Glossary

The difference between the interest rate and the index on an adjustable rate mortgage. The margin remains stable over the life of the loan. It is the index which moves up and down.

The date on which the principal balance of a loan, bond, or other financial instrument becomes due and payable.

A credit report which reports the raw data pulled from two or more of the major credit repositories. Contrast with a Residential Mortgage Credit Report (RMCR) or a standard factual credit report.

Occasionally, a lender will agree to modify the terms of your mortgage without requiring you t refinance. If any changes are made, it is called a modification

An instrument that creates a voluntary lien on real property to secure repayment of a debt. The parties to a mortgage are the mortgagor (borrower) and mortgagee (lender). Unlike a deed of trust, a mortgage does not include a power of sale, so it can only be foreclosed judicially. A legal document that pledges a property to the lender as security for payment of a debt.

A mortgage banker is generally assumed to originate and fund their own loans, which are then sold on the secondary market, usually to Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, or Ginnie Mae.

A mortgage company that originates loans, then places those loans with a variety of other lending institutions with whom they usually have pre-established relationships.

The lender who accepts a mortgage as security for repayment of the loan

Insurance that covers the lender against some of the losses incurred as a result of a default on a home loan. Mortgage insurance is usually required in one form or another on all loans that have a loan-to-value higher than eighty percent. FHA loans and certain first-time homebuyer programs require mortgage insurance regardless of the loan-to-value.

A person who borrows money and gives a mortgage to the lender as security.

Properties that provide separate housing units for more than one family, although they secure only a single mortgage.

A stiff steel core placed inside the thin steel shell of a sitecast concrete pile to prevent it from collapsing during driving.

A roof shape consisting of two superimposed levels of hip roofs with the lower level at a steeper pitch.

A metamorphic rock formed from limestone by heat and pressure.

One who builds with bricks, stones, or concrete masonry units; one who works with concrete.

Brickwork, blockwork, and stonework.

Portland cement with dry admixtures designed to increase the workability of mortar.

The clear dimension required in a masonry wall for the installation of a specific window or door unit.

A brick, stone, concrete block, glass block, or hollow clay tile intended to be laid in mortar.

A single wythe of masonry used as a facing over a frame of wood or metal.

The copyrighted title of a uniform indexing system for construction specifications, as created by the Construction Specifications Institute and Construction Specifications Canada.

A viscous, doughlike, adhesive substance; can be any of a large number of formulations for different purposes such as sealants, adhesives, glazing compounds, or roofing cements.

A single concrete footing that is essentially equal in area to the area of ground covered by the building.

A sealant material that is capable of a moderate degree of elongation before rupture.

The wood or metal bar along which one sash of a double-hung or sliding window seals against the other.

An element of a structure such as a beam, a girder, a column, a joist, a piece of decking, a stud, or a chord of a truss.

A sheet material that is impervious to water or water vapor.

A ceiling used to provide fire protection to the structural members above.

A steel mesh used primarily as a base for the application of plaster.

A rock created by the action of heat or pressure on a sedimentary rock or soil.

See silica fume.

The zone of a two-way concrete slab that lies midway between columns.

Ordinary structural steel, containing less than three-tenths of one percent carbon.

A building type with exterior masonry bearing walls and an interior framework of heavy timbers and solid timber decking.

Shaping or planing using rotating cutters.

Wood interior finish components of a building, including moldings, windows, doors, cabinets, stairs, mantels, and the like.

A diagonal cut at the end of a piece; the joint produced by joining two diagonally cut pieces at right angles.

Euphemism for a portable house that is entirely factory built on a steel underframe supported by wheels.

A code that is offered by a recognized national organization as worthy of adoption by state or local governments.

A natural bitumen with admixtures of synthetic compounds to enhance such properties as flexibility, plasticity, and durability.

Conforming to a multiple of a fixed dimension.

Euphemism for a house assembled on the site from two or more boxlike factory-built sections.

An index of the stiffness of a material, derived by measuring the elastic eformation of the material as it is placed under stree, and then dividing the stress by the deformation.

A membrane used to prevent the migration of liquid water through a floor or wall.

A strip of wood, plastic, or plaster with an ornamental profile.

A fast-setting gypsum plaster used for the manufacture of cast ornament.

A twisting action; a torque; a force acting at a distance from a point in a structure so as to cause a tendency of the structure to rotate about that point. See also bending moment, moment connection.

A connection between two structural members that is highly resistant to rotation between the members, as differentiated from a shear connection, which allows rotation.

The energy possessed by a moving body.

Of a single massive piece.

A thin terrazzo topping applied to a concrete slab without an underbed.

A substance used to join masonry units, consisting of cementitious materials, fine aggregate, and water.

A joint in which a tongue-like protrusion (tenon) on the end of one piece is tightly fitted into a rectangular slot (mortise) in the side of the other piece.

A line or plane along with movement is allowed to take place in a building or a surface of a building in response to such forces as moisture movement, thermal movement, foundation settling, and seismic motion.

Megapascal, a unit of pressure equal to 1 meganewton per square meter.

A vertical or horizontal bar between small lights of glass in a sash.

A small vertical or horizontal bar between small lights of glass in a sash.

Hydrochloric acid.

A flaring, conical head on a concrete column.