Marketable:  A note is marketable when there are a larg number of potential buyers for it, based on note size, security, yield, and terms.

Market Value:  What  a normal buyer would pay and a normal seller would sell for in terms of price.

Maturity:  The time when an obligation becomes due and payable in full.

MLS:  A database of real estate listings for sale.  The MLS (Multiple Listing Service) is commonly used by realtors to research what properties are available.  Each property listed in the MLS is assigned an eight-digit ID number.  The MLS can be useful for finding simultaneous close owner financing note deals.

Moratorium:  A suspension of payments and possibly interest.

Mortgage:  A security instrument, which pledges a property to insure payment of a note.  In  case of default, it is foreclosed in the courts.

Mortgage Broker:  A party who joins borrowers and lenders for loans, earning a placement fee.  Also, an intermediary who buys and sells secured notes.

Mortgage Deed:  See Deed of Trust.

Mortgagee:  The party who is the beneficiary of a mortgage.  The seller of the property who receives the monthly payment and holds the mortgage contract as security.

Mortgage Release:  A release of a mortgage by the lender when the loan has been paid in full.

Mortgagor:  The party who has pledged the property as security for the mortgage and note.  The owner of the real estate.  Also the borrower making monthly payments to the mortgagee.

Negative Amortization:  A loan payment that is less than interest only.  This means the obligation grows with time.

Negative Cash Flow:  Cash going out, outflow of money.

Negotiable Instrument:  A document such as a personal check or note.  It must meet certain legal requirements that allow it to be transferred (negotiated) from one holder to another.

Net Present Value (NPV):  The value of a series of uneven cash flows discounted to a  present value figure.

Nominal Interest Rate:  The interest rate stated in a note.  This may be quite different from the yield to an investor who buys the note at discount.

N:  the number of payments or compounding periods on a loan.

Note:  A written promise to pay, with all the terms and conditions of the obligation signed and in the proper legal format.  A note can be secured or unsecured.

Note Holder:  The person currently in ownership and possession of a note and entitled to collect all its remaining payments.  The holder might not be the original beneficiary.

Note Owner:  See Note Holder.

Note Payment Book (Record):  A simple record of all payments made on a note showing how much was paid each payment.  It breaks each payment down to principal and interest and shows the current principal balance.

Nothing Down:  Acquiring property with no cash out of pocket by the buyer.  This does not mean that the seller and/or real estate agent did not receive cash.  Cash comes from more places than just the buyer.

Notice of Default:  A written legal notice to junior lien holders from a senior lien holder, notifying them that the senior lien is foreclosing.

Notice of Trustee’s Sale:  Notice published in the newspaper, stating that property in foreclosure is to be sold at auction.

Novation:  Rewriting an old document and replacing it with the new one.