Memorize 89 Real Estate & Mortgage Terms: From LTV to Wraparound Mortgages

Real estate vocabulary splits into two very different worlds: the property side (housing types, tenure, development, appraisal) and the mortgage side (amortization, LTV, foreclosure, securitization). Most people learn one and stay fuzzy on the other. The Flip It deck Real Estate & Mortgage Terms (deck code YB7147, 89 cards) covers both, and this guide shows how to memorize it in about a week.

What the cards look like

Each card gives a term on the front and a compact, exam-ready definition on the back. A few straight from the deck:

Full scope of the 89 cards

• Property basics: real vs personal property, estate, housing tenure, right to property, natural law, Emerich de Vattel's Law of Nations (1758), Fair Housing Act (1968), 65% U.S. owner-occupancy rate.
• Housing types: apartment, multi-family house, terraced house, condominium, co-op, tenement, duplex, detached house, bungalow, split-level, mansion, villa, cottage, mobile home, houseboat, housing estate.
• Development and sustainability: real estate development, flipping, arbitrage, hedonic regression, depreciation, Phase I Environmental Site Assessment, green development, LEED, green infrastructure, conservation development.
• Investment: core / value-added / opportunistic strategies, commercial real estate, luxury property as a store of value, appraisal, equity, real estate agent vs estate agent.
• Mortgage mechanics: principal, amortization, negative amortization, curtailment, redemption, prepayment penalty, down payment, underwriting, debt-to-income ratio, mortgage insurance, loan servicer, yield curve.
• Mortgage types: fixed-rate, ARM, interest-only, reverse, balloon, jumbo, conforming, subprime, biweekly, graduated payment, assumable, endowment, wraparound, blanket loan, bridge loan, hard money loan, commercial mortgage.
• Risk and markets: foreclosure, recourse vs non-recourse, securitization, mortgage-backed securities (MBS).

Two tips that fit this deck

Sort the mortgage types by a single question: what happens to the principal? Fixed-rate and ARM amortize it; interest-only and endowment defer it (the endowment pays it with a life insurance policy); reverse mortgages never repay it during the borrower's life; balloon leaves a lump sum; negative amortization grows it. Once you can place each product on that axis, a dozen cards collapse into one mental diagram.

Pair the housing types with a skyline sketch. Draw detached, duplex, terraced, multi-family and tenement side by side, then note who owns what: condo (unit owned, common areas shared), co-op (shares, not deeds), housing estate (whole development). Ownership structure is what exam questions actually test, not the building shape.

Suggested pace

Day 1-2: housing types and property basics (about 35 cards). Day 3-4: mortgage mechanics. Day 5-6: mortgage types, one per card, using the principal question above. Day 7: mix everything in a single review session and flag the terms you still confuse, typically recourse vs non-recourse and conforming vs jumbo.

Open Flip It at flip-it.app, search deck code YB7147 in the library and start with the housing types. If you are building broader business vocabulary, the Accounting Essentials deck guide pairs well with this one.