Home Improvement Value,

BUILDING PERMIT
A written permission granted by the County Building Department and required prior to beginning the construction of a new building or other improvement (including fences, fence walls, retaining walls and swimming pools).

FORECLOSURE
A legal procedure whereby property used as security for debt is sold to satisfy the debt in the event of default in payment of the mortgage note or default of other terms in the mortgage document.

MAINTENANCE
The care and work put into a building to keep it in operation and productive use; the general repair and upkeep of a building. If maintenance is deferred, the building will suffer a loss in value.

BORROWER (MORTGAGOR)
An individual who applies for and receives funds in the form of a loan and is obligated to repay the loan in full under the terms of the loan.

VOID
Having no legal force or binding effect; a nullity; not enforceable. A contract for an illegal purpose (i.e. gambling)is void.

IMPOUND ACCOUNT
An account held by the lender to which the borrower pays monthly installments, collected as part of the monthly mortgage payment, for annual expenses such as taxes and insurance. The lender disburses impound account funds on behalf of the borrower when they become due. (Also known as Escrow Account.)

SIMPLE INTEREST
Interest computed on the principal balance only.

AMENITIES
Features, both tangible and intangible, which enhance and add to the desirability of real estate.

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

REDEMPTION, EQUITABLE RIGHT OF
The right of a mortgagor who has defaulted on the mortgage note to redeem or get back his title to the property by paying off the entire mortgage note prior to the foreclosure sale.

BASE LINE AND MERIDIAN
An imaginary set of lines used by surveyors to locate and describe land under the Rectangular Survey Method of property description used in most mainland states.

COVENANT
A written agreement or promise of two or more parties by which either pledges to perform or not to perform specified acts on a property, or which specifies certain uses or non-uses of the property.

PRESCRIPTION
The acquiring of a right in property, usually in the form of an intangible property right such as an easement or right-of-way, by means of adverse use of property that is continuous and uninterrupted for the prescriptive period.

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.

CHATTEL
Personal property which is tangible and moveable.

REFORMATION
A legal action to correct or modify a contract or deed which has not accurately reflected the intentions of the parties due to some mechanical error, such as a typo graphical error in the legal description.

PREPAYMENT PENALTY
The amount set by the creditor as a penalty to the debtor for paying off the debt prior to its maturity. The prepayment penalty is charged by the lender to recoup a portion of interest that he had planned to earn when he made the loan.