MetaChat - Question about estate agents and ethics

MetaChat is an informal place for MeFites to touch base and post, discuss and chatter about topics that may not belong on MetaFilter. Questions? Check the FAQ. Please note: This is important.

06 September 2006

Question about estate agents and ethics Is it ok to ruthlessly edit the copy (full of typos and inaccuracies - 'top floor' when it's second floor of three, 'this apartment comprises from two bedrooms...', 'eclectic heaters') that one's estate agent has already put online to sell your flat?→[More:]

I'm in two minds - the agent is a nice chap and is going all out to sell this flat quickly for us, but he (or his minion) can't write for toffee. I sent a calmly worded email containing a rewrite of the whole paragraph, but his email address isn't working. So I'd have to do it over the phone, which is a whole other kettle of kittens.

Should I accept it as my problem that I am offended by the bad writing (it's all understandable - just the one piece of inaccurate description needs correcting) or am I justified in asking them (nicely) to change it? Is this a good opportunity for offering them my professional editing services?

post by: altolinguistic at: 03:29 | 11 comments

Your entittled to dew you're thing. (Damn, that's hard to do deliberately!) Anyway, you're the client, and you're in charge. Yeah, ask pleasantly, but stress (if necessary) that this is not you being pedantic, but wanting accuracy in the listing.

Another thing to keep in mind is that some potential buyers might be put off by sloppy language, and wouldn't even consider your listing. Don't give them the opportunity!

posted by rob511 06 September | 03:37

Hahaha! I want me some eclectic heaters; I'll buy it right now!

No question that the text needs to be fixed, altolinguistic.

posted by taz 06 September | 03:50

entittled... heh.

Thanks for the confirmation, guys - I've always been a pedant but have found out the hard way that people often don't like that. So I try to keep pedantry for when it's most appropriate - thing is, I can no longer tell when that is, outside of work...

This is just the one-paragraph basic description - the full details should be up today. Sigh.

posted by altolinguistic 06 September | 04:19

It's so ~~egregiously~~ ingeniously bad, perhaps the estate agent is counting on the listing being forwarded to lots of email address for the humor value, resulting in exponentially more people seeing it?

posted by orthogonality 06 September | 06:28

For a time I worked for the advertising section of a local paper and can confirm that estate agents can't write for shit. Most can't even spell accommodation.

I seem to remember that "with access to communial garden" was a particularly common fuck up.

posted by dodgygeezer 06 September | 07:21

Does your agent have an assistant? Sometimes they delegate and forget to check over what got delegated.

posted by bunnyfire 06 September | 07:57

good point, bunnyfire. I'm trying to work out how to do this tactfully. But yes, in the end they are working for us.

dodgy - yes, most of the agents round here spell it 'accomodation' too. And they have verb and preposition formations that are entirely their own. ('garden laid to decking').

posted by altolinguistic 06 September | 08:39

Umm.. yeah, fire the guy and find someone who cares about his clients.

posted by knave 06 September | 10:01

I used to live in a place with eclectic heaters. I wouldn't call it a selling point.

posted by box 06 September | 12:01

Fuck appearing pedantic, I've always thought. How the ad is written definitely affects how your listing is perceived, and you're not paying the guy to make it look bad.
(I've spent the whole morning wangling with the boss over how to write grammatically appropriate descriptions of his work ...sigh)

posted by casarkos 06 September | 13:49

I am pedant, hear me *ROAR*!!!

posted by altolinguistic 07 September | 08:23

← Thanks for fixing MeCha || Ducky! OMG! →

HOME || REGISTER || LOGIN