Keentune

Real Estate Finance curriculum

8 chapters
·
164 concepts
·
free
Everything the adaptive question bank can teach and test in Real Estate Finance, from foundations through advanced practice. Work through it in order, or start practising and let the questions find your level.
New here? Read the Real Estate Finance guide
A free 12-minute primer — the mental model, the mistakes beginners make, and what to practise first.
A. Instruments & theory
•
TILA/Reg Z: APR, trigger terms, rescission (refi only); RESPA/TRID: Loan Estimate, Closing Disclosure, kickback ban.
•
Conventional (PMI under 20% down) vs FHA-insured (MIP) vs VA-guaranteed; amortized vs balloon vs ARM (index + margin, caps).
•
Construction, bridge, blanket (partial release), package, wraparound, reverse.
•
Usury concept; predatory-lending red flags.
•
LTV, PITI, income ratios in concept; points (1 pt = 1% of the LOAN); equity.
•
Why a lender charges one, how it is measured, and where they are restricted.
•
Who remains personally liable under each, and how a novation releases the original borrower.
•
Acceleration, alienation/due-on-sale, prepayment, defeasance, subordination; assumption vs "subject to".
•
What actually triggers the alienation clause, and the transfers that are exempt in concept.
•
Workout options short of foreclosure, and how each changes the note's terms.
•
Lender approval, the deficiency-waiver question, and why the timeline stretches.
•
Judicial vs non-judicial (power of sale); equitable vs statutory redemption; deficiency judgment; deed in lieu; short sale.
•
Complaint, judgment, sheriff's sale, confirmation, and the redemption window in concept.
•
Notice of default, notice of sale, trustee's sale, and the trustee's deed that follows.
•
When a lender may pursue the shortfall, and the statutes that block it.
•
Real-estate-owned property: clearing occupants, clearing title, and marketing it.
•
Contract for deed: equitable title now, legal title later, and the forfeiture risk in between.
•
Notice of default, the cure period, and acceleration of the entire remaining balance.
•
Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Ginnie Mae — primary vs secondary market roles.
•
Promissory note (the debt) vs mortgage/deed of trust (the security); lien vs title theory; hypothecation.
•
Principal, rate, term and payment; the note as a negotiable instrument that can be sold.
•
Trustor, trustee and beneficiary — and why the trustee is what makes a non-judicial sale possible.
•
Three state theories of who holds title during the loan, and what each means on default.
•
First and second position, and how recording order — not loan size — sets priority.
•
Discharging the lien at payoff, and the defeasance clause operating in practice.
•
What happens to subordinate liens when a senior lienholder forecloses.
B. Computed math families
•
Price × rate; broker/agent splits; co-brokerage multi-step.
•
LTV/down payment; points cost; monthly interest = principal × rate ÷ 12; first-payment principal/interest split.
•
Tax/rent prorations with the 360-day convention stated in the stem; through/to closing day.
•
Dollars per $500 of price; documentary stamps.
•
Square feet, acres (43,560), price per square foot, front feet.
•
Multi-step: price − commission − payoff − costs; minimum list for a target net.
•
NOI ÷ cap rate, GRM, percentage-lease rent, appreciation/depreciation %.
•
Assessed value × millage, mills stated in the stem.
•
Part, total and rate — the single relationship most exam math reduces to (computed).
•
Principal × rate × time, solved for any one of the four variables (computed family).
•
Splitting a payment into interest and principal, then carrying the new balance forward (computed).
•
Building the next month's balance from payment, rate and remaining principal (computed).
•
Applying a per-thousand payment factor from a table to a loan amount (computed).
•
Points paid to raise lender yield, and the dollar cost of each (computed).
•
Front-end and back-end ratios, and the maximum payment each one implies (computed).
•
Loan-to-value, combined LTV, and the cash a buyer must bring (computed).
•
Percentage change in value over one or several periods (computed).
•
Net gain or loss including improvements and selling costs (computed).
•
Cubic content, board feet, and the unit conversions the exam mixes in (computed).
•
Decomposing an irregular parcel into rectangles and triangles (computed).
•
Potential gross income less vacancy and collection loss, plus other income (computed).
•
Where the exam's math errors actually come from: units, rounding, and per-month vs per-year.
C. Loan programs & products
•
Conforming standards and agency eligibility — and why "conforming" is not a synonym for "conventional".
•
Loans above agency limits, and how pricing and underwriting change without an agency buyer.
•
Why PMI exists, who pays it, who it protects, and how cancellation works in concept.
•
A level payment whose interest and principal shares shift every month (computed).
•
Index plus margin equals the fully indexed rate; what moves and what does not (computed).
•
Initial, periodic and lifetime caps, and the payment shock a first adjustment can produce (computed).
•
Fixed-then-adjustable structures, and what happens when a teaser rate expires.
•
Payments that never reduce principal, and payments that let it grow.
•
Partially amortized loans, and the refinance or sale that the maturity date forces.
•
Permanent versus temporary rate buydowns, who funds them, and what they cost (computed).
•
A closed-end second compared with a revolving line: draw period, repayment period, rate type.
•
Age and equity requirements, no monthly payment, and the events that trigger repayment.
•
Draw schedules, interest-only during construction, and the permanent take-out loan.
•
Purchase-money mortgages, seller seconds, and lease-option structures.
•
Short-term financing between buying the next home and selling the current one.
•
Financing that includes personal property, and a wrap that sits on top of an existing loan.
•
Government insurance rather than a guaranty: low down payment, upfront and annual premium mechanics.
•
Minimum property requirements, and the appraisal's dual role as valuation and condition check.
•
One loan over several parcels, and the partial-release clause that frees them one at a time.
•
A partial guaranty rather than insurance: entitlement, the funding fee, and no monthly mortgage insurance.
•
Certificate of eligibility, restoration of entitlement, and substitution on an assumption, in concept.
•
Area and income eligibility in concept; guaranteed versus direct rural programs.
D. Federal lending law & consumer protection
•
Truth in Lending is a DISCLOSURE statute — it never sets a rate or a fee.
•
Why the APR exceeds the note rate, and which charges are pulled into it.
•
What counts as a finance charge, and the common closing costs that do not.
•
The advertised terms that force full disclosure of everything else.
•
The three-business-day right on a qualifying refinance or equity loan — and why a purchase never has one.
•
Delivery timing, the six items that constitute an application, and the good-faith standard.
•
The three-business-day rule, and the three changes that restart the waiting period.
•
Zero-tolerance, ten-percent, and no-tolerance categories, and how a cure is delivered.
•
Federally related mortgage loans: which transactions RESPA reaches and which it does not.
•
Paying or accepting anything of value for a settlement-service referral.
•
The prohibition on requiring a buyer to use a particular title company.
•
Disclosing an ownership interest, and the no-required-use condition that comes with it.
•
Escrow analysis, the permitted cushion in concept, and the annual statement to the borrower.
•
Notice before and after a transfer, and the grace period that protects the borrower.
•
What a servicer must do with a complete application before it may refer a loan to foreclosure.
•
Prohibited bases, the adverse-action notice, and delivering the appraisal to the applicant.
•
Credit reports, the dispute process, and the risk-based pricing notice in concept.
•
Loan-application register data and the fair-lending analysis it makes possible.
•
Verified income and obligations, and the qualified-mortgage concept built on top of it.
•
What makes a loan high-cost, and the restrictions that attach once it is, in concept.
•
Why compensation may not vary with loan terms, and the steering prohibition behind that rule.
•
Loan-originator licensing and registration, and the unique identifier on every document.
•
The prohibition on influencing a valuation, and the customary-and-reasonable fee concept.
•
Unfair, deceptive or abusive acts in mortgage marketing and servicing.
E. The lending process & underwriting
•
The uniform application, and the six items whose arrival starts the disclosure clock.
•
Capacity, capital, collateral and credit — the frame every underwriting decision hangs on.
•
Salaried, hourly, variable and self-employment income, and how each is averaged (computed).
•
Sourcing and seasoning funds, gift letters, and reserve requirements in concept.
•
Building DTI from the credit report plus the proposed housing payment (computed).
•
Principal, interest, taxes, insurance, association dues and mortgage insurance in one payment (computed).
•
Findings and conditions from an automated engine, and when manual underwriting takes over.
•
Title exceptions a lender will not accept, and how they get cleared before funding.
•
Conditional approval, prior-to-document and prior-to-funding conditions.
•
Lock period, expiration, extension cost, and the float-down option in concept.
•
Signing, satisfying funding conditions, and disbursing to the seller.
•
Who lends their own money, who places the loan, and how each is compensated.
•
Short-term funding lines that let a mortgage banker close in its own name.
•
Payment history, utilization, age, mix and inquiries — what actually moves a score.
•
Monthly savings against closing costs, and the months required to recover them (computed).
•
Stated information versus verified underwriting, and what each is worth in an offer.
•
The reasons a denial must state, and what a borrower can do with them.
•
Appraised value against contract price, and the LTV consequence when they differ.
•
Collecting payments, administering escrow, and managing delinquency.
•
Required coverage amounts and why the lender escrows the premium.
F. The secondary mortgage market
•
A government-sponsored enterprise purchasing conventional conforming loans.
•
The second GSE, and what having two of them was meant to accomplish.
•
Who originates and who buys, and why that split is what creates lending capacity.
•
Pooling loans and issuing pass-through certificates against them.
•
Scheduled principal, interest, and prepayments flowing through to the certificate holder.
•
Non-agency pools and the credit enhancement they need to be sold.
•
Conforming limits as an eligibility mechanic (never the current dollar figure).
•
Repurchase demands when a sold loan turns out not to meet the guide.
•
Who supervises the enterprises, and what conservatorship changed.
•
Advances to member institutions as a mortgage-funding source.
•
A government corporation guaranteeing pools of government-insured and guaranteed loans.
•
Selling the loan while keeping servicing — and what the borrower actually notices.
•
Why the secondary market dictates the forms, the documentation, and the appraisal.
•
Why falling rates are bad news for a mortgage-backed investor.
•
Why mortgage rates track long-term bond yields rather than the overnight policy rate.
•
Loans a lender keeps on its own books, and the underwriting flexibility that allows.
G. Investment-property finance & taxation
•
A deductible repair versus an improvement that must be capitalized and recovered over years.
•
Recovery periods for residential and non-residential property, and why land is never depreciated.
•
Passive losses, material participation, and suspended losses released at sale, in concept.
•
Deductibility of mortgage interest and property tax for a homeowner, in concept.
•
Purchase price plus improvements minus accumulated depreciation (computed).
•
Amount realized minus adjusted basis, and what selling costs do to each side (computed).
•
Why previously claimed depreciation is treated differently from the rest of the gain, in concept.
•
Deferring gain through a 1031 exchange: identification and closing deadlines, and boot.
•
Spreading recognized gain across the years the payments are actually received, in concept.
•
Holding property in an LLC, partnership or corporation, and the tax and liability consequences.
•
The ownership and use tests that let a homeowner exclude gain.
•
Deferral and abatement incentives tied to designated areas, in concept.
•
Net operating income minus annual debt service (computed).
•
NOI divided by debt service, and the minimum a lender will accept (computed).
•
Rearranging income, capitalization rate and value in all three directions (computed).
•
Annual cash flow divided by the cash actually invested (computed).
•
When borrowing raises the return on equity — and when it destroys it.
•
Cash flow, equity buildup, appreciation and tax position, in concept.
H. Closing costs, prorations & settlement math
•
Every entry hits someone's column: a seller credit is usually a buyer debit (computed).
•
Statutory 360-day versus actual-day methods, and why the stem must state which (computed).
•
Allocating a tax bill the seller has not yet paid, so the buyer is credited (computed).
•
Reimbursing a seller who already paid past the closing date (computed).
•
Prorating collected rent and transferring security deposits to the buyer (computed).
•
Prepaid interest from the funding date to the end of the month (computed).
•
Prorating an assumed insurance policy and association dues (computed).
•
Rate per unit of sale price, and who customarily pays it (computed).
•
Typical fixed and per-page charges, and which party each is assigned to.
•
Origination fee compared with discount points on the same disclosure (computed).
•
Prepaid items versus the initial escrow deposit — two different lines, two different purposes (computed).
•
Principal balance plus per-diem interest through the payoff date (computed).
•
Sale price less payoff, commission and closing costs — the seller's bottom line (computed).
•
Price plus costs, less the loan, deposit and credits (computed).
•
Splitting one commission between firms and then between broker and licensee (computed).
•
Proving total debits equal total credits for each party before funding (computed).
Keentune is not affiliated with or endorsed by the organizations whose documentation informs these maps.
All about Real Estate Finance practice
Also on your phone
App StoreGoogle Play
All exam, test, and product names and trademarks are the property of their respective owners and are used here for identification and reference only. Keentune is independent study practice — not affiliated with, authorized, or endorsed by any of these organizations.
© 2026 SportaApp LLC