A mortgage is an interest in land created by a contract, not a loan. Although almost all mortgage agreements contain a promise to repay a debt, a mortgage is not a debt by and in itself. It can be better characterized as evidence of a debt. More importantly, a mortgage is a transfer of a legal or equitable interest in land, on the condition sine qua non that the interest will be returned when the terms of the mortgage contract are performed. A mortgage agreement usually transfers the interest in the borrower