Common Real Estate Terms & Mortgage Terms Explained - Part 8

More definitions for commonly used real estate terms and mortgage terms:

Legal description
A specific way of identifying and locating a piece of real estate that is acceptable to a court of law.

Lien
A legal claim against a piece of property or asset which is used to secure a loan and which must be paid when the property is sold. Liens can be filed by unpaid contractors or other debtors in a legal process so that they will be paid when a property is sold.

A claim can hold against an asset until all the obligations to the creditor are cleared (a general lien), or just until the obligations against that particular assets are cleared (a particular lien).

Listing
A property for sale by a Real Estate Brokerage and Agent.

Loan Origination Fee
A charge imposed by the lender, payable at closing, for processing the loan.

Lock-in
A agreement by a lender guaranteeing a specified interest rate for a specified period of time. Lock-ins have specific expiration dates, such as 30, 60 or 90 days in the future. Lock-ins are also refered to as a rate lock.

A lock-in can be a good option if interest rates are rising, but not so good if interest rates are falling.

LTV (Loan to Value)
The ratio of the amount of the mortgage as a percentage of the value of the property.