Eschew Obfuscation, Real-Espeak
A friend of mine's favorite bumper sticker says, Eschew Obfuscation. Eschew; avoid, shun, stay away from. Obfuscation: to make something obscure, confused or unclear. So avoid confusion. Why didn't I just say so? It sounds so much cooler to use big words and sound smart.
Do we get caught up in jargon? (Jargon: Terminology, slang, lingo common to a specific practice or profession) I'll get the GFE and TIL out for your FSBO. How's your REO, did you resolve your BLA? Are your Relo's in town? I reached out to my SOI and got 2 new names for my DB. My MLS requires 30 hours CE, and the NAR offers some online. Have you seen the DTI when PMI has been added to the PITI, especially on the back end? What are the LTV and CLTV and the APR on the ARM. My site has great SEO since I've paid attention to GoogleJuice as taught at AR.
What???? How many of these do you know? If it's less than 100% and we are in the profession, what chance does a first time buyer have to understand us? One of the benefits of working with first time buyers is they know little to none of our Real-Espeak. We are forced to explain escrow and title insurance, earnest money, the entire sale and the loan process to them or we get those quizzical looks. Even experienced buyers and sellers who haven't been active for a while may not understand what we are saying.
So, how are we doing when we speak to the public? Do we require a translator to communicate? Do you pass out Real-Espeak glossaries to your clients, or do you speak so as to be understood? What are your favorite often misunderstood words or acronyms?
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