Tax Deductible Home Equity Loan,

GOOD FAITH ESTIMATE
Written estimate of the settlement costs the borrower will likely have to pay at closing. Under the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA), the lender is required to provide this disclosure to the borrower within three days of receiving a loan application.

ZONING
The regulation of structures and uses of property within designated districts or zones. Zoning regulates and affects such things as use of the land, types of structure permitted, building heights, setbacks, and density (the ratio of land area to improvement area).

COMPARABLES
Recently sold properties which are similar to a particular property being evaluated, and which are used to indicate a reasonable fair market value for the subject property.

ATTORNEY-IN-FACT
One who is authorized by another to act in his place under a power of attorney.

KICKERS
Different types of equity participation a lender may seek as a condition for lending money, such as participation in rentals, profits, or extra interest.

PURCHASE AGREEMENT
Contract signed by buyer and seller stating the terms and conditions under which a property will be sold.

CAPS (PAYMENT)
Consumer safeguards which limit the amount monthly payments on an adjustable-rate mortgage may change. Since they do not limit the amount of interest the lender is earning, these consumer safeguards may cause negative amortization.

NOMINAL CONSIDERATION
A consideration bearing no relation to the real value of the contract. A deed often recites a nominal consideration, such as "ten dollars and other valuable consideration."

LOCUS SIGILLI
Latin for "under seal", used in the abbreviated form, "L.S.," at the end of signature line in some formal legal documents; used instead of the actual seal.

FEDERAL HOME LOAN MORTGAGE CORPORATION (FHLMC, OR FREDDIE MAC)
This agency buys loans that are underwritten to its specific guidelines. These guidelines are an industry standard for residential conventional lending.

MORTGAGE NOTE
Legal document obligating a borrower to repay a loan at a stated interest rate during a specified period of time. The agreement is secured by a mortgage or deed of trust or other security instrument.

REVERSION
A future estate in real property created by operation of law when a grantor conveys a lesser estate than he has. The residue left in the grantor is called a reversion which commences in possession in the future upon the end of a particular estate granted or devised, whether it be freehold or less-than-freehold.

BENCH MARK
A mark affixed to a permanent reference or monument, such as an iron post or a brass marker (usually embedded in a cement sidewalk), used to establish elevations and altitudes over a surveyed area.

PURCHASE MONEY MORTGAGE
A mortgage given to the seller as part of the buyer's consideration for the purchase of real property, and delivered at the same time that the real property is transferred as a simultaneous part of the transaction.

BUFFER ZONE
A strip of land separating one parcel from another.

CEILING
The maximum allowable interest rate of an adjustable rate mortgage.

ETHICS
A system of moral principles, rules and standards of conduct.

SECOND MORTGAGE
An additional mortgage placed on a property that has rights that are subordinate to the first mortgage.

RELEASE CLAUSE
A provision found in many blanket mortgages enabling the mortgagor to obtain partial releases of specific parcels from the mortgage upon the payment of, typically, a larger-than-pro-rata portion of the loan.

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT
A report which includes a detailed description of a proposed development project with emphasis on the existing environment setting, viewed from both a local and regional perspective, and a discussion of the probable impact of the project on the environment during all phases.

NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS
Formerly known as the National Association of Real Estate Boards (NAREB), it is the largest and most prestigious real estate organization in the world.

COLLATERAL
Something of value given or pledged as security for a debt or obligation. The collateral for a real estate mortgage loan is the mortgaged property itself, which has been hypothecated.

NON-ASSUMPTION CLAUSE
A statement in a mortgage contract forbidding the assumption of the mortgage by another borrower without the prior approval of the lender.

DELINQUENCY
Failure to make payments as agreed in the loan agreement.

JOINT TENANCY
A form of property ownership by two or more persons in which the joint tenants have one and the same interest, arising by one and the same conveyance, commencing atone and the same time and held by one and the same possession(the concept of "four unities").