first mortgage

American  

noun

1. a mortgage having priority over other mortgages on property.

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first mortgage British  

noun

1. a mortgage that has priority over other mortgages on the same property, except for taxation and other statutory liabilities

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• first-mortgage
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of first mortgage

First recorded in 1850–55

Example Sentences

Few house-buyers would like to revisit the world of the 15% I remember paying on my first mortgage.

From BBC • May 17, 2026

We were lucky enough to close on our first mortgage with a 2.75% interest rate.

From Salon • Nov. 28, 2024

But before they made their first mortgage payment, a massive landslide upended life on Peartree Lane, pulling eight neighbors’ homes down a nearby canyon and pushing others into different levels of structural purgatory.

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 29, 2023

In the Miami area, Pastor Carlos Mendez and his wife, Lisset Garcia, signed a modification on their first mortgage in 2012, after financial hardships resulted in missed payments and a bankruptcy filing.

From Seattle Times • Nov. 15, 2022

A friend of mine in my Salomon Brothers training program created the first mortgage derivative in 1986, the year after we left the program.

From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis