The date the interest rate changes on an adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM). On most ARMs, the rate starts out fixed at a discount for an initial period, such as five years. Then it's reset (typically upward) on the adjustment date to reflect current market rates. The rate continues to change on a regularly scheduled basis at each adjustment period.
For homeowners with an adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM), the scheduled period between changes in the interest rate. The adjustment period can be monthly, semi-annually, annually, and so forth.
A person or entity that specializes in matching homebuyers with appropriate mortgage lenders. Loan brokers (also known as mortgage brokers) make most of their money by marking up the costs on the loan the wholesale lender is offering. Loan brokers provide an easy and effective way to find the cheapest mortgage rates, given the borrower's financial situation and goals. Many states require loan brokers to be licensed.
(Also referred to as limited equity housing cooperatives, or LEHCs.) An arrangement designed to encourage low- and moderate-income families to buy their own place to live. The housing is offered for sale, usually by a nonprofit organization, at an extremely favorable price with a low down payment. Typically the housing has been built (or an apartment building has been converted) for multiple families, who then share common areas and some decision making. The catch is that, upon selling, the owner gets none of the profit if the market value of the unit has gone up. Any profit returns to the organization that built the home, which then resells the unit at an affordable price.
See: encumbrance
See: encumber
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. This is the agency responsible for managing the Federal Housing Administration and other housing finance programs, and for enforcing the federal Fair Housing Act and Fair Housing Amendments Act.
People living together in one dwelling, who may or may not be related.
A federal law, passed in 1862, which allowed people to become owners of up to 160 acres of unappropriated public land by filing an application, living on the land and improving it for five years, and paying a filing fee to acquire title.
