| Fair Credit Reporting Act | A consumer protection law that regulates the disclosure of consumer credit reports by consumer/credit reporting agencies and establishes procedures for correcting mistakes on one's credit record. |
| Fair Market Value | The highest price that a buyer, willing but not compelled to buy would pay, and the lowest a seller, willing but not compelled to sell, would accept. |
| Fannie Mae | FNMA is one of the major secondary market investors that purchases loans from mortgage companies and other depository institutions. The company is a private corporation and its stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange. |
| FDIC | (Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation). Provides insurance of accounts for institutions whose deposits were formerly covered by the Federal Savings & Loan Insurance Corporation. (FSLIC). |
| Federal Home Board | The board which oversees the Federal Home Loan Bank systems. |
| Federal Home Loan Bank | Provides liquidity to supervised financial service companies, such as savings and loans and credit unions. The bank system has several districts. |
| Federal Home Loan Board | The board which charters and forbids discrimination in the sale. |
| Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation | (Freddie Mac/FHLMC) A government sponsored agency that is also a publicly traded company on the New York Stock Exchange that purchases mortgage loans from mortgage bankers and financial depository institutions. FHLMC is a major secondary market investor. |
| Federal Housing Administration | A federal agency which insures first mortgages, enabling lenders to loan a very high percentage of the sale price. |
| Federal National Mortgage Association | See Fannie Mae. |
| Federal Reserve Bank | The regulatory agency for certain commercial banks and bank holding companies. Sets monetary policy for the country and provides liquidity for supervised financial institutions. |
| Federal Tax Lien | A lien attached to property for nonpayment of a federal tax. |
| Federal Tax Return | The U.S. government's method to identify individual and company's annual tax responsibility. The tax returns identify the income and taxes. |
| Fee Simple | Highest possible degree of ownership of land. The estate allows owners to have unrestricted powers to dispose of property, and which can be left by will or inherited. |
| Fee simple estate | An unconditional, unlimited estate of inheritance that represents the greatest estate and most extensive interest in land that can be enjoyed. It is of perpetual duration. When the real estate is in a condominium project, the unit owner is the exclusive owner only of the air space within his or her portion of the building (the unit) and is an owner in common with respect to the land and other common portions of the property. |
| FHA | (Federal Housing Administration). A division of the Department of Housing and Urban Development. The FHA's main activity is the insuring of residential mortgage loans made by private lenders. It sets standards for construction and underwriting. FHA neither lends money, nor plans, nor constructs housing. |
| FHA Loan | Government loans are loans that are guaranteed or purchased by government organizations. Two of the most popular Government Loans are the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). |
| FHFB | (Federal Housing Finance Board). It oversees the credit functions of the twelve regional Federal Home Loan Banks. |
| FHLBB | (Federal Home Loan Bank Board). A regulatory and supervisory agency for federally charted savings institutions, which oversees the operations of the FSLIC and FHLMC. This agency was abolished by the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery and Enforcement Act of 1989. (See FIRREA.) |
| FHLMC | (Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, Freddie Mac). A private corporation authorized by Congress, which became an independent, stockholder-owned government corporation with the passage of FIRREA. FHLMC promotes the flow of funds into the housing markets by purchasing conventional mortgages in the secondary market and selling securities backed by those mortgages in the capital market. |
| Fiduciary | A person in a position of trust or responsibility with specific duties to act in the best interest of a client. Real estate brokers and mortgage brokers are fiduciaries. |
| Finance Charge | The total dollar amount your loan will cost you. It includes all interest payments for the life of the loan, any interest paid at closing, your origination fee and any other charges paid to the lender and/or broker. Appraisal, credit report and title search fees are not included in the finance charge calculation. |
| Financial Depositor Institutions | Banks, savings and loans or credit unions. |
| Finder Fee | A fee or commission paid to a mortgage broker for finding a mortgage loan for a prospective borrower. |
| Firm Commitment | A lender¦s agreement to make a loan to a specific borrower on a specific property.ß |
| First Mortgage | The mortgage that has first claim in the event of default. |
| First Mortgage | Mortgage holding priority over the claims of subsequent lenders against the same property. |
| Fixed Installments | The monthly payment due on a mortgage loan. |
| Fixed Rate Mortgage | (FRM) A mortgage in which the interest rate does not change during the entire term of the loan. |
| Fixture | Personal property affixed to structures or land, usually in such manner that they cannot be independently moved without damage to themselves or the property housing, supporting, or pertinent to them. Varies under state laws. |
| Flood Insurance | Insurance that compensates for physical property damage resulting from flooding. It is required for properties located in federally designated flood areas. |
| FNMA | (Federal National Mortgage Association, Fannie Mae). A government-sponsored corporation, owned solely by private investors, created to provide support to the secondary market for FHA and VA mortgages and conventional mortgages. |
| Foreclosure | A proceeding in or out of court to extinguish all rights, title and interest of the owner (s) of a property in order to sell the property and satisfy a lien against it when mortgage is in default. |
| Forfeiture | The loss of money, property, rights, or privileges due to a breach of legal obligation. |
| Freddie Mac | See Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation. |
| Full Disclosure | Revealing all known facts which may affect the decision of a buyer or tenant. |
| Full Recasting | Setting the P&I payments to the level that will fully amortize the loan's outstanding balance over the remaining term using the fully indexed accrual rate at the recasting point. |
| Fully Amortized ARM | An adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) with a monthly payment that is sufficient to amortize the remaining balance, at the interest accrual rate, over the amortization term. |
| Fully Extended Accrual Rate | The interest (accrual) rate resulting from the index at closing (or at another point in the loan) plus the lender's full spread, rounded as prescribed in the loan documents (often to the nearest 1/8th of 1%). |
| Functional Obsolescence | Impairment of functional capacity or efficiency. For example, homes without indoor plumbing (while they may contain working outdoor plumbing facilities) are considered functionally obsolete. |
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