8 memory aids chosen because they retrieve a real exam distinction. Each includes what it encodes, where it fails, a worked example, and a source so the shortcut never replaces the rule.
Facts checked against the current PSI Candidate Information Bulletin and GREC sources. Editorial standards.
What can a mnemonic do?
A mnemonic can retrieve a stable list or sorting sequence. It cannot decide which law, party, relationship, document, time, or calculation base applies. Use it after classifying the facts, then test it on a fresh scenario.
OLD CAR
Georgia
A retrieval prompt for duties commonly tested in a client relationship.
Obedience to lawful instructions
Loyalty to the client's interests
Disclosure of required facts
Confidentiality, including after the engagement
Accounting for money and documents
Reasonable care and diligence
Why it earns a place
It prevents a candidate from forgetting accounting or surviving confidentiality when a Georgia scenario clearly establishes a client.
Limit
The mnemonic does not decide whether the person is a client. Find the written brokerage engagement first, and use the exact statutory or engagement duty the facts trigger. OLD CAR is the common-law fiduciary list; under BRRETA a Georgia broker is not a fiduciary unless a signed writing says so, and confidentiality covers information the client asked to keep confidential.
Worked example
A seller client tells the agent the lowest acceptable price and asks that it stay confidential. Confidentiality, not disclosure to the buyer customer, controls that negotiating information.
Source basis: Georgia BRRETA framework
PITI
Four common components of a monthly housing payment.
Principal
Interest
Taxes
Insurance
Why it earns a place
It catches questions that provide principal and interest but ask for the broader monthly housing payment.
Limit
Association dues, mortgage insurance, and other charges may also appear. Read what the question includes instead of assuming PITI is the entire cash requirement.
Worked example
$1,240 principal and interest + $350 taxes + $160 insurance = $1,750 PITI.
Source basis: National financing and calculation concepts
PETE
The four government powers that affect real property.
Police power
Eminent domain
Taxation
Escheat
Why it earns a place
The words are short, distinct, and frequently tested through scenarios rather than definitions.
Limit
Name the power from the government action. Zoning usually points to police power; taking for public use with compensation points to eminent domain.
Worked example
A city rezones land to limit industrial use. That is police power, not eminent domain, because the facts do not describe a taking.
Source basis: National land-use and ownership outline
MARIA
Five fact groups used to analyze whether an item is a fixture.
Method of attachment
Adaptation to the real estate
Relationship of the parties
Intention of the annexing party
Agreement between the parties
Why it earns a place
It forces a facts-first analysis when an exam stem combines physical attachment, custom fit, and a written agreement.
Limit
No single letter always controls. The written agreement and the complete facts can outweigh how firmly an item appears attached.
Worked example
Custom shelving is bolted in, but the signed lease identifies it as the tenant's trade fixture. The agreement and relationship matter.
Source basis: National property ownership concepts
A sentence prompt for the seven federal Fair Housing Act protected classes.
Race
Color
National origin
Religion
Sex
Familial status
Disability
Why it earns a place
It retrieves all seven without adding income source as a federal class or duplicating national origin.
Limit
State and local law may protect additional classes. The prompt covers the federal Fair Housing Act list tested on the national outline.
Worked example
Steering a family away from a building because they have children implicates familial status.
Source basis: United States Department of Housing and Urban Development
Price, Note, Forty, Mills
Georgia
The order of the four Georgia calculation bases candidates most often switch.
Price begins Georgia transfer-tax analysis
Note begins intangible recording-tax analysis
Forty percent of fair market value gives assessed value
Mills apply per $1,000 of assessed value
Why it earns a place
The prompt starts with the base, which is where most state-math errors occur before arithmetic begins.
Limit
It does not replace the official fraction, cap, exemption, or question-specific rounding rule. Write the complete formula after naming the base.
Worked example
A $300,000 price with a $240,000 note uses $300,000 for transfer tax and $240,000 for intangible recording tax.
Source basis: Georgia Department of Revenue guidance
Adjust the comp, never the subject
The direction rule for sales-comparison adjustments.
Comparable is superior on a feature: subtract from the comparable
Comparable is inferior on a feature: add to the comparable
Why it earns a place
It removes the most common sign error before the candidate begins a multi-adjustment table.
Limit
The rule does not tell you the adjustment amount. Use the market-supported amount supplied by the question.
Worked example
The comparable has a pool worth $20,000 and the subject does not, so subtract $20,000 from the comparable.
Source basis: National valuation and market-analysis concepts
Net for cap, gross for GRM
A two-line separation of the income calculations.
Net operating income pairs with capitalization rate
Gross rent pairs with gross rent multiplier
Why it earns a place
It prevents using gross rent in a cap-rate setup or operating expenses in a GRM question.
Limit
NOI excludes debt service, income taxes, depreciation, and capital expenditures. Follow the inputs the question supplies.
Worked example
$48,000 NOI divided by $600,000 value gives an 8% cap rate. A GRM would require price and gross rent instead.
Source basis: National valuation and calculation concepts
Mastery and next lesson
Write the device from memory, explain its limit, and apply it to two new scenarios after a delay. Then move to practice by topic. If the error is a confused pair rather than a forgotten list, use the common traps field guide.
Using mnemonics well
Facts checked against the current PSI Candidate Information Bulletin and GREC sources. Editorial standards.
Are mnemonics enough to pass the Georgia real estate exam?
No. They help retrieve a fixed list or sorting rule. They cannot classify the relationship, document, timing, jurisdiction, or exception in a scenario. Pair each mnemonic with examples and mixed questions.
Which mnemonic should I learn first?
Use the one attached to a demonstrated weakness. For many Georgia candidates that is the written-engagement test plus OLD CAR, or Price, Note, Forty, Mills for state calculations.
How do I know a mnemonic is mastered?
Recall every element without the page, state the device's limit, apply it to a new scenario, and still get the rule right after a 24-hour delay.