Glossary

A form of concurrent ownership in which two or more persons have an undivided interest in the entire piece of property. This type of ownership as no right of survivorship property does not pass ownership to the others in the event of death.

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.

Lawful ownership of real property. Also the deed or other document that is evidence of that ownership

A company that specializes in examining and insuring titles to real estate.

Insurance that protects the lender (lender's policy) or the buyer (owner's policy) against loss arising from undiscovered title defects

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.

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.

State or local tax payable when title passes from one owner to another.

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.

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

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.

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.

1)A fiduciary (person) appointed to manage a trust on behalf of the beneficiaries. 2)A neutral third party appointed in a deed of trust to handle the non-judicial foreclosure process in case of default.

A wood strip with projecting points used to fasten a carpet around the edge of a room.

A rope attached to a building component to help guide it as it is lifted by a crane or derrick.

The longitudinal edge of a sheet of gypsum board, which is recessed to allow room for reinforcing tape and joint compound.

A metal or precast concrete member with a cross section resembling the letter T.

Glass that hs been heat-treated to increse its toughness and its resistance to breakage.

The ability of a structural material to withstand stretching forces.

A stress caused by stretching of a material.

A stretching force; to stretch.

A bolt driven by means of a splined end that breaks off when the bolt has reached the required tension.

An alloy of lead and tin, used to coat sheets of carbon steel or stainless steel for use as metal roofing sheet.

A double glass door, one leaf of which is fixed, and the other hinged to the fixed leaf at the centerline of the door.

A finish floor material consisting of concrete with an aggregate of marble chips selected for size and color, which is ground and polished smooth after curing.

A thick roof covering of reeds, straw, grasses, or leaves.

A section of material with a low thermal conductivity, installed between metal components to retard the passage of heat through a wall or window assembly.

A component of higher thermal condictivity that conducts heat more rapidly through an insulated building assembly, such as a steel stud in an insulated stud wall.

The rate at which a material conducts heat.

A material that greatly retards the passage of heat.

The resistance of a material or assembly to the conduction of heat.

Having the property of softening when heated and rehardening when cooled.

Not having the property of softening when heated.

A lateral or inclined force resulting from the structural action of an arch, vault, dome, suspension structure, or rigid frame.

A wooden block running perpendicular to the stringers at the bottom of a stair, whose function is to hold the stringers in place.

A device for holding two parts of a construction together; a structural device that acts in tension.

A tie, one end of which is anchored in the ground, with the other end used to support sheeting around an excavation.

A reinforced concrete beam cast as part of a masonry wall, whose primary purpose is to hold the wall together, especially against seismic loads, or cast between a number of isolated foundation elements to maintain their relative positions.

The portion of a multistory steel building frame supported by one set of fabricated column pieces, commonly two stories in height.

A steel rod that acts in tension.

A fired clay product that is thin in cross section as compared to a brick, either a thin, flat element (ceramic tile or quarry tile), a thin, curved element (roofing tile), or a hollow element with thin walls (flue tile, tile pipe, structural clay tile); also a thin, flat element of another material, such as an acoustical ceiling unit or a resilient floor unit.

A method of constructing concrete walls in which panels are cast and cured flat on the floor slab, then tilted up into their final positions.

Standing trees; a large piece of dimension lumber.

Glass that is colored with pigments, dyes, or other admixture.

Fastening with nails driven at an angle.

An interlocking edge detail for joining planks or panels.

The finishing of a mortar joint or sealant joint by pressing and compacting it to create a particular profile.

A thin layer of concrete cast over the top of a floor deck.

Placing the last member in a building frame.

The horizontal member at the top of a stud wall.

A water-protected opening through a roof membrane to relieve pressure from water vapor that may accumulate beneath the membrane.

Twisting action; moment.

Stress resulting from the twisting of a structural member.

The longitudinal cells in a softwood.

A walking surface placed on top of a roof membrane.

Concrete mixed in a drum on the back of a truck as it is transported to the building site.

A richly patterned, marble-like form of limestone.

One of the horizontal planes that make up a stair.

A large funnel with a tube attached, used to deposit concrete in deep forms or beneath water or slurry.

Casting beads, corner beads, expansion joints, and other devices used to finish edges and corner of a plaster wall or ceiling.

A beam that supports a header around an opening in a floor or roof frame.

A thin, flat steel tool, either pointed or rectangular, provided with a handle and held in the hand, used to manipulate mastic, mortar, plaster, or concrete. Also, a machine whose rotating steel blades are used to finish concrete stabs; to use a trowel.

A triangular arrangement of structural members that reduces nonaxial forces on the truss to a set of axial forces in the members. See also Vierendeel truss.

The process of removing deteriorated mortar from the zone near the surface of a brick wall, and inserting fresh mortar.

A kiln through which clay products are passed on railroad cars.

A method of achieving the correct tightness in a high-strength bolt by first tightening the nut snugly, then turning it a specified additional fraction of a turn.

Bending of a slab or deck in which bending stresses are approximately equal in the two principal directions of the structure.

A reinforced concrete framing system in which columns directly support an orthogonal grid of intersecting joists.

A reinforced concrete framing system in which columns directly support a two-way slab that is planar on both its surfaces.

A reinforced concrete framing system in which columns with mushroom capitals and/or drop panels directly support a two-way slab that is planar on both its surfaces.

A fiber-reinforced gypsum board used where greater fire resistance is required.