Mortgage and Real Estate Glossary

Real Estate Definitions and Terms: S

Offers a Mortgage and Real Estate glossary for real estate and mortgage terms and definitions for home buyers, home sellers, and real estate consumers. Find expanded definitions of important real estate and mortgage home loan terms.

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Definitions and Terms: S

Sales Agreement - Contract signed by buyer and seller stating the terms and conditions under which a property will be sold.

Sale-Buyback - A financing arrangement in which an investor buys property from a developer and immediately sells it back under a long-term sales agreement, wherein the investor retains legal title.

Sale-Leaseback - A financing arrangement whereby an investor purchases real estate owned and used by a business corporation, then leases the property back to the business.

Secondary Mortgage Market - A market where mortgage originators may sell them, freeing up funds for continued lending and distributes mortgage funds nationally from money-rich to money poor areas.

Second Mortgage - A mortgage that has a lien position subordinate to the first mortgage.

Secured Loan - A loan that is backed by collateral.

Security - Something given, deposited, or pledged to make secure the fulfillment of an obligation, usually the repayment of a debt.

Security Instrument - Mortgage or deed of trust evidencing the pledge of real estate as collateral for the loan.

Seller Carry-Back - An agreement in which the owner of a property provides financing, often in combination with an assumable mortgage.

Seller Contributions - Payment by the seller or any other interested party of some or all of the purchaser's closing costs.

Seller's Market - Market conditions that favor sellers. With too few sellers and too few properties for sale, the buyers may be forced to compete and pay more for the same property.

Senior Loan - A real estate loan in first priority position.

Servicer - An organization that collects principal and interest payments from borrowers and manages borrowers' escrow accounts. The servicer often services mortgages that have been purchased by an investor in the secondary mortgage market.

Servicing - The collection of mortgage payments from borrowers and related responsibilities of a loan servicer.

Settlement - Another name for closing.

Settlement Costs - See Closing Costs. v Sinking Fund -
Monies deposited in advance in anticipation of satisfying a debt in the future.

Special Forbearance - Loss mitigation option where the lender arranges a revised repayment plan for the borrower that may include a temporary reduction or suspension of monthly loan payments.

Stop Date - Date on a term loan when the balloon payment is due.

Subordinate Financing - Any mortgage or other lien that has a priority lower than that of the first mortgage, or senior loan. See second mortgage.

Survey - A drawing or map the shows the precise legal boundaries of a property, the location of improvements, easements, rights of way, encroachments, and other physical features.

Sweat Equity - Increase in property value due to improvement by owners.