True: it’s easy to query Google to decipher acronyms like “DHSC.” But then you’ll have to wade through red herrings like “Doctor of Health Sciences” and “Defense and Homeland Security Consortium”—or even Deployment Health Surveillance Capability (that’s from Munich, Germany, but it’s listed as a possibility). Real estate’s “DHSC” is short for Direct Home Selling Costs”—meaning the combined selling expenses (carrying costs, loss on sale, repairs and improvements, commission, closing costs, etc.) all lumped together in one succinct 4-letter package.
Here are some common real estate-related acronyms you may come across from time to time:
- HUD/RESPA—The statement you get at the closing table which spells out all the monies paid out and received: short for “Housing and Urban Development/Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act.”
- PMI—The kind of insurance borrowers pay for home loans of more than 80% of the property’s value: short for “Private Mortgage Insurance.”
- TOM-When a listing is taken off the market because of illness, travel, repairs, etc.: “Temporarily Off Market.”
- PITI—the four parts that make up monthly mortgage payments: “Principal, Interest, Taxes, Insurance.”
- IDX—the technical term used in connection with real estate search sites that display the parts of Multiple Listing Service information that’s marked for public access: “Internet Data Exchange.”
- APR—the by-now familiar term which takes all of the costs of generating a loan and combines them into a single percentage number: “Annual Percentage Rate.”