First Mortgage: In real estate, a property can have multiple loans or liens against it. The loan which is registered with a county or city registry first is called the first mortgage or first position trust deed. This "first mortgage" is the main loan that all homeowners have when they initially purchase their homes.

In certain situations, a property can have a second, or even third or fourth mortgage, but those are relatively rare. First mortgages have rights and priveleges that second mortgages do not have, which means that any mortgage reduction program that requires a second mortgage offers less legal protection to the homeowner than a first mortgage-based program.

Home Equity Line of Credit: A Home Equity Line of Credit (often called HELOC, pronounced HEE-lock) is a loan in which the lender agrees to lend a maximum amount within an agreed period where the collateral is the borrower's equity in his/her house.

A HELOC differs from a conventional home equity loan in that the borrower is not advanced the entire sum up front. Instead, the borrower uses the line of credit to borrow sums up to the available credit line, similar to a credit card, but at much lower interest rates. Your HELOC funds can be borrowed anytime and for any reason and you pay back only what you use plus interest.

Principle-First Mortgage: A principle-first mortgage is a mortgage that automatically uses every dollar you deposit into your account to pay down your mortgage principal before you pay the bank's interest. This means that every dollar you deposit into your account immediately reduces your mortgage principal and significantly reduces the total interest and time it takes to pay off your mortgage.

This is in contrast to "interest-first" or "front-loaded" mortgages, which force you to pay the bank's interest first and only a small fraction of your payment is applied to your principal during the most crucial early years of your mortgage.