Real Estate Terms
Click on a link below for
an alphabetized list of Real Estate and Mortgage Terms.
A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | Y | Z
Tenancy in common
As opposed to joint tenancy, when there are two or more individuals on title
to a piece of property, this type of ownership does not pass ownership to the
others in the event of death.
Third-party origination
A process by which a lender uses another party to completely or partially originate,
process, underwrite, close, fund, or package the mortgages it plans to deliver
to the secondary mortgage market.
Title
A legal document evidencing a person's right to or ownership of a property.
Title company
A company that specializes in examining and insuring titles to real estate.
Title insurance
Insurance that protects the lender (lender's policy) or the buyer (owner's
policy) against loss arising from disputes over ownership of a property.
Title search
A check of the title records to ensure that the seller is the legal owner of
the property and that there are no liens or other claims outstanding.
Transfer of ownership
Any means by which the ownership of a property changes hands. Lenders consider
all of the following situations to be a transfer of ownership: the purchase
of a property "subject to" the mortgage, the assumption of the
mortgage debt by the property purchaser, and any exchange of possession of
the property under a land sales contract or any other land trust device.
Transfer tax
State or local tax payable when title passes from one owner to another.
Treasury index
An index that is used to determine interest rate changes for certain adjustable-rate
mortgage (ARM) plans. It is based on the results of auctions that the U.S.
Treasury holds for its Treasury bills and securities or is derived from the
U.S. Treasury's daily yield curve, which is based on the closing market bid
yields on actively traded Treasury securities in the over-the-counter market.
Truth-in-Lending
A federal law that requires lenders to fully disclose, in writing, the terms
and conditions of a mortgage, including the annual percentage rate (APR)
and other charges.
Two-step mortgage
An adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) that has one interest rate for the first
five or seven years of its mortgage term and a different interest rate for
the remainder of the amortization term.
Two- to four-family property
A property that consists of a structure that provides living space (dwelling
units) for two to four families, although ownership of the structure is evidenced
by a single deed.
Trustee
A fiduciary who holds or controls property for the benefit of another. |
