Arizona Mortgage Term M

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ARIZONA MORTGAGE LOAN DICTIONARY M

Maintenance Expenses - Costs incurred for the day-to-day upkeep, such as management wages and benefits of building employees, fuel, utility services, decorating and repairs. 

Maker - A person who signs a negotiable instrument.

Management Fee -  The money paid to the insurer by a reinsurer for servicing the business (that is, renewal billings, claim management, etc.).  

Mansard Roof - A French style roof with a steep lower slope and a very gentle upper slope.  

Manufactured Home - See Mobile Home.  

Margin -  Under the terms of an adjustable rate mortgage (ARM), the margin is a premium that a lender charges which is added to the index.  This premium is typically two or three percentage points.  Once the lender specifies the margin, it remains fixed.  

Margin of Security - Lender's security that is the difference between the mortgage amount and the value of the property. 

Marketable Title - A title that is clear of objectionable liens and encumbrances.

Market Comparison Approach -  A method of establishing market value by comparing the subject property to properties of similar physical composition, location and value that have sold recently.  

Market Price - See Sales Price.

Market Rent - An estimate of what an investor can expect to receive in rental income for a particular property. 

Markup - The percentage added to cost to determine selling price.

Market Value -  An estimate of the highest price a property would sell for within a reasonable period of time, on the open market under normal conditions, and between a willing, ready and able buyer and seller.  

Master Lease - The original lease between the landlord and the tenant when the tenant later subleases. 

Maturity - The terminating or due date of a note, loan or bond.

MBS -  See Mortgage-Backed Securities.

Mechanic’s Lien -  A claim created by law for the purpose of securing priority payment for work performed and material furnished by a mechanic or other person who has done construction or repair of a building.  Such a claim attaches to the land as well as buildings and improvements erected on land.  

Mediation - A nonjudicial process to resolve disputes where a third party acts as a facilitator to aid the parties in reaching an agreement. 

Megalopolis - An urban sprawl.

Menace - Threat of force that makes a contract voidable. 

Merchantable Title - See Marketable Title. 

Meridians - Government surveyors' north-south lines that intersect base lines.  Land is measured from the intersection of these lines.

Metes and Bounds - A method of legal description specifying the perimeter of a parcel of land by use of measured distances from a start point along specified boundaries, or bounds, using monuments, or markers, as points of reference.  

Mile - A measurement of distance that equals 5,280 feet (1,760 yards).  

Military Indulgence - A relief provision that can be made available to a borrower who is in the military service.

Mill - One-tenth of a cent (1/1,000 of a dollar) written as $0.001.  Property taxes are often expressed as mills. 

MIP - See Mortgage Insurance Premium.

Misrepresentation -  Information that is provided to and is relied upon by a third party as fact, but that is untrue and material to the risk assumed.  The information may be provided with the knowledge that it is untrue and with the intent to deceive, or provided as the truth without knowing for a fact that it is not true.

Mitigation -  Alleviation, abatement or diminution of a loss.  

MLS - See Multiple Listing Service. 

MMI - See Mutual Mortgage Insurance.

Mobile Home - A structure transportable in one or more sections, designed and equipped to contain not more than two dwelling units to be used with or without a foundation system.

Modification Agreement -  Any agreement between the lender and the borrower that permanently alters any of the terms of the original mortgage or note.  

Monument - A fixed surveyor's market for metes-and-bounds description that can be natural (such as a rock or tree) or artificial (such as an iron stake).

Mortgage -  A pledge or security for the payment of a debt.

Mortgage-Backed Securities -  Bond-type investment securities representing an undivided interest in a pool of mortgages or trust deeds.  Security guaranteed by the Government National Mortgage Association (GNMA), issued to savings and loan associations, mortgage bankers, commercial banks and other institutions.  The GNMA security holder is backed by the “full faith and credit of the United States.”

Mortgage Banker -  An entity or individual active in the field of mortgage banking.  Mortgage bankers, as local representatives of regional or national institutional lenders, act as correspondents between lenders and borrowers.

Mortgage Banking -  1)  The origination, sale and servicing of mortgage loans by a firm or individual.  2)  The packaging of mortgage loans secured by real property to be sold to a permanent investor with servicing usually retained by the originator for the life of the loan for a fee.

Mortgage Broker -  An individual or firm that acts as an agent for both the borrower and the lender of a mortgage loan.  The broker places the borrower and lender in contact with each other, and receives a commission from the borrower if a loan results.  Unlike a mortgage banker, a mortgage broker does not negotiate the terms of the loan, issue a loan commitment, prepare the loan documents or service the loan.

Mortgage Commitment -  An agreement between the borrower and the lender to disburse a mortgage loan at a future date if specified terms and conditions are satisfied.

Mortgagee -  The institution, group or individual that lends money on the security of pledged real estate; the association, the lender.

Mortgage Insurance -  Insurance written by an independent mortgage guaranty insurance company that protects the mortgage lender against loss incurred by a mortgage default, thus enabling the lender to lend a higher percentage of the sales price.  The federal government writes this form of insurance through the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) and the Veteran’s Administration (VA).

Mortgage Insurance Premium -  The amount paid by a mortgagor for the mortgage guaranty insurance either to the FHA or a private mortgage guaranty insurance company.

Mortgage Lender -  A classification used to describe those institutions or organizations at least partially engaged in the primary mortgage market--that is, extending funds directly to the borrower.

Mortgage Loan Correspondent -  A mortgage banker who services mortgage loans as an agent for either the owner of the mortgage or an investor.  Also applies to the mortgage banker in the role of originator of mortgage loans for an investor.

Mortgage Note -  A written promise to pay a sum of money at a stated interest rate during a specified term.  It is usually secured by a mortgage.

Mortgage Pass-Through Certificate -  Securities that represent the purchaser’s ownership of an undivided interest in a pool of mortgages, typically for residential loans.  Unlike bonds, these securities constitute a sale of assets by the originator/issuer.  There may be legal obligation for repayment on the part of the originator/issuer, other than to “pass through” payments collected on the underlying mortgages or credit insurance policies.

Mortgage Portfolio -  The aggregate of mortgage loans held by an investor or serviced by a mortgage banker.

Mortgagor -  The owner of real estate who pledges his property as security for the repayment of a debt;  the borrower.  

Mudsill - The lowest board on a house that rests on the foundation.

Multiple Borrowers -  Two or more borrowers who are not husband and wife.  

Multiple Listing Service - A computerized listing of all properties offered for sale by member real estate brokers.  Buyers may only gain access to the MLS by working with a member broker. 

Muniments of Title - Deeds.