Business and Personal Finance Dictionary

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• FIRST MORTGAGE
  
  First Mortgage A mortgage registered before all others on title. Gives the lender a primary lien/charge against your house and property that has precedence over all other mortgages. Priority is determined by the date and time registered, so a first mortgage was literally and legally registered "first". A new first mortgage can therefore only be registered as a "first" mortgage upon the discharge of an existing one if the holder of a second mortgage "postpones" (i.e., "puts back in time") to a time immediately following the registration of the new first mortgage.
  
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