I Love Our MLS Abbreviations
Finding your way through the abbreviations in our MLS, and no doubt many others, can be a challenge. It’s a good thing many of these are not public – consumers would never figure out what we are talking about.
That’s true in other fields, of course, too.I remember working at a well-known medical center in downtown Boston years ago in a former life - it took a while to get used to the doctors' and nurses' abbrevations, like PRN.
I expect today's buyers and sellers are, for the most past, used to CMA, SFD, SF, COE (well, here in CA where we have escrow) and other abbreviations we use so often in marketing. But they won’t have a clue about the abbreviations for the myriad of forms we use in California – RPA, CO, VOP, WPA, AD, DA, RLA, RFR are the more common but there are dozens and dozens of forms.
Sometimes the MLS abbreviations are pretty obscure. Sure they save space but sometimes you have to scratch your head and think a bit…or ask.
Some even rival the abbreviations so prevalent in our texting – I’m still learning that lingo. You?
KTB is common, as I suspect it is in lots of other MLSs. It’s “known to broker” rather than sharing the name of the seller. Some just put Mr. or Mrs. Seller, or Mr. and Mrs. Owner, or Mr. Vacant.
Before a buyer agent can show a property they have to CLAFATS or CLAFAPTS. I’m sure you can figure those out.
It’s not unusual that a LAMA, especially in higher end properties. There are pros and cons about this. We all know what those are.
And lots of listing agents want to be sure that BTVAB4COE. Plus they want buyers to know the SWEOB $ and $.
What are YOUR favorite MLS abbreviations?
Or the ones that drive you nuts?
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