Whether it's Craig's List, your local paper's classifieds or the Multiple Listing Service information, there is a special language to real estate. 

So as you head out to tomorrow's Open Houses, here are some tips to use your time wisely.  When the description starts out with the bold print, the not bold print is what it really means:

Bring Your Imagination: the place has not been staged and looks like ordinary people live there.

Bring Your Decorator: Martha Stewart would not approve.  It has carnivorous wallpaper, shag wall-to-wall, and cat claw marks on the grasscloth.

Bring Your Architect:  the back half of the house is about to cave in.

Room for Expansion:  the place is tiny.

Adorable: the place is really tiny.

Olde World Charm: it has prehistoric electrical and bathrooms.

Original Owner: the kitchen was absolute state of the art in 1940, the year the house was built.

Georgetown Garden: the back yard is the size of an oriental prayer rug.

Indoor Pool:  wet basement.

Nicest House in the Neighborhood:  it's over-improved.

Urban View:  refers to a condo with all windows facing a brick wall.

Or, you could work with a buyer broker who really knows the market where you are looking and who can take you to the good stuff, eliminating the wrecks that are ugly, overpriced or smell like kitty litter.