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Glossary

Real Estate Terms

A comprehensive glossary of real estate terms for BC realtors — compliance, contract forms, transaction terminology, technology, and marketing definitions.

11Compliance

CASL
Canadian Anti-Spam Legislation. Federal law requiring express or implied consent before sending commercial electronic messages (emails, SMS). Express consent has no expiry. Implied consent expires 2 years after a transaction or 6 months after an inquiry.
FINTRAC
Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada. Requires realtors to verify the identity of clients, report suspicious transactions, and maintain records for anti-money laundering compliance.
BCFSA
BC Financial Services Authority. Regulates real estate licensees in British Columbia. Sets practice standards, handles complaints, and conducts audits of agent conduct.
PIPEDA
Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act. Federal privacy law governing how organizations collect, use, and disclose personal information in the course of commercial activities.
AML
Anti-Money Laundering. Regulations requiring realtors to verify client identity, report suspicious transactions, and maintain transaction records. Enforced by FINTRAC in Canada.
KYC
Know Your Client. The process of verifying a client's identity before providing services. In real estate, KYC is a FINTRAC requirement covering full name, DOB, address, occupation, and government-issued ID.
Beneficial Ownership
The real, underlying owner of a property or company, who may differ from the registered owner. FINTRAC requires realtors to identify and verify beneficial owners when the direct client is a corporation or trust.
Receipt of Funds
A FINTRAC-required record documenting how funds were received in a real estate transaction (cash, certified cheque, wire transfer, etc.), the amount, and the source. Must be completed for every deal.
Suspicious Transaction Report (STR)
A mandatory FINTRAC report filed when there are reasonable grounds to suspect a transaction is related to money laundering or terrorist financing. Failure to file is a federal offence.

9Forms

DORTS
Disclosure of Representation in Trading Services. BCREA form required on every transaction disclosing the agent's role — buyer's agent, seller's agent, or dual agent.
MLC
Multiple Listing Contract. The listing agreement between a realtor and seller specifying list price, commission rate, marketing authorization, and listing duration.
PDS
Property Disclosure Statement. Completed by the seller to disclose known defects, renovations, insurance claims, and property history to potential buyers.
C3
Contract of Purchase and Sale. The main purchase agreement in BC real estate. Includes price, subjects, completion date, adjustment date, and all terms of the deal.
DRUP
Dual/Limited Dual Representation Understanding. Required when one agent represents both buyer and seller. Documents informed consent from both parties.
CDM
Common Data Model. A standardized mapping of listing data fields used to auto-fill contract forms from CRM data.
MKTAUTH
Marketing Authorization form. Authorizes the listing agent to market the property, including permission for photos, videos, virtual tours, and syndication to third-party websites.
Agency Disclosure
A document in BC real estate that defines the agency relationship between a realtor and their client. Required to be provided before any information about motivation, price, or personal circumstances is exchanged.
Subject Clause
A condition in a purchase offer that must be satisfied before the sale can complete. Common examples: subject to financing, subject to home inspection, subject to review of strata documents.

23Transaction

CMA
Comparable Market Analysis. A report comparing a property to recently sold similar properties to estimate market value. Used to set list prices and evaluate offers.
MLS
Multiple Listing Service. A shared database of property listings used by realtors to market properties and find buyers. Operated by regional real estate boards.
IDX
Internet Data Exchange. Technology that allows realtors to display MLS listings on their own websites. Provides property search functionality for visitors.
Subject Removal
The process of waiving conditions (subjects) in a purchase agreement. Common subjects include financing, home inspection, and title review.
Completion Date
The date when property ownership legally transfers from seller to buyer. The buyer's lawyer registers the title and funds are released to the seller.
Adjustment Date
The date from which property taxes, strata fees, and other costs are split between buyer and seller. Usually the same as or day after completion date.
Strata
A form of property ownership in BC where individual units are owned privately but common areas are shared. Governed by the Strata Property Act and managed by a strata council.
Form B
Information Certificate required for strata property transactions. Discloses strata finances, bylaws, pending litigation, depreciation reports, and insurance details.
PTT
Property Transfer Tax. BC provincial tax paid by buyers on property purchases. 1% on first $200K, 2% on $200K-$2M, 3% on $2M-$3M, 5% over $3M. First-time buyer exemptions available.
Lockbox
A secure container attached to a property holding the door key. Allows buyer agents to access the property for showings without the seller present. Code is shared after showing confirmation.
Rescission Period
A mandatory cooling-off period in BC introduced January 2023. Buyers of residential property have 3 business days after an accepted offer to rescind. A rescission fee of 0.25% of the purchase price applies.
Possession Date
The date the buyer is entitled to take physical possession of the property. Usually one or two days after completion to allow time for the seller to move out.
Deposit
A sum of money (typically 5% of purchase price) paid by the buyer after an offer is accepted. Held in trust by the buyer's agent's brokerage until completion.
Conveyancing
The legal process of transferring property ownership from seller to buyer. Handled by a lawyer or notary in BC. Includes title search, mortgage registration, funds transfer, and title registration at the Land Title Office.
Easement
A legal right for someone to use part of another person's property for a specific purpose (e.g., a shared driveway or utility corridor). Easements are registered on title and bind future owners.
Benchmark Price
The MLS Home Price Index benchmark — a standardized price for a 'typical' property in a market segment. More stable than average prices because it controls for mix of sales.
Days on Market
The number of days a listing has been active on MLS before receiving an accepted offer. A key indicator of market heat. Sub-14 days indicates a strong seller's market.
List-to-Sale Ratio
The sale price expressed as a percentage of the list price. Above 100% means the property sold above asking (multiple offers). Below 95% may indicate overpricing or a buyer's market.
Counter Offer
A response to an offer that changes one or more terms (price, completion date, subjects). The original offer is rejected when a counter is made. Negotiations can involve multiple rounds of counters.
Buyer's Market
A real estate market condition where supply exceeds demand. More listings than buyers results in longer days on market, price reductions, and greater negotiating power for buyers.
Seller's Market
A real estate market condition where demand exceeds supply. Fewer listings than buyers results in shorter days on market, multiple offers, and prices above asking.
Balanced Market
A real estate market where supply and demand are roughly equal. Typically defined as 4–6 months of inventory. Prices are stable and neither buyers nor sellers have a significant negotiating advantage.

13Technology

AEO
Answer Engine Optimization. The practice of optimizing content so AI answer engines (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews) can extract and cite it. Uses structured data, FAQ schema, and clear definitional content.
GEO
Generative Engine Optimization. Optimizing content for AI-powered search engines that generate answers rather than listing links. Closely related to AEO.
SEO
Search Engine Optimization. The practice of improving website visibility in traditional search engine results (Google, Bing) through content quality, technical optimization, and backlinks.
JSON-LD
JavaScript Object Notation for Linked Data. A structured data format used to embed schema.org markup in web pages. Helps search engines and AI understand page content.
Schema.org
A collaborative vocabulary for structured data markup. Provides types like FAQPage, Article, HowTo, Product, and Review that search engines use to generate rich results.
CRM
Customer Relationship Management. Software that manages contacts, communications, and business processes. In real estate, a CRM tracks leads, listings, showings, and compliance.
RLS
Row Level Security. A database security feature that restricts which rows a user can access. Ensures multi-tenant data isolation — each realtor sees only their own data.
NAP
Name, Address, Phone. The consistent contact information a business must maintain across all online directories, maps, and websites for local SEO. Inconsistent NAP data undermines local search rankings.
Webhook
An HTTP callback that delivers real-time data from one system to another when an event occurs. Magnate360 uses webhooks to receive email open/click data from Resend and SMS replies from Twilio.
RAG
Retrieval-Augmented Generation. An AI technique that supplements a language model's responses with content retrieved from a specific knowledge base. Used in Magnate360's AI assistant to answer questions about BC real estate regulations.
IDX Feed
A real-time data connection that pulls active MLS listings into a realtor's website. Governed by board IDX agreements that set rules on display, attribution, and update frequency.
Turbopack
A Rust-based JavaScript bundler for Next.js that replaces Webpack. Provides significantly faster build and hot-reload times for large applications. Used in Magnate360's front-end development stack.
Core Web Vitals
Google's set of real-world performance metrics: Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), Interaction to Next Paint (INP), and Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS). Directly affects search rankings and user experience.

12Marketing

Drip Sequence
A series of automated emails sent over time to nurture a lead. In real estate, common sequences include welcome emails for new contacts and anniversary emails for past clients.
Lifecycle Stage
A contact's current position in the buying or selling journey: Lead, Active, Under Contract, Past Client, or Dormant. Determines which automated emails they receive.
Engagement Score
A numerical rating (0-100) measuring how actively a contact interacts with your communications. Based on email opens, clicks, showing requests, and recency of activity.
Open Rate
The percentage of delivered emails that were opened by recipients. Industry average for real estate is 20-25%. Above 30% is excellent.
Click Rate
The percentage of email recipients who clicked a link in the email. Industry average for real estate is 2-4%. Above 5% indicates highly relevant content.
Bounce Rate
The percentage of sent emails that could not be delivered. Hard bounces (invalid email) should trigger automatic suppression. Soft bounces (temporary) may retry.
Speed-to-Lead
The time between a lead inquiry and the first agent response. Industry data shows 78% of buyers work with the first agent to respond. Target: under 5 minutes.
SOI
Sphere of Influence. The network of people an agent knows personally — friends, family, neighbors, colleagues, and past clients. SOI referrals are typically the highest-conversion lead source for established agents.
Drip Campaign
An automated series of emails, texts, or calls sent to a contact over time. Keeps the agent top-of-mind without manual effort. Most effective when personalized to the contact's lifecycle stage.
CPC
Cost Per Click. The price paid for each click on a paid ad. For competitive real estate keywords on Google Ads, CPC ranges from $5–$50 depending on the market.
CPL
Cost Per Lead. The total ad spend divided by the number of leads generated. A key metric for evaluating paid advertising ROI in real estate.
A/B Testing
An experiment that shows two versions of content (e.g., email subject lines) to different groups to measure which performs better. Used to improve open rates and click rates over time.

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