What does that acronym mean?

[Daniel Mohnkern]

Having studied and invested in real estate for several years now, I have learned what many of the investment related acronyms mean and how to apply them. I do, however, know that the jargon aspect has been quite frustrating at times and every now and then, I still get smacked upside the head with dumbfoundedness at the occasional post by someone more enlightened than myself.  So, rather than having to search each individual acronym whenever one came up, while hoping I could read enough on any given thread to make sense of it, why not have a forum topic that specifically lists and defines each acronym in one centralized location? That way, someone can simply scroll through the replies to the acronym of choice and get a quick understanding of what it stands for.  If you list one, please keep the acronym as the first word in the reply so as to simplify searching.  Thanks everyone.

[Rick H.]

A reasonable request. However, the challenge becomes more apparent when you discover that users abbreviate terms that are common to them but not to others. 

Compounding the problem is the usage of same acronym to denote terms used in different markets or industries.

In CA (California, in case that stumped you) we use the term "mtg" (mortgage) when we really don't use mortgages at all, but rather trust deeds. These are typically referred to as TD's but escrow companies prefer DOT (deed of trust, not department of transportation).

I initially had difficulty understanding what BPer's meant by PM (private message).

We have our own lexicon for my world, both the PBT (probate) niche and sub-niche and nano-niches. Several years ago someone started calling me RTPG (Rick the Probate Guy) and it stuck. We have abbreviations for training that we use internally. 

Since we're about to launch "Probate Made Simple", we just might need to find a substitute for PMS.