Takeout Financing
A commitment to provide permanent financing upon completion of construction. The take out loan normally pays off the construction loan.

Tax Lien
Lien for nonpayment of taxes.

Tax Sale
Public sale of a property at an auction by a government authority as a result of non-payment of taxes.

Teaser Rate
A low initial interest rate on a mortgage.

Tenancy by Entirety
A form of ownership by husband and wife whereby each owns the entire property. In event of the death of one, the survivor owns the property without probate.

Tenancy in Common
Ownership of a property by 2 or more persons, each of whom has an undivided interest, without the right of survivorship. Upon the death of one of the owners, the ownership share of the deceased is inherited by the beneficiary designated on the owner's will.

Tenancy in Severalty
Ownership of property by one person.

Term
The time limit within which a loan must be repaid.

Third-Party Origination
A process by which a lender uses another party to completely or partially originate, process, underwrite, close, fund, or package the mortgages it plans to deliver to the secondary mortgage market.

Time Share
A form of property ownership under which a property is held by a number of people, each with the right of possession for a specified time interval. Time sharing is used mostly for vacation properties.

Title
The legal evidence of ownership rights to real property.

Title Insurance Policy
A contract in which an insurer, usually a title insurance company, agrees to pay the insured party a specific amount for any loss caused by defects of title on real estate in which the insured has an interest as purchaser, mortgagee, or otherwise.

Title Report
A document indicating the current state of title. The report includes information on the current ownership, outstanding deeds of trust or mortgages, liens, easements, covenants, restrictions, and any defects.

Title Search
An examination of public records to disclose the past and current facts regarding the ownership of a given piece of real estate.

Townhouse
Residence which normally has 2 or more floors and is attached to other similar units. Town houses are commonly found in planned unit developments (PUDs) and condominiums.

Tract
A parcel of land, generally held for subdividing.

Transfer of Ownership
Any means by which the ownership of a property changes hands. Lenders consider all of the following situations to be a transfer of ownership: the purchase of a property "subject to" the mortgage, the assumption of the mortgage debt by the property purchaser, and any exchange of possession of the property under a land sales contract or any other land trust device.

Transfer Tax
Tax paid to the city, county, state or other government entity upon sale of a property.

Treasury Index
An index that is used to determine interest rate changes for certain adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) plans. It is based on the results of auctions that the U.S. Treasury holds for its Treasury bills and securities or is derived from the U.S. Treasury's daily yield curve, which is based on the closing market bid yields on actively traded Treasury securities in the over-the-counter market.

Triple-Net Lease
One in which the tenant pays all operating expense of the property. Usually expressed in cost-per-foot over and above base cost-per-foot. The landlord receives the net rent.

Trust Account
A separate bank account maintained by a broker or escrow company to handle all money collected by clients. A broker may not co-mingle these funds with his/her own funds.

Trustee
A fiduciary who holds or controls property for the benefit of another.

Truth-in-Lending Act
A Federal law requiring full disclosure of credit terms using a standard format. This is intended to facilitate comparisons between the lending terms and financial institutions.

Two-Step Mortgage
An adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) that has one interest rate for the first five or seven years of its mortgage term and a different interest rate for the remainder of the amortization term.