Deal Structure – How a financing package for an acquisition is designed. Deals can be unleveraged or leveraged; traditional, participatory, or convertible debt; or joint venture.

Dedicate – To convert privately owned property to public ownership for a public use.

Deed – A legal instrument that transfers ownership title to real estate property from a seller to a buyer.

Demising wall – A fixed partition wall that defines the separation of one tenant’s space from another tenant or from the building’s common area.

Depreciation – In accounting, a periodic allowance for an asset’s real or implied loss in value due to wear, age and other factors.  In real estate, a decline in the value of property – the opposite of appreciation.  Depreciation can occur in real estate due to factors beyond the real property’s boundaries, such as the condition of the surrounding neighborhood.

Design/Build – A company (usually construction contractor) that is responsible for both the design and construction of a property.

Discretion – The amount of authority an adviser or manager has over the management and investment of a client’s account.

Diversification – The process of designing an investment portfolio to insulate against the risks of reduced interest yield or capital loss through allocating the individual investments among a several types of assets, each with different characteristics.

Dollar Stop – A maximum agreed-upon amount each commercial tenant will pay on a prorated basis for taxes and operating expense.

Due Diligence – Investigative activities carried out by a potential buyer of real property to assure that the property is as the seller represented, that all documents are true, no material is left out, and it is not subject to structural, environmental or other problems.