Glossary

The final lump sum payment that is due at the termination of a balloon mortgage.

A figure used in calculating gain on the sale of real estate for income tax purposes. Initially the bases are the amount the owner originally paid is the amount for the property, but the figure is adjusted to reflect improvements, cost recovery deductions, and other factors.

Best alternative to a negotiated agreement.

By filing in federal bankruptcy court, an individual or individuals can restructure or relieve themselves of debts and liabilities. Bankruptcies are of various types, but the most common for an individual seem to be a "Chapter 7 No Asset" bankruptcy which relieves the borrower of most types of debts.

A metal disk set in a stable position at a known elevation, used as a reference point in calculating the elevation of land and other objects in a surveyed area.

* 1) A one for whom a trust is created and on whose behalf the trustee administers the trust. 2) The lender in a deed of trust transaction. 3) One entitled to receive real or personal property under a will: a legatee or devisee.

A statement of the amount necessary to pay off a loan.

A written document that transfers title to personal property from on person to another.

The decision of the arbitrator is final and review able by the courts.

A mortgage in which you make payments every two weeks instead of once a month. The basic result is that instead of making twelve monthly payments during the year, you make thirteen. The extra payment reduces the principal, substantially reducing the time it takes to pay off a thirty year mortgage

A mortgage secured by the pledging of more than one property as collateral.

Adjusted rate of interest on loan assumption.

In reference to platted property, a group of lots surrounded by streets or unimproved land.

Requiring full disclosure of all risks in a limited partnership solicitation under the Uniform Partnership Act

In Good faith; genuine

Securities issued to raise funds by a corporation or a governing body, backed by a promise to pay a certain sum of money on a specific date, plus interest payable in installments during the term of the bond.

Usually refers to the daily buying and selling of thirty year treasury bonds. Lenders follow this market intensely because as the yields of bonds go up and down, fixed rate mortgages do approximately the same thing. The same factors that affect the Treasury Bond market also affect mortgage rates at the same time. That is why rates change daily, and in a volatile market can and do change during the day as well.

Acquisition costs less any accrued depreciation.

In an exchange, any property that isn’t treated as like-kind for income tax purposes; for example, if a building is traded for vacant land and a yacht, the yacht is boot.

The perimeter or border of a parcel of land; the dividing line between one piece of property and another.

Violation of an obligation, duty or law

A breach of contract important enough so that it excuses the non-breaching party from performing his or her contractual obligations

An unexcused fail to perform according to the terms of a contract.

An equity loan made for a short time to raise money for a special purpose. Not used much anymore, bridge loans are obtained by those who have not yet sold their previous property, but must close on a purchase property. The bridge loan becomes the source of their funds for the down payment.

Broker has several meanings in different situations. Most Realtors are "agents" who work under a "broker." Some agents are brokers as well, either working form themselves or under another broker. In the mortgage industry, broker usually refers to a company or individual that does not lend the money for the loans themselves, but broker loans to larger lenders or investors. (See the Home Loan Library that discusses the different types of lenders). As a normal definition, a broker is anyone who acts as an agent, bringing two parties together for any type of transaction and earns a fee for doing so.

A provision in a deposit receipt that allows the seller to keep the property on the market until a condition in the contract is fulfilled.

Loan payments include a portion for taxes and insurance, as well as principal and interest.

All of the ownership rights in real estate.

Usually refers to a fixed rate mortgage where the interest rate is "bought down" for a temporary period, usually one to three years. After that time and for the remainder of the term, the borrower's payment is calculated at the note rate. In order to buy down the initial rate for the temporary payment, a lump sum is paid and held in an account used to supplement the borrower's monthly payment.

A contract in which each party promises to do something.

Earth or earthen material used to fill the excavation around a foundation; the act of filling around a foundation.

A vertical plane of masonry, concrete, or framing used to support a thin facing such as a single wythe of brickwork.

A small rectangular strip of steel applied beneath a joint to provide a solid base for beginning a weld between two steel structural members.

A flexible, compressible strip of plastic foam inserted into a joint to limit the depth to which sealant can penetrate.

A heavy material installed over a roof membrane to prevent wind uplift and shield the membrance from sunlight.

A wooden building frame composed of closely spaced members nominally 2 inches (51 mm) in thickness, in which the wall members are single pieces running from the sill to the top plates at the eave.

A small, vertical member that serves to fill the opening between a handrail and a stair or floor.

A wooden joist running perpendicular to the primary direction of the joists in a floor and closing off the floor platform at the outside face of the building.

A small rolled steel shape, usually round or rectangular in cross section; a rolled steel shape used for reinforcing concrete.

A scalloped roof structure of reinforced concrete that spans in one direction as a barrel vault and in the other as a folded plate.

A segment of a cylinder that spans as an arch.

A strip of finish material placed at the junction of a floor and a wall to create a neat intersection and protect the wall against damage from feet, furniture, and floor-cleaning equipment.

A steel plate inserted between a column and a foundation to spread the concentrated load of the column across a larger area of the foundation.

A strip of wood or metal used to cover the crack between two adjoining boards or panels.

A seam in a sheet metal roof that encloses a wood batten.

A rectangular area of a building defined by four adjacent columns; a portion of a building that projects from a facade.

A narrow line of weld metal or sealant; a strip of metal or wood used to hold a sheet of glass in place; a narrow, convex molding profile; a metal edge or corner accessory for plaster.

A straight structural member that acts primarily to resist non-axial loads.

A point at which one building element rests upon another.

A piece of wood fastened to a column to provide support for a beam or girder.

A block of plastic or synthetic rubber used to cushion the point at which one precast concrete element rests upon another.

A wall that supports floors or roofs.

See casting bed.

The horizontal layer of mortar beneath a masonry unit.

A solid stratum of rock.

The moment that causes a beam or other structural member to bend.

A compressive or tensile stress resulting from the application of a nonaxial force to a structural member.

A plane of framing consisting of beams and columns joined together, often with rigid joints.

An absorptive, colloidal clay that swells to several times its dry volume when saturated with water.

An end or edge cut at an angle other than a right angle.

Wood cladding boards that taper in cross section.

A large cylinder or rectangular solid of metal produced from an ingot as an intermediate step in converting it into rolled or extruded metal products.

The depth to which the edge of a piece of glass is held by its frame.

A tarry mixture of hydrocarbons, such as asphalt or coal tar.

A byproduct of iron manufacture used as a concrete admixture.

Attaching boards to a frame or sheathing with toe nails driven through the edge of each piece so as to be completely concealed by the adjoing piece.

Pieces of wood inserted tightly between joits, studs, or rafters in a building frame to stabilize the structure, inhibit the passage of fire, provide a nailing surface for finish materials, or retain insulation.

A rectangular solid of steel formed from an ingot as an intermediate step in creating rolled steel structural shapes.

A set of rollers used to transform an ingot into a bloom.

A sandstone that is gray to blue-gray in color and splits readily into thin slabs.

A unit of lumber volume, a rectangular solid nominally 12 square inches in cross-sectional area and 1 foot long.

Wood cladding made up of boards, as differentiated from shingles or manufactured wood panels.

Building Officials and Code Administrators Internationa, Inc., an organization that publishes a model building code.

A long chair used to support reinforcing bars in a concrete slab.

A fastener consisting of a cylindrical metal body with a head at one end and a helical thread at the other, intended to be inserted through holes in adjoining pieces of material and closed with a threaded nut.

In masonry, the adhesive force between mortar and masonry units, or the pattern in which masonry units are laid to the two or more wythes together into a structural unit. In reinforced concrete, the adhesion between the surface of a reinforcing bar and the surrounding concrete.

A strip of material to which sealant does not adhere.

A system of prestressing in which the tendons are grouted after stressing so as to bond them to the surrounding concrete.

Terrazzo flooring whose underbed is poured directly upon the structural floor.

The reinforcing bars that lie close to the bottom of a beam or slab.

A bending member of metal or plywood whose cross section resembles a closed rectangular box.

A major spanning member of concrete or steel whose cross section is a hollow rectangle or trapezoid.

Diagonal members, either temporary or permanent, installed to stablize a structure against lateral loads.

A small finish nail.

Bracing or blocking installed between steel or wood joists at midspan to stabilize them against buckling and, in some cases, to permit adjacent joists to share loads.

The quantity of heat required to raise 1 pound of water 1 degree Fahrenheit.

A skid-resistant texture imparted to an uncured concrete surface by dragging a stiff-bristled broom across it.

The second coat of plaster in a three-coat apllication.

A brownish or reddish sandstone.

See British thermal unit.

Structural failure by gross lateral deflection of a slender element under compressive stress, such as the sideward buckling of a long, slender column or the upper edge of a long, thin floor joist.

A set of legal restrictions intended to assure a minimum standard of health and safety in buildings.

A plane along which a building is divided into separate structures that may move independintly of one another.

A roof membrane laminated from layers of asphalt-saturated felt or other fabric, bonded together with bitumen or pitch.

The force of water or liquefied soil that tends to raise a building foundation our of the ground.

The thicker end, as the lower edge of a wood shingle or the lower end of a tree trunk; a joint between square-edge pieces; a weld between square-edged pieces of metal that lie in the same plane; a type of door hinge that attaches to the edge of the door.

A type of glass installtion in which the vertical joints between lights of glass do not meet at a mullion, but are made weathertight with a sealant.

A smooth, convex bolt head with no provision for engaging a wrench.

A structural device of masonry or concrete that resists the diagonal forces from an arch or vault.

A synthetic rubber compound.