Glossary: the terms you'll see on Fabrica

You do not need special vocabulary to use Fabrica, but a few terms come up often. Here is what they mean in plain English.

An assessor’s parcel number, or APN, is the ID your county’s tax assessor gives your property. Different counties may call it different names, but it is the number that pins down exactly which parcel is yours. You can find it on your property tax bill or on your deed. If you cannot find it, your county assessor’s office can look it up, and many have online portals. Fabrica uses the APN to find your property when you add it.

The formal, written description of your property’s boundaries, found in your recorded deed. It might reference a subdivision and lot, or use measurements and landmarks (“metes and bounds”). Either kind is fine, as long as it accurately describes your property. Fabrica pulls this from county records when preparing your documents.

The legal document that transfers ownership of real property. Deeds are recorded at the county, which is what makes ownership public and official. Fabrica drafts, notarizes, and records real deeds. Nothing about the process skips the county.

A legal container for holding property. Trusts have been used for centuries for things like privacy and estate planning. On Fabrica, each property sits in its own trust: the trust holds record title at the county, and your Property Token represents ownership of the trust. Transfer the token, and you transfer the property.

The two roles in a trust. The beneficiary is who the trust exists for, the true owner of what it holds. The trustee is who administers it. On Fabrica, you are the beneficiary, and by default you are also your own trustee. Fabrica never holds title to your property and cannot control it.

The stablecoin Fabrica uses: a digital dollar, always worth $1. Prices on Fabrica are shown in US dollars, and money moves as USDC behind the scenes. If you use bank payments and Cash Out, you never need to handle it yourself.

In a traditional sale, an escrow company holds the money while paperwork crawls along. On Fabrica there is no escrow: the buyer becomes the owner and the seller gets paid in the same transaction, at the same moment. That is why sales are final once they complete.

If a term you ran into is not here, message us through the chat bubble in the corner.

Learn more: Full glossary