Real Estate Jargon: When Shorthand Becomes Reader Work
Industry terms can be precise and useful. The communication problem begins when buyers and sellers are expected to translate them before they can understand what to do.
Consider a simple, constructed message from an agent to a buyer:
“DOM is 43, the seller is offering 2% concessions, and I’ll run a CMA before we decide whether to move.”
Nothing in that sentence would seem particularly unusual inside a real estate office. The language is compact, the agent may know exactly what every term means, and another agent could probably follow the message without slowing down.
The buyer has a different job.
Before deciding anything, that buyer may first have to know what DOM means, understand what the seller’s concession could actually do for them, and know what information will arrive in the CMA. The message saved the writer a few words, but some of the work did not disappear. It simply moved to the reader.
That is the part worth examining.
Shorthand works until the audience changes
There is nothing inherently wrong with real estate industry terminology. Every field develops shorthand because people who work together repeatedly need an efficient way to refer to familiar ideas.
Federal plain-language guidance makes the same distinction. Digital.gov notes that specialized terms can be useful shorthand within a particular audience. Its warning is not that technical language must disappear. The question is whether the language is helping the intended reader understand or making the reader work harder than necessary. The same guidance recommends reducing abbreviations when they force readers to look elsewhere to work out what the writer means.
That distinction matters in real estate because the audience can change several times during the same day.
An agent may speak with another agent, then a lender, then a title professional, then a first-time buyer, then a seller who has moved five times. The vocabulary that works perfectly in one of those conversations may not work equally well in the next.
The problem, then, is not professional language.
It is professional language used without checking who is on the receiving end. The first rule of thumb in writing is: Know your audience.
Correct is not the same as understood
APR is a useful example.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau does not simply place the abbreviation in its home-loan material and assume the consumer will know what to do with it. Its Your Home Loan Toolkit explains annual percentage rate and distinguishes it from the interest rate. The toolkit also tells consumers that when something on the Closing Disclosure is unclear, they should ask what it means.
That small detail says something important about communication.
A term can be official, accurate and necessary, yet still require explanation.
Real estate professionals face the same issue with terms that become so familiar through daily use that they almost stop looking like specialized language. DOM. CMA. Seller concessions. Contingency. Escrow. Appraisal gap. Earnest money. Coming soon.
Spelling out the letters is sometimes enough, but not always.
“Days on Market (DOM)” gives the reader the definition. It does not necessarily tell the reader why 43 days matters in this particular situation.
That difference is easy to overlook.
While expanding an abbreviation solves a vocabulary problem, it does not necessarily explain the consequence, and that is where the communication problem begins.
The familiar term is not always universal
“Coming soon” provides another useful example because the words themselves sound straightforward.
Current National Association of REALTORS® guidance says there is no single national NAR policy defining coming-soon status. Local MLS organizations may establish their own statuses and rules, including whether days on market are tracked during that period.
So even a reader who thinks they understand the phrase may not yet understand how it operates in the market being discussed.
That is why merely asking, “Will my client recognize this word?” does not go far enough.
The better question is, “Will my client know what this means here?”
A familiar term can still require context when local rules, transaction circumstances, financing, timing or another condition changes its practical effect.
What clearer language actually sounds like
Suppose an agent writes:
“DOM is 43.”
There may be nothing inaccurate about the statement. But if the number is being introduced because the agent believes it could affect a negotiation, the useful explanation begins after the number:
“The listing has been on the market for 43 days. Before we treat that as negotiating leverage, we should look at the price history, whether the property has been continuously available for showings and how this MLS counts days on market.”
The additional language does more than define DOM. It tells the reader why the number is being examined and what needs to happen before a conclusion is drawn.
The same principle applies to a seller concession.
Instead of:
“The seller is offering 2% concessions.”
A buyer-facing explanation might say:
“The seller is offering up to 2% of the purchase price toward eligible buyer costs. Your lender or settlement professional should confirm how much you can use and where it can be applied in your transaction.”
And instead of:
“I’ll send the CMA.”
The agent might write:
“I’ll send a comparative market analysis showing how recent nearby sales compare with this property, then we can discuss what those comparisons suggest about the price.”
None of these versions attempts to remove professional knowledge from the conversation.
They make the knowledge usable.
Explanation vs dumbing something down
There is sometimes a concern that explaining familiar professional language makes communication sound elementary.
It does not have to.
Clear explanation is not the removal of expertise, but rather a one-way expertise becomes visible.
A professional who understands a subject well enough to translate it accurately can usually give the reader the essential meaning without burying the person under every technical detail. The objective is not to turn every email into a training manual. It is to supply enough meaning for the reader to follow the decision being discussed.
That may require one sentence. And sometimes, it also requires only a few additional words.
The important thing is that the writer is no longer assuming that familiarity inside the profession automatically creates familiarity outside it.
The reader should not have to know your language before your language can help them.
The three-question translation test
Before sending a client email, market explanation, property update or public post, choose every abbreviation, technical phrase or professional shortcut and ask three questions.
Would this particular reader know what the term means without asking?
If not, replace it or explain it.
Even if the reader knows the definition, will they understand what the term means in this specific situation?
If not, add the necessary context.
After reading the sentence, will the person know why the information matters or what should happen next?
If not, the explanation probably stopped too early.
This takes only a few minutes, particularly when reviewing a short message. It can also reveal something writers routinely have difficulty seeing in their own work: once we use a term every day, we stop noticing that it is a term at all.
A second reader can help here. Give the message to someone who was not part of the transaction and do not explain it first. Notice where the person pauses, asks a question or gives an interpretation you did not expect.
Those moments are useful.
They show where knowledge that exists in the writer’s head has not yet reached the page.
The language can remain professional
Real estate cannot, and should not, be stripped of technical language.
Contracts, financing, appraisal, title, agency, MLS rules, inspections and negotiations all contain terms that need precision. Replacing every professional word with casual language could create a different problem by making the explanation less exact.
The better standard is simpler.
Use the professional term when it earns its place. Define it when the reader needs the definition. Explain the context when the definition alone is not enough. Then connect the information to the decision the person is actually being asked to make.
Before sending your next piece of client-facing communication, read it once with the professional knowledge removed from the room.
Can the reader still understand not only what the words mean, but why they matter here?
If not, the message is not quite finished.
See you on the porch,
Delroy A. Whyte-Hall | Real Estate Communication Writer & Investigator
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𝗦𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗰𝗲𝘀:
Digital.gov. “Style,” Writing for Understanding. Guidance on abbreviations, examples and audience comprehension.
Digital.gov — Style and abbreviations guidance
Digital.gov. “Avoid Jargon,” Principles of Plain Language. Guidance on specialized terminology and audience understanding.
Digital.gov — Avoid Jargon
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Your Home Loan Toolkit: A Step-by-Step Guide. Consumer explanation of mortgage terms, including APR and the Closing Disclosure.
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau — Your Home Loan Toolkit
National Association of REALTORS®. “Things to Consider When Assessing Coming Soon Listings.” 2026 guidance concerning local MLS treatment of coming-soon listings and days on market.
National Association of REALTORS® — Coming Soon Listings guidance
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About the writer: Delroy A. Whyte-Hall is a real estate communication writer and investigator and founder of Whyte-Hall Communications Network. He examines how real estate professionals communicate, identifies where clarity, evidence, context, or story may be missing, and writes materials that help buyers, sellers, clients, journalists, and other readers understand what is actually being presented.