Real Estate Glossary S

Click on the beginning letter of the real estate term to find the definition.

A B C D E F G H I J L M N O P Q R T U V W Y

Seasoning: The length of time payments have been made on a note or other debt instrument.

Secondary Market: The marketplace where individuals and businesses can sell privately held income streams to funding sources for cash.

Secured Party: The person for whose benefit security is given.

Securitization: The bundling and resale of debt instruments to investors; permitted only for parties licensed and regulated by the SEC.

Security Interest: An interest in property, other than real estate, which is given as security for a debt or other obligation. A security agreement and one or more financing statements under the Uniform Commercial Code.

Seller: The person or company that is holding a debt instrument and wants to sell it.

Servicing: The collection of payments of interest and principal, and trust fund items such as fire insurance, taxes, etc., on a note by the borrower in accordance with the terms of the note. Servicing by the lender also consists of operational procedures covering accounting, bookkeeping, insurance, tax records, loan payment follow-up, delinquent loan follow-up and loan analysis.

Set-Off: A claim a debtor is entitled to make against a creditor that reduces or eliminates the amount the debtor owed the creditor.

Simple Interest: Interest computed on the unpaid principal amount of the loan without provisions for additional interest to be paid on interest.

Soft Money: Credit extended as opposed to cash (hard money).

Sole Proprietorship: A business owned and operated by an individual.

Straight Note: A promissory note with the principal payable in one lump sum instead of in installments.

Stipulations: The terms within a written contract.

Subordination: The act of a creditor acknowledging in writing that a debt due him or her by a debtor shall be inferior to the debt due another creditor by the same debtor.

Subordination Agreement: A contract by which the holder of a prior lien makes it junior or inferior to another lien.

Substitution of Mortgage: An agreement in which the lender on a loan being assumed by buyer agrees to relieve the original borrower of liability.

Substitution of Trustee: An instrument that the beneficiary under a trust deed executes and records to substitute a new trustee for an earlier one.