Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a sovereign state in Europe.

It consists of 26 cantons, and the city of Bern is the seat of the federal authorities.

The federal republic is situated in Western-Central Europe, and is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east.

Switzerland is a landlocked country geographically divided between the Alps, the Swiss Plateau and the Jura, spanning a total area of (land area).

While the Alps occupy the greater part of the territory, the Swiss population of approximately eight million people is concentrated mostly on the plateau, where the largest cities are to be found: among them are the two global cities and economic centres Zürich and Geneva.

Real estate appraisal, property valuation or land valuation is the process of developing an opinion of value, for real property (usually market value).

Real estate transactions often require appraisals because they occur infrequently and every property is unique (especially their condition, a key factor in valuation), unlike corporate stocks, which are traded daily and are identical (thus a centralized Walrasian auction like a stock exchange is unrealistic).

The location also plays a key role in valuation.

However, since property cannot change location, it is often the upgrades or improvements to the home that can change its value.

Appraisal reports form the basis for mortgage loans, settling estates and divorces, taxation, and so on.

Sometimes an appraisal report is used to establish a sale price for a property.

A broker is an individual person who arranges transactions between a buyer and a seller for a commission when the deal is executed.

A broker who also acts as a seller or as a buyer becomes a party to the deal.

Neither role should be confused with that of an agent—one who acts on behalf of a principal party in a deal.

An apartment (American English), flat (British English) or unit (Australian English) is a self-contained housing unit (a type of residential real estate) that occupies only part of a building, generally on a single storey.

There are many names for these overall buildings, see below.

The housing tenure of apartments also varies considerably, from large-scale public housing, to owner occupancy within what is legally a condominium (strata title or commonhold), to tenants renting from a private landlord (see leasehold estate).

A house is a building that functions as a home.

They can range from simple dwellings such as rudimentary huts of nomadic tribes and the improvised shacks in shantytowns to complex, fixed structures of wood, brick, concrete or other materials containing plumbing, ventilation, and electrical systems.

Houses use a range of different roofing systems to keep precipitation such as rain from getting into the dwelling space.

Houses may have doors or locks to secure the dwelling space and protect its inhabitants and contents from burglars or other trespassers.

Most conventional modern houses in Western cultures will contain one or more bedrooms and bathrooms, a kitchen or cooking area, and a living room.

A house may have a separate dining room, or the eating area may be integrated into another room.

Some large houses in North America have a recreation room.

In traditional agriculture-oriented societies, domestic animals such as chickens or larger livestock (like cattle) may share part of the house with humans.

The social unit that lives in a house is known as a household.