on estate-scale projects.
- Cost-plus vs. fixed-price contract
- Cost-plus bills actual cost plus a builder's fee, offering transparency and variable totals; fixed-price sets one contract sum with change orders for deviations. Estate custom work commonly uses cost-plus with a guaranteed maximum.
- Change order
- A written amendment to a construction contract altering scope, cost, or schedule. Every change order should be signed before the work is performed.
- Punch list
- The itemized list of incomplete or defective items identified at substantial completion and required to be corrected before final payment.
- Millwork
- Finish carpentry manufactured off site or built in place — cabinetry, paneling, trim, casing, coffers, and stair parts. Millwork depth is the fastest way to read whether an interior was built to an estate standard.
- Rift-sawn white oak
- A cut of white oak yielding a straight, quiet grain with minimal figure. Widely used in this market for cabinetry, paneling, and flooring in contemporary-traditional interiors.
- Waterfall edge
- A countertop detail in which the slab material continues vertically down the side of an island to the floor, so the grain appears to fall over the edge.
- Prep kitchen / scullery
- A secondary working kitchen adjacent to the main kitchen, containing sink, dishwasher, and often a second range and refrigeration, so that preparation and cleanup happen out of sight of the main room.
- Primary suite
- The principal bedroom suite, in this market typically on the main level with a dedicated bath, dual closets, and frequently a private porch or sitting area.
- Elevation
- A scaled drawing of one face of a building, or in sales usage the exterior design of a plan — 'Elevation B' meaning a different facade over the same floor plan.
- Massing
- The overall composition of a building's volumes — how the main block, wings, dormers, and roof forms relate. Good massing is what makes a large home look correct rather than merely large.
- Fenestration
- The arrangement, proportion, and detailing of windows and doors across a facade. It is the element most responsible for whether an elevation reads as authentic to its style.
- Symmetrical elevation
- A facade organized around a centerline with matched openings on either side — the defining move in Georgian and much Classical Revival work, and common on the corridor's most formal estates. See the Architecture page.
- Slate and standing-seam roofing
- Two premium roof systems found on estate homes here: natural or synthetic slate for the primary field, and standing-seam metal for turrets, bays, and porch roofs.
- Turret
- A small tower projecting from a facade, usually conical or bell-roofed. A recurring feature on the corridor's French-influenced and Chateauesque elevations.
- Structured wiring / smart home infrastructure
- The low-voltage backbone — network, audio, video, control, and security cabling home-run to a central rack — that determines what estate technology a home can support later. Best installed before drywall. See Smart Home.
- Days on market (DOM)
- The count of days a property is actively marketed. In a low-inventory community, DOM is a noisy signal: a handful of transactions per year makes averages unstable.
- Absorption rate
- How quickly available supply sells in a defined market, usually expressed as months of inventory. In a community with very few annual sales it should be read at the corridor level, not the community level.
- Off-market transaction
- A sale negotiated without public marketing. In communities where owners guard privacy and inventory is thin, a meaningful share of estate transactions never appears publicly.
- Effective tax rate
- The combined county and municipal property tax rate applied to assessed value. The Union-versus-Mecklenburg differential in this rate is one of the corridor's principal financial arguments.
- Revaluation
- The periodic county-wide reassessment of property values for tax purposes. A revaluation can change a tax bill substantially even when the rate is unchanged.
- Attendance chain
- The elementary, middle, and high schools a given address feeds under the district's current assignment map. Chains can be redrawn; always confirm with Union County Public Schools.
