A refinance is not strictly distinct from a mortgage.

I have purchased about 35 tax liens in Illinois during the last 6 years and have been very pleased.The first sentence from JR.T is extremely important because there are two distinct camps on this. 

Hi Seth,Yup, that's an important distinction that Fannie makes when doing owner occupied v non owner occupied math.If you're buying another primary residence, then that new home will have the owner occ math, and the departing primary residence non owner occ math.It also may be a non-issue.

However, TREC does not specifically make this distinction from my searching their website.

It may not be the case for all towns and cities (especially if without a website) but is the case for most of the major cities.As you stated, different cities often are distinct with different social, cultural and economic characteristics and needs.

There may be a risk distinction between medical and recreational marijuana as the feds might go after the latter more than the former if they go after it at all. 

This could be three distinctly different things. 

—shift the demographic data by their presence, and, as the author notes, this gentrification “often leads to new construction or to investment in once-vacant properties.”More Positive Implications of D.C.’s Change to a Wealthy CityWe are not blind to the fact that rising housing costs can create a burden for low-income residents and, yes, cause some people to have to move.We’re simply pointing out that D.C.’s change into a city of the wealthy may have to do with more wealthy residents moving in, than it has to do with low-income residents moving out.This is an important distinction.

They make this distinction because they do not consider short-term rentals a "lease."

The distinction that makes Chicago jump out on this table is that Chicago's educated millennial population is growing significantly, while the Chicago suburbs' educated millennial population is not.