Grammar and style
Real estate and Canadian terms
The following spellings and forms are standard. When in doubt, default to these.
Use this
Not this
Homebuyer
Home buyer
Homeowner
Home owner
Home seller
Homeseller
Preapproved
Pre-approved
Prequalified
Pre-qualified
Turnkey
Turn-key
Role-play (verb)
Roleplay
Real estate professional
REALTOR® (trademarked by NAR; avoid unless referring to a NAR member specifically)
Canadian
US standard
Cancelled
Canceled
Centre
Center
Cheque
Check (financial)
Colour, favour, honour, labour, neighbourhood
Color, favor, honor, labor, neighborhood
Licence (noun) / License (verb)
License (both noun and verb)
Metre
Meter
Practice (noun) / Practise (verb)
Practice (both)
Storey (as in floors of a building)
Story
Travelling, travelled
Traveling, traveled
When Canadian conventions apply
Apply Canadian spelling to all content produced specifically for Canadian audiences: Canadian-market emails, event materials for Canadian events, and any copy where the geographic context is explicitly Canada.
For content that serves both US and Canadian audiences, avoid words with spelling differences altogether and write around them.
