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There have often been requests for defining acronyms and RE jargon that not all readers are familiar with. There have also been quite a few gems made up along the way by bloggers. Here are some of the most frequently requested or re-used terms, along with their anti-spin translations. Perhaps you have a few of your own? Discuss, enjoy...
HARM

Homedebtor (a.k.a. “recent homebuyer”): Perpetual debtor/serf who will probably never own the home outright, thanks to cyclical refinancing (used to fund conspicuous consumption) and property taxes.

FB/AFB (“Another F@cked Borrower”): Colorful synonym for homedebtor, coined by "SoCalMtgGuy".

Serial Refinancer: A Homedebtor/FB who is as addicted to mortgage refinancing, as a street addict is to crack. This type of FB typically refinances several times a year, almost always for the purpose of "liberating" more equity gains to purchase such life essentials as European vacations, plasma TVs, HumVees, and bling.

Loanowner: Another synonym for homedebtor or FB, that more accurately describes what a FB really "owns". Bap33 coined the derivative "Loanership", or the state of possessing a mortgage.

Jealous Bitter Renter/JBR: Originally a term used by housing bulls to disparage bearish non-homedebtors. Has since been co-opted by bears and is now used ironically. Technical definition: Someone who pays a homedebtor for the right to live in his home, at a huge discount and with no downside risk of falling property prices, rising property taxes or maintenance nightmares.

Jealous Bitter Owner/JBO: HelloKitty's complete 180 on "JBR". Basically a FB who must now watch as his/her home is dropping in value, even while their option-ARM rate ratchets up and negative equity swells. Soon-to-be a foreclosure statistic. Views happy, solvent care-free renters with growing bitterness and envy. Variants include JBH (Jealous Bitter Homedebtor) and JBL (Jealous Bitter Loanowner).

Sheeple/Sheople: Derogatory term for the vast, clueless, herd-following mass of homedebtors, who are unaware of the Bubble's existence, believe what MSM tells them, and have no idea of the ass-pounding they're about to receive.

Alligator: Term recently popularized by that media whore and self-help spruiker himself, Robert Kiyosaki. Refers to any unsuccessful investment that "eats" far more income than it generates, such as a neg-am financed Florida condo purchased anytime in the last 2-3 years for example. May be his only useful contribution to the world of finance.

McAlbatross: Term coined by skibum; a creative synonym for "alligator" (see definition) as well as a play on McMansion. FBs who are owned by their McAlbatross and cannot sell them for enough to cover mortgage, HELOCs, back taxes, etc. can be described as living “under house arrest” (see Coté-isms section).

Accidental landlord: A flopper who cannot sell his flip-house for either the wishing-price, or enough to cover the existing mortgage, so finds himself in the position of becoming an unintentional landlord. This type of landlord is easy to spot: he usually has simultaneous 'for rent' and 'for sale' listings on Craigslist for the same house. Accidental landlords are typically easy to bargain with, as they are usually underwater and cash-starved, which gives the renter plenty of leverage. However, renting from them also carries greater risk: if they sell the place, or the place goes into foreclosure, the new owner may not honor the prior rental agreement.

I/O (Interest-Only): Exotic mortgage loan product designed to attract more homedebtors by keeping initial payments marginally lower, while ensuring the homedebtor never builds any equity (except by perpetual appreciation).

Neg-Am (Negative Amortization, a.k.a. “Option ARMS”): Exotic mortgage loan product even more toxic than an I/O, in that the homedebtor falls even further into debt each month. Ending up upside-down is virtually guaranteed unless prices appreciate very quickly.

No-Doc (aka "Stated Income", "NINA"): Exotic mortgage loan product designed to get around federal/state lending requirements with regard to LTV ratio and borrower credit-worthiness, by allowing the borrower to declare “stated income/assets” without proof.

Stated-Outcome (aka "Liar-Loan"): A No-Doc loan where the lender deliberately inflates the buyer's income to whatever level is needed to “qualify” them for the loan amount.

NINJA (No Income, No Job, no Assets): Variants include "NINA". Also see "NAAVLP", "No-Doc", "Alligator" and "Stated Outcome".

NAAVLP™ (Negative Amortization Anal-Voodoo Loan Product): Term coined by the legendary Surfer-X to satirically encapsulate all exotic loans varieties (above). He is a Patrick.net "old-timer" who’s acerbic, anti-Boomer rants added much color to the early threads. An alternate definition was provided by Peter P, another blog "old-timer": National Association for the Advancement of Very Leveraged People.

Viable: Any mortgage capable of generating a commission for a mortgage broker. Redefined by "Thomas" from thehousingbubbleblog.com.

ARM (Adjustable-Rate Mortgage): Designed to keep the lender covered while interest rates shoot back up. Often used in conjunction with the “exotic” loan products above.

MEW (Mortgage Equity Withdrawal): Any form of additional debt/leverage on top of your original mortgage, using your house as collateral. Typically refers to cash-out refinancing, HELOCs and home equity loans (second mortgages), the use of which has skyrocketed in recent years. Designed to bury homedebtors even deeper and further fuel spending on frivolous bling and other nonessential consumption. Also see "Serial Refinancer" and "Equity Liberation".

Liberated Equity: An Orwellian industry-friendly euphemism for MEW originally coined by CAR Vice President and Chief Economist, Leslie Appleton-Young.

Monopoly Money (aka "funny money"): The anti-spin term for MEW or NAAVLP-derived debt. Used to counter RE industry Orwellian terminology like "liberated equity".

Appreciation: Debt & speculation-fueled inflation of real estate prices.

CPI: Government price index that only tracks goods and services that consumers don’t actually use or need, such as Chinese-made plastic lawn furniture.

Credit Score: Easily manipulated number allowing lenders to underwrite "exotic" loans to anyone with a pulse. Scratch "with a pulse" --made to ANYONE, period.

Real Estate Appraiser: A person who lies for a fee.

Unemployed Real Estate Appraiser: A person who refuses to lie for a fee.

Realtor® (aka "Realt-Whore®"): On either coast, a person who just recently used to be an Internet VC “entrepreneur” or a tech stock day-trader.

Speculator/Flipper: See "Realtor®". Popular variants include "Specuvestor" and "Investulator". Coined by OC Renter and Marinite.

Spruiker: Australian term for huckster, con-man or any slick showy (and presumably dishonest) salesman. Introduced to Patrick.net by Different Sean.

Heli-Ben (aka "B52-Ben", "Helicopter Ben"): Nickname for incoming Fed chief Benjamin Bernanke. Specifically lampoons a speech where he said the Fed could, as a last resort, drop cash from helicopters in order to fight deflation. “Bendover Bernanke” is another creative variant coined by NARB.

MIRAGE (Moneyed Immigrants, Rich Ancestors, Generous Expatriates): Acronym coined by HARM to lampoon the bulls’ argument that housing demand is being supported by cash-rich immigrants, wealthy parents and transplants from other states.

ILLUSION (Irrational Lending Lax Underwriting Speculative Investing Ownership Nonsense): Acronym coined by Dipanjan to describe what bears believe is really driving housing demand.

CHUMPS (Cunning Hard-eyed Ultra-savvy Market ProfessionalS): Acronym coined by HARM to lampoon the bulls’ argument that most recent buyers who used exotic loan products are market-savvy professionals who fully understand the downside risks and are financially prepared for them.

AEDS (Acquired Equity Deficiency Syndrome): Very un-PC acronym coined by Allah to describe underwater borrowers with falling equity as the RE market downturn gets underway.

Chewbacca (short for “Chewbacca defense”): A legal strategy first used by the fictionalized Johnny Cochran during a South Park episode. A favorite of Praetorian’s, it refers to any argument based on non sequiturs and/or circular logic for the purpose of confusing one’s opponent into submission.

Pergraniteelâ„¢: Pergo fake wood floors, granite countertops, and steel appliances. Coined by SJ_Jim, an amalgamation of today's most popular home "improvements", which supposedly allows sellers to command a 200% premium above what they paid for the place.

ASSHOLES (Arrogant Self-Serving Highly Over-Leveraged Egotistical Speculators): Not-so-subtle acronym coined by motorcityjim. Self explanatory.

Schadenfreude: Delighting in other’s misfortune, such as feeling joy while watching over-leveraged specuvestors crash and burn.

Torschlusspanik: The panic a crowd has of a door slamming in it’s face (or of not getting on board a movement or opportunity on time). Prospective homedebtors/sheeple have this feeling very frequently.

REdarwinism: The study of the survival of the fittest in the real estate market. Coined by SFWoman.

NEOs (Negative Equity "Owners"): Homedebtors who owe the bank more than what their property is worth. Also see: FBs, Homedebtors, Speculator/Flippers, Sheeple. Coined by Owneroccupier.

Buyer-User: Industry term, coined by Mike Dwight of Frontier Homes, for someone who buys a home to actually (*gasp*) live in it. An increasingly rare and endangered species in California.

Buyer's Market: When used by a Realt-Whore®, this means a housing market with exploding inventory, plunging sales and sellers that refuse to negotiate on price.

Repartments: Condo conversions that have been converted right back to apartments, leaving recent buyers completely screwed (and surrounded by JBRs). Term coined by Sacramento Bee reporter, Molly Dugan.

Jingle Mail: Term coined by early bubble prognosticator Bill Fleckenstein, referring to homeowners who have "mailed in the keys because they can't make the payments and no longer have any equity in their homes". Bound to become a popular trend in the very near future.

Wishing Price: Another Robert Cote original. A fine companion for the more commonly used "needs-based pricing"; referring to seller's unrealistic/absurd asking prices based on greed/need, and their failure to recognize the new reality of a changed/declining market.

SILSIH (Suck It Long, Suck It Hard): Not-so-subtle acronym expressing defiance against housing perma-bulls and trolls, coined by the legendary Surfer-X who also coined NAAVLPâ„¢.

Karmic Bubble Correction (KBC): Term coined by newsfreak to characterize pain caused by the Housing Bubble's inevitable collapse in terms of Karmic causality. Those who are driven by negative, destructive emotions (fear & greed) are ultimately undone by it, which is karmic-ally just.

Bubble Battle Fatigue (BBF): Term coined by yours truly to characterize the cumulative psychological damage caused by constantly doing battle with housing perma-bulls, trolls and unrepentant specuvestors. May result in sporadic grouchiness, ennui, and the tendency to mumble aloud about "cap rates", "rent vs. buy" & "ain't feedin' no damn squirrels" at inappropriate moments. If left untreated, extreme cases may result in total bear capitulation, where the subject assumes the identity of the trolls he's fighting and may even begin to recklessly speculate in RE.

Prodigal Parents: Term coined by astrid (or perhaps credit should go to Sinclair Lewis?) to describe spendthrift hedonistic Boomer/SilentGen parents who have no concept of thrift, saving for the future, deferred gratification, etc., and therefore end up being supported (and financial burden on) their Gen-X/Y children.

UnBoomers: Term coined by LILLL to describe those who are technically Baby Boomers by birth (1946-1964), but share few of the dominant values and characteristics of that generation: self-serving narcissism, hedonism, greed, smugness, sense of entitlement, grossly inflated self esteem, lack of compassion for others, condescending attitude towards later generations, etc. "UnBoomers" include virtually every regular poster on Patrick.net who falls within this birth date range.

Potemkin American Work Ethic: Term coined by Jimmy Jazz of Ben Jones' Housingbubbleblog. Defined by Jimmy as "all style, no substance, instant gratification".

Dark Towers of Financial Doom: Term coined by ajh referring to a failed condo development in Australia, later generalised by DinOR to cover any High-rise condo tower that has been sold almost exclusively to flippers pre-construction, and which is now completed but basically uninhabited. Credit also due to Voice of San Diego reporter Will Careless, for his May, 2005 article "Downtown's Dark Towers".

"Any two will do": Term coined by DinOR of Patrick.net. Refers to the current ('relaxed' to put it mildly) standard that Congress applies to establishing "primary residency" for a particular house in order to qualify for the $250k/500k capital gains exemption. "Any two will do" means that, if Mr. Specuvestor claims to have lived in the house for any 2 years out of a 5 year period, he can get the full exemption. In practice, nobody bothers to check anyway, so your typical Specuvestor can have 300 "primary residences" for all the government cares.

HaHa: Patrick.net's monetary base unit of measure. As defined by Randy H:

For current purposes, 1HaHa = USD 150,000. The precise definition of 1HaHa is 3x National median family income*, for which HaHa (after which the unit of measure is named) stands as a reasonable substitute. Therefore, we may peg the unit of 1HaHa to HaHa himself so long as:
1) HaHa remains in the state of California; preferably in the San Francisco Bay Area;
2) HaHa’s family median income remains within alpha=.05 of the predicted Bay Area median income level;
3) HaHa is still living.
At such time as HaHa becomes disqualified, the base formula may be still used to determine the HaHa unit of measure or a more suitable peg may be established which captures the spirit and intent of the measure.**
*Note that 1HaHa is a relative measure vis-a-vis National median family income compared to SFBA median family income. Therefore, the 3x multiplier will also be a dynamic variable in this system of measure.
**It is for the reasons of this inherit complexity that we prefer to us the HaHa measure as shortcut nomenclature when discussing real-estate issues on this blog. It’s also funny.

Inflation: Standard macroeconomic definition: The erosion of the purchasing power of one's currency over time, due to an increase in the aggregate money supply. As defined by the Fed & BLS:
Price of stuff regular people need goes up = NOT inflation
Price of stuff regular people DON’T need goes up = inflation

Real-Estate-Industrial-Complex (REIC): Variant of Eisenhower's Military-Industrial Complex, referring to the banking/mortgage/Realtor/NAR-dominated crime syndicate that currently constitutes the Shadow Government behind the public government behind the Fed behind the cannibalistic aliens who are hell-bent on turning the human race into perma-debtors and/or meat popsicles. Coined by... possibly one of the guys over at Ben's blog. There are other close variants in circulation, such as RMIC (Realtor-Mortgage Industrial Complex). Still not convinced? Then clearly, you must be one of "them".

Banksters: Members of the powerful REIC cabal of corrupt mortgage lenders and central bankers who are hard at work, bankrupting the middle and working classes. Banker + gangster = bankster. Get it?

Escalation of Commitment: (from Wikipedia) "the phenomenon where people increase their investment in a decision despite new evidence suggesting that the decision was probably wrong." As applied specifically to the housing bubble, the concept that as f@cked borrowers dig themselves deeper and deeper into debt, their financial commitment to (futilely) trying to "save" their failed investment grows exponentially, along with desperation. Practical upshot: you do not want to be a: (a) friend, or (b) tenant of such a person, because they will most likely try to (a) borrow money from you (which you will never see again), or (b) jack up your rent to cover their mounting losses.

Mental Accounting: (thanks to Randy H for much input) Concept referring to the powerful role of seller and buyer psychology in promoting rapid price inflation, but working against rapid price DE-flation (hence the term, "sticky on the way down").

Seller example: Sellers tend to set their mental "fair market" value of their own house based on the highest comps they've heard about in their neighborhood. If comps begin to fall, they are often very reluctant to lower their price, even if doing so would still mean realizing a huge profit over what they paid only a few years ago --and getting out early enough to prevent suffering an even greater loss of value in the future. Most sellers also do not mentally "book" the erosion of the value of their house due to cumulative inflation. Even though selling a house 10 years later for what you originally paid for it would mean a substantial loss of wealth due to inflation, most sellers do not view it this way. This thinking process is clearly non-rational, but quite natural.

Buyer example: A buyer prepared to spend $4,000/mo on mortgage (buyers don’t even think in PITI, though they should) is still prepared to spend $4,000/mo no matter how much homes drop in price (all else being equal). Unless the buyer loses a job or takes a pay cut, they’ll just buy a higher-valued home which drops into their target price range. They won’t go buy the home they wanted in 2004 for 30% less. In fact, they may have even saved up more $ thinking that they’d need more to buy into a rising market. The fact the market is dipping only means they get an extra bedroom, a hot tub, or a nice yard. This also explains why many buyers do not understand or question the terms of their own mortgages --they only care about the monthly payment and do not "sweat" the fine print. Hence, the dramatic rise of NAAVLPs and "Joe Howmuchamonth".

This explains a lot of the “anomalies” people intuitively feel about the current statistics, particulary the recent phenomemenon of rising median sales prices in the face of plunging sales volume and exploding inventory.

Phantom Inventory: Per Randy H, a phenomenon where unrealistic sellers try to list an asset for a price far above its market value. This phenomenon exists in all markets to some extent, but becomes especially pronounced in declining bubble markets (such as housing right now) and such phantom sellers may eclipse all other sellers. Phantom Inventory is very much related to sticky-price action and "mental accounting" (see section above). Per Randy:

"If you think back to your basic econ 101, there were always just two simple curves or lines, Supply and Demand. Where they meet is the price. In real-estate, there isn’t just one Supply or Demand line for a given type of home in a given area. For existing home sellers especially, there is a great reluctance to drop prices, namely because it is their only point of control. What happens is sellers self-select onto different supply curves, with some willing to drop prices and others not.

Obviously, after buyers quit buying on the higher supply curve, those sellers have supply that isn’t really in the market. It’s phantom supply, because no one will buy it. It’s like the guy who lists something common on E-Bay for 5x what the other thousand sellers are asking. That guy’s item isn’t real inventory, it is phantom.

The traditional job of a real estate agent in this case should be to educate sellers about the market, and convince them to move their listing from phantom to real. I think this is one of the things that will help to shake out newbie “me-too” realtors from the true pros. A pro can still make good money in a down market if they are good at getting sellers to price to sell."

Pocket Listing: In general, refers to an insider deal, where the seller works directly with a Realtor or mortgage broker and does not list the house in the MLS or internet/newspapers. Per FormerApartmentBroker, "“pocket listing” can describe both an actual exclusive listing agreement that “was still in our pocket and not yet in the system” (the most common use of the term) and a verbal agreement with an owner that he will look at offers and pay us a fee if we sell his property even though the property is not actually listed." Corrupt Realtors are known to use pocket listings to set aside the best properties for themselves and their friends/cronies ("cherry-picking") in order to purchase them for well below market value. Per Randy H, this corrupt practice is common in Marin County.

Coté-isms: Satirical acronyms or terms coined and/or popularized by the talented Robert Coté. Targeted squarely at hypocritical NIMBYists and self-serving left-leaning activists with an anti-development and/or anti-automobile ideological agenda. This agenda is often (mis-)represented to the public as environmentalism or as a "cure" for urban sprawl and/or foreign oil dependence.

SmUG = Smart Urban Growth
SmUGLers = Smart Urban Growth Lovers
NUTS = New Urbanist Transit Supporter
TODLers = Transit Only Development Lovers
FOAMers = Forces Of Anti-Mobility
TROGlodytes = Transit Only Groupies
PEVERT = Promoting Exclusion of Vehicles Except Regional Transit
OPAC = Obsolete Pre-Automotive Cities (credit Prog JF Scott)
CLODs = Chicken-Little Oil Depletionists
TPVs = Transit Potemkin Villages
NURB = New Urbanism

"wishing price" : Robert's tongue-in-cheek response to homedebtor's absurd asking prices.
"under house arrest" : Robert's tongue-in-cheek description for FBs holding McAlbatrosses they cannot sell for wishing price.
"Housing Pustule": It isn’t a “bubble.” Bubbles are cute , they float along on lasy summer breezes. Little children, green lawns. Bubble baths, exotic models, smooth skin. No, this is a housing pustule and it is time we call it that.

The pustule has ruptured.
The puss is oozing.
The festering boil has necrotized.
The canker has ulcerated.

Magick Golden Wonka Housing Ticket: Metaphor for the highly cyclical and volatile housing market, that is increasingly being driven by wildly fluctuating credit expansion, the international carry-trade and mass mortgage securitization. Coined by HARM. This puts the “traditional” homebuyer (who intends to *gasp* actually live in the property) at an extreme disadvantage during the “up” market cycles vs. risk-loving speculators and flippers, who are awash in easy credit during these periods. This RE market model (”new paradigm”?) contrasts with the more conservative housing market of previous generations, when mortgage credit expansions were generally not as extreme (Roaring 20’s excepted), and when housing prices mostly tracked overall inflation.

ass-hat: Speculative asset that generates no income or positive revenue stream; the "investment" value thereof derives entirely from anticipated ongoing price appreciation. Coined by Peter P.

credit crunch n [Latin creditum krisis] 1: general situation where grant of monetary loans are withheld from persons without the income based ability to repay 2: period of re-instated prudent lending policies following period of prosmiscuous loan grants; esp : loans formerly granted based on presumed perpetual appreciation of mortgaged asset, and the ability of the lender to divest collection responsibility through favorable sale of receivables. Definition courtesy of HeadSet.

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