What are the 5 types of security interests in real estate?

There are generally two types of loans: unsecured and secured. An unsecured loan is one that lacks any type of collateral to help cover the loan if the borrower defaults. Collateral is something of value that is provided to a lender to provide assurance that the loan will be paid. Thus, a loan secured by collateral is a secured loan. For example, if Amy borrows $100 from Bob, Bob may ask that Amy let him hold on to her guitar as collateral. If Amy fails or refuses to pay back the $100, Bob gets the guitar. Bob doesn't necessarily want the guitar, but now he at least has something of value that he can sell to try to recoup his $100 loss.

Likewise, when dealing with real property, there are 5 types of security interests:

1. Mortgages, which are legal agreements where a bank (or other creditor) lends money under an interest rate in exchange for taking title of the debtor's property with the condition that the conveyance is void when the debt is paid off.
2. Iinstallment Land Contracts, which are contracts between the seller of the land and the buyer that require the buyer to make regular installment payments until the full contract price (plus interest) is paid off. Once it is paid off, the seller delivers a deed to the buyer and transfers legal title of the property.
3. Deeds of Trust, which are similar to mortgages, but instead of the lender taking title, title is put into a trust.
4. Absolute Deeds, which are treated as an "equitable mortgage" (we'll talk about this later).
5. Sale-leasebacks, which are agreements where an owner sells their property and then immediately leases it back from the buyer as part of the same transaction. These are most commonly seen in commercial real estate transactions and are useful when the seller needs access to capital but still wants to make use of the property.