The party who receives an ownership interest in a mortgage.

A document that evidences a transfer of ownership of a mortgage from one investor to another.

The party who transfers an ownership interest in a mortgage.

An agreement by a buyer to assume liability on an existing debt secured by a mortgage with its original terms left intact. An assumption of mortgage by a buyer does not automatically release the seller from liability on the accompanying note.

A financial statement showing assets, liabilities, and the net worth as of a specific date.

A mortgage with periodic installments of principal and interest that do not fully amortize the loan. The balance of the mortgage is due in a lump sum at the end of the term.

A condition of financial insolvency in which a person’s liabilities exceed assets and the person is unable to pay current debts. Generally, a person must wait two years following the discharge of the bankruptcy to be eligible for a conventional or government backed mortgage loan. Bankruptcy is reported by most credit agencies for a period of ten years.

A unit of measurement used to describe yield. A basis point is 1/100 of 1%. Example: 100 basis points = 1%; 75 basis points = 3/4 %; 50 basis points = ½%.

A mortgage with payments due every two weeks totaling 26 payments a year thus reducing the cost of a 30-year mortgage to that of a 23-year mortgage.

A commitment to insure; a temporary report effective for a limited time until a permanent policy is issued. A binder lists all the known liens and defects affecting the title.

A mortgage lien securing several parcels of property, frequently used by developers who have purchased a single tract of land intending to subdivide into individual parcels. The developer normally requires a “partial release” clause so that individual parcels can be released from the blanker mortgage as they are sold.

A structure is blighted when it exhibits objectively determinable signs of deterioration sufficient to constitute a threat to human health, safety, and public welfare.

Borrowing against the equity of one’s present home to enable the purchase of another home before the existing one sells.

Abandoned, idled, and underused industrial and commercial facilities where expansion and redevelopment is burdened by real or potential environmental contamination.

A set of building construction requirements developed and administered by national and local bodies to ensure that buildings meet certain minimum standards for structural integrity, safety, design, and durability. ?

A cash payment to a lender to reduce the interest rate a borrower must pay. Buy-downs are usually temporary and help the borrower qualify at a lower rate.

A small, relatively permanent statistical subdivision of a county or statistically equivalent entity, delineated for data presentation purposes by a local group of census data users or the geographic staff of a regional census center in accordance with Census Bureau guidelines.

A four-digit basic number, followed by an optional two-digit decimal suffix, used to uniquely identify a census tract within a county or statistically equivalent entity.

A document used by the Department of Veteran Affairs to certify a veteran’s eligibility for a VA loan.

A Verterans Affairs (VA) appraisal.

A mortgage on personal property.

Money paid by the borrower to affect the closing of a mortgage loan. This normally includes an origination fee, title insurance, survey, attorney’s fees, and prepaid items such as taxes and insurance escrow payments.

A financial disclosure accounting for all funds received and expected at settlement. The HUD-1 settlement statement shows how costs are allocated between the buyer and the seller. The HUD-1 is not required if the buyer has no closing costs.

Any condition that adversely affects the title of real estate or curtails an owner’s rights.

May comprise two or more metropolitan statistical areas, a metropolitan statistical area and a micropolitan statistical area, two or more micropolitan statistical areas, or multiple metropolitan and micropolitan statistical areas that have social and economic ties as measured by commuting, but at lower levels than are found among counties within metropolitan and micropolitan statistical areas.