Note vs Mortgage vs Deed of Trust

National · Financing & Lending — free cheat sheet for the real estate licensing exam.

🏦 Financing & Lending

📋 The 1-minute cheat sheet

Promissory note: the IOU — evidence of the debt, makes you personally liable
Mortgage: 2 parties — borrower (mortgagor) pledges property to lender (mortgagee); judicial foreclosure
Deed of trust: 3 parties — trustor (borrower), beneficiary (lender), trustee holds title; non-judicial power of sale
Hypothecation: pledge property as collateral WITHOUT giving up possession
Exam cue: '-or' gives (borrower), '-ee' receives (lender)

Is Note vs Mortgage vs Deed of Trust on the real estate exam?

Yes. Financing & Lending is a scored domain on the real estate licensing exam, and this topic appears in the national portion.

Is this cheat sheet free?

Yes — every page on CinnaPrep's resource library is free to read, print and share. The app adds practice questions, mock exams and a readiness score.