Real estate glossary

45 terms defined in plain English, each with the context an agent actually needs rather than a one-line dictionary entry.

Finance

Absorption rate

Absorption rate measures how quickly available properties are selling in a market, usually expressed as the number of months it would take to sell all current inventory at the recent pace of sales.

An appraisal is a formal opinion of a property's market value produced by a licensed appraiser, most often commissioned by a lender to confirm that a property is worth enough to secure the loan against it.

Buyer's market

A buyer's market is one where available inventory exceeds demand, giving buyers negotiating leverage on price, terms and repairs, and leaving sellers competing for a smaller pool of purchasers.

Closing costs

Closing costs are the fees and charges payable at completion of a property sale, separate from the purchase price — typically including loan origination, title, escrow, recording, and prepaid taxes and insurance.

Commission split

A commission split is how the fee from a transaction is divided — between the brokerages on each side, and then between each brokerage and its individual agent.

Comparative market analysis (CMA)

A comparative market analysis is an agent's estimate of a property's likely selling price, built by comparing it against similar nearby properties that have recently sold, are currently listed, or failed to sell.

Gross commission income (GCI)

Gross commission income is the total commission an agent or brokerage earns before any splits, fees or expenses are deducted. It is the standard headline measure of production volume.

Homeowners association (HOA)

A homeowners association is a body governing a residential development that collects dues from owners, maintains shared areas, and enforces rules on how properties may be used and altered.

Seller's market

A seller's market is one where buyer demand exceeds available inventory, giving sellers pricing power, shorter selling times, and frequently multiple competing offers.

Lead generation

Conversion rate

Conversion rate is the proportion of leads that progress to a defined outcome — a viewing, an offer, or a completed transaction — and is the main measure of whether a lead source or process is working.

CRM (customer relationship management)

A real estate CRM is the system where an agent stores contacts, tracks each relationship through pipeline stages, records interactions, and schedules the follow-up that turns enquiries into transactions.

Geographic farming

Geographic farming is the practice of concentrating marketing on one defined neighbourhood over a long period, with the aim of becoming the agent residents think of first when they decide to sell.

Lead nurturing

Lead nurturing is the sustained, low-pressure contact an agent maintains with prospects who are not ready to transact yet, so that the agent is the one they call when they become ready.

Lead scoring

Lead scoring is the practice of assigning each prospective buyer or seller a numeric value that estimates how likely they are to transact, so an agent can work the list in order of probability rather than in the order enquiries arrived.

Pipeline

A pipeline is the set of active opportunities an agent is working, organised by the stage each has reached — from new enquiry through viewing, offer and under contract to closed.

Referral

A referral is a client introduced by someone who already trusts the agent — a past client, a colleague, or an agent in another market — and typically converts at a far higher rate than any other lead source.

Speed to lead

Speed to lead is the elapsed time between a prospect submitting an enquiry and an agent making genuine contact. It is one of the strongest predictors of whether an internet lead ever converts.

Listings

Days on market (DOM)

Days on market counts how long a listing has been actively for sale since it was published. It is used both as a market-health indicator and, by buyers, as a signal of negotiating room.

Expired listing

An expired listing is a property whose listing agreement ended without a sale. It becomes a prospecting target for other agents, since the owner has demonstrated intent to sell but has not achieved it.

For sale by owner (FSBO)

A FSBO is a property being sold directly by its owner without a listing agent, typically to avoid paying a listing commission.

IDX (Internet Data Exchange)

IDX is the set of rules and feeds that let a brokerage display other members' MLS listings on its own website, so a visitor can search the whole market from one agent's site rather than only that agent's inventory.

Listing syndication

Syndication is the automatic distribution of a listing from its source — usually the MLS — out to consumer property portals and partner websites, so one entry appears across many destinations.

Multiple Listing Service (MLS)

A Multiple Listing Service is a regional database where member brokers publish their listings and agree in advance to compensate other members who bring a buyer, making cooperation between competing brokerages practical.

Pocket listing

A pocket listing is a property marketed privately, without being entered into the MLS, so that only the listing agent's own network sees it.

Marketing

Buyer persona

A buyer persona is a written profile of a recurring type of purchaser in your market — their budget, motivations, constraints and objections — used to target marketing and shape how properties are presented.

Curb appeal

Curb appeal is how attractive a property looks from the street on first sight — the impression that forms before a buyer has entered, and which colours everything they see afterwards.

Drip campaign

A drip campaign is a pre-written sequence of messages released on a schedule after a trigger, such as a new enquiry or an attended viewing, so that follow-up continues without anyone having to remember it.

Email marketing

Email marketing in real estate is the use of a permission-based list to maintain contact with past clients, prospects and a local audience through market updates, new listings and useful guidance.

Listing presentation

A listing presentation is the meeting where an agent pitches to represent a seller, covering proposed pricing, marketing plan, process and fee, in competition with other agents doing the same.

Property description

A property description is the written copy accompanying a listing, summarising its features, condition and appeal to persuade a buyer to arrange a viewing.

SEO for real estate

Real estate SEO is the practice of making an agent or brokerage website rank in search results for the queries local buyers and sellers actually use, and increasingly of being cited in AI-generated answers.

Virtual staging

Virtual staging is digitally adding furniture and decor to photographs of an empty property, so buyers can judge scale and use without the cost of physically furnishing it.

Roles

Brokerage

A brokerage is the licensed firm under which individual agents operate. It carries legal responsibility for their transactions and provides the supervision, compliance and infrastructure they work within.

Buyer's agent

A buyer's agent represents the purchaser in a property transaction, owing them fiduciary duties and advising on price, terms, negotiation and process — as distinct from the listing agent, who represents the seller.

Dual agency

Dual agency is when a single agent or brokerage represents both the buyer and the seller in the same transaction, creating an inherent conflict between two clients with opposing interests.

Fiduciary duty

Fiduciary duty is the legal obligation an agent owes a client to act in that client's best interest — including loyalty, confidentiality, full disclosure, obedience to lawful instruction, and reasonable care.

Listing agent

A listing agent represents the seller, taking responsibility for pricing, preparing and marketing the property, managing enquiries and viewings, and negotiating offers on the seller's behalf.

Property management

Property management is the operation of a rental property on an owner's behalf — marketing vacancies, screening and placing tenants, collecting rent, arranging maintenance and handling compliance.

Real estate team

A real estate team is a group of agents and support staff operating under one brand within a brokerage, sharing leads, systems and administrative capacity, usually led by a senior producing agent.