As you look for your ideal home, Halifax Estate Agents' A to Z of home buying terms should help you understand the jargon:

Advance: A mortgage loan.

APR: Stands for annual percentage rate, which helps you compare the cost of different mortgage deals. It takes into account the interest to pay, the length of the term of the mortgage and any arrangement fee.

Arrangement Fee: Lenders sometimes charge a fee to cover the work involved in setting your mortgage.

Bank of England Base Rate: Also known as the Bank of England's repo rate. Some mortgages are linked to it.

Building Survey: A technical report following a property inspection. It gives a comprehensive account of the condition of the property, describing any structural or other defects.

Capital and Interest Mortgage: Also known as repayment mortgage. Monthly payments gradually pay off the money (capital) borrowed and interest on the amount outstanding.

Cashback: You get a cash lump sum when you enter into a mortgage.

CAT Standard Mortgages: The Government has laid down CAT standards, fair charges, easy access and decent terms, to help people identify mortgages which meet minimum standards. If a mortgage is described as meeting the CAT standards it does not mean it is Government approved or necessarily right for you.

CML: The Council of Mortgage Lenders, which devised the Mortgage Code so lenders treat customers fairly.

Completion: The day on which a property becomes legally yours.

Conveyancer: A legal expert handling documentation for the sale or purchase of a property. This will be a solicitor or a licensed conveyancer.

Conveyancing: The legal process for buying and selling property.

Credit Scoring: A technique used by the lender to assess the suitability of your application.

Daily Interest: With this method, interest is charged on the amount of mortgage outstanding from day-to-day. This means lenders take into account any changes in the amount you owe on a day-to-day basis.

Deposit: The money you pay on exchange of contracts as part of an initial contribution to buy your home.

Direct Mortgages: A mortgage arranged exclusively over the phone.

Disbursements: All the various costs and charges payable, through your conveyancer, to other organisations as part of the home-buying process, such as search fees, Land Registry fees and stamp duty.

Discharge Fee: You have to pay this to some lenders for releasing their hold over a property once you have paid off your loan.

Discounted Rate: This means interest is charged at the variable base rate which applies to the mortgage, less a discount, for a set period. This means the rate, and your monthly payment, will go up or down when the variable base rate changes but will remain below the variable base rate during the discounted rate period.

Equity: The difference between the amount you owe on your mortgage and the current value of your home.

Exchange of Contracts: The swapping of contracts between a buyer's conveyancer and a seller's conveyancer. After this, you are both legally bound to the transaction.

Fixed Rates: A rate of interest guaranteed not to change over a fixed period of time.

Freehold: A form of legal title to land, which means you are the absolute owner of the property and land.

Ground Rent: The annual amount payable by the owner of a leasehold property to their landlord.

Guarantor: Someone who guarantees to pay the mortgage if the borrower cannot.

High Loan to Value Fee: Fee or premium sometimes charged by lenders if your mortgage represents a high percentage of the property's value. Also referred to as additional mortgage security or mortgage indemnity guarantee.

Interest-Only Mortgage: You only pay interest to your lender throughout the mortgage term and your mortgage balance does not reduce. You also put money into a separate investment which should grow and pay off the mortgage as scheduled.

ISA: Individual savings account. A tax-efficient shelter for investments in stocks and shares. Life assurance and cash. Can be used as a way for repaying an interest-only mortgage.

Joint Tenants: A form of ownership frequently used by couples which ensures when one dies the property passes automatically to the other.

Land Registry Fee: Your conveyancer pays this on your behalf to register your details in the Land Registry records when you buy a property or change your mortgage lender.

Leasehold: This means you own a property for a set number of years. When the lease expires, the property returns to the freeholder. Flats are commonly sold leasehold.

Local Authority Search: Part of the conveyancing process when you buy a property, carried out by your conveyancer. It gives details of any matters which, from the local council's point of view, affect the property. It reveals any proposed changes to the local area, such as road improvements, and details any planning permission given for the property.

LTV: loan to value is the proportion of the value or price of the property (whichever is the lower) you borrow on a mortgage.

Mortgage Deed: A legal document establishing a mortgage on a property.

Mortgage Term: The length of time over which you agree to pay back your mortgage: usually 25 years.

New Instruction: A new property been added to the agent's list.

Overpayments: When you are allowed to pay more than your normal monthly payment, so you can pay off your mortgage earlier if you want and save on interest charges.

Payment Holiday: Sometimes called payment break, you can stop making payments altogether for a limited period agreed with the lender.

Pension Mortgage: An interest-only mortgage where you use a personal pension plan to not only provide for your retirement but also to repay your mortgage on maturity.

Premium: Amount you pay on a regular basis.

Repayment Fees: With some mortgages you have to pay a repayment fee if certain things happen. For example, if you pay off your mortgage before the end of a special-rate period.

Repayment Mortgage: Your monthly payments gradually pay off your mortgage as well as the interest.

Repo Rate: See the Bank of England Base Rate.

Retention: Holding back part of the mortgage loan until repairs to the property are completed.

Sealing Fee: A fee charged by the lender to cover administrative costs when repayment of the mortgage takes place for sealing your deeds.

Stamp Duty: Government tax you have to pay based on the purchase price of a property.

Structural Engineer's Report: A specialist report from a structural engineer on the condition of a property.

Subject to Contract: An agreement is not yet legally binding.

Survey and Valuation: A property survey which includes a valuation and should reveal major faults.

Tenants in Common: Ownership by two or more people in which, if one dies, their share of the property forms part of their estate and does not automatically pass to the other(s).

Title Deeds: The legal documents assigning ownership of a property and/or land.

Tracker Rate: Varies in line with and are linked to changes in interest rate set independently of the lender.

Valuation: Arranged by your lender to find out if the property is worth an amount agreed and is therefore suitable to lend a mortgage on.

Variable Base Rate: The basic rate of interest on a mortgage.