LATEST STORIES
Ghost Disclosure: Legally Required
Though it sounds wild, a state supreme court officially ruled in 1989 that a house was haunted. The judge's exact words were "As a matter of law, the house is haunted." This is still the final ruling on this case, and it opened up decades of legally mandated ghost...
Stop Doing This at Showings. Seriously.
Can you spot the major mistake made by a real estate agent and their buyer in the following...
Did Home Prices Ever Make Sense?
Why are we all pretending that the real estate market is supposed to make sense? For years, I've...
Ghost Disclosure: Legally Required
Though it sounds wild, a state supreme court officially ruled in 1989 that a house was haunted. The judge's exact words were "As a matter of law, the house is haunted." This is still the final ruling on this case, and it opened up decades of legally mandated ghost...
HER and OER
HER and OER (Housing Expense Ratio and Overall Expense Ratio) are ratios used by mortgage lenders to evaluate whether a borrower can reasonably afford a proposed mortgage loan. The Housing Expense Ratio (HER) compares the borrower’s expected monthly housing expenses...
Mezzanine Debt
Mezzanine debt sounds a bit fancy, but it really is a less secure form of debt. Mezzanine debt is a form of financing that sits between senior mortgage debt and the property owner’s equity in the capital structure of a real estate investment. It is generally used when...
A-Paper Loan
If you think an A-paper loan sounds like a good bet, you're right. An A-paper loan, also called an A-credit loan or prime loan, is a mortgage made to a borrower who meets a lender’s highest or near-highest credit standards. A-paper borrowers generally have strong...
Scratch and Dent Loans
Scratch and dent loans sound like financing that's been through a lot, but they're actually less terrifying than they sound. Scratch and dent loans are mortgage loans that have defects or irregularities that make them difficult to sell through normal secondary...
Clawback
A clawback in the mortgage lending industry may sound a bit desperate… and, well, it sort of is. A clawback generally refers to the recovery of money that was previously paid or transferred. The term can arise in several contexts. For example, a mortgage lender or...
Cramdown
A cramdown in a mortgage-related bankruptcy proceeding sounds terrible, but it actually helps the borrower in most situations. In the mortgage loan business, a cramdown generally refers to a bankruptcy court reducing the amount of a secured debt that is treated as...
Haircut
Mortgage professionals are not professional stylists, but this doesn’t mean they don’t do haircuts. In the mortgage loan business, a haircut is a reduction applied to the stated or market value of an asset when determining how much credit, financing, or collateral...
Mortgage in Disguise
A mortgage in disguise definitely doesn't sound like something you want to apply for; it sounds more like a mortgage that finds you, and not in a good way. Unfortunately, this isn't too far off from the actual definition. A mortgage in disguise is a transaction that...
Interim Occupancy Fee
An interim occupancy fee is an amount paid by a buyer who is permitted to occupy a property before the purchase has formally closed or before legal title has been transferred. It is most commonly associated with newly constructed condominium units, particularly in...
HUD
HOUSING & URBAN DEVELOPMENT
HUD
(Department of Housing and Urban Development)
Stay Up to Date with the Latest Stories, News & Updates from OnlineEd
Why Use OnlineEd?
Thousands of real estate professionals turn to us for their continuing education.
Follow Us
Keep updated on Real Estate related matters on our social media platforms: