Freddie Mac, officially the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (FHLMC), is a government-sponsored enterprise that buys mortgages from lenders and sells them as investments to keep home loan money flowing nationwide.
A gated community is a residential neighborhood enclosed by walls or fences with controlled entry points, designed to give residents more privacy, security, and access to shared amenities.
A gift of equity is when a property seller sells a home for less than its appraised market value so that the buyer, usually a family member, can use the difference to help pay for the home.
Before closing, lenders used to give borrowers a Good Faith Estimate (GFE), which used to be a standard way to show them the estimated costs, fees, and terms of a mortgage loan. The GFE has been replaced by the Loan Estimate.
The gross rent multiplier (GRM) is a simple ratio that shows how much an investment property costs compared to how much money it makes in rent each year. This is a quick way to see how one property compares to another.
A hard money loan is a short-term loan backed by assets that private investors or lending companies give out instead of banks. These loans are often used for real estate investment projects that need money quickly.
Hazard insurance is the part of a homeowners insurance policy that covers damage to your home’s physical structure from events like fire, windstorms, hail, lightning, and theft.
A homeowners association (HOA) is a private group that runs a neighborhood by charging homeowners fees and making sure that everyone follows the rules that are meant to keep property values and common areas in good shape.
Homeowners pay a homeowners association (HOA) fee on a regular basis to cover the costs of maintaining shared community spaces, providing amenities, paying for insurance, and running the association.
An HOA special assessment is a one-time fee your homeowners association charges on top of regular dues, usually to cover a major repair or unexpected expense the existing budget can't handle.
What You Need to Know About Mortgage Terms: Breaking Down the Basics Okay, so when I started working with first-time home buyers through our Louisville office,...
A colleague asked me to look at her home value estimate from three different websites, and I kid you not, the numbers were $40,000 apart. She was planning to...
