Skip to main content

Reality Yet To Hit...

Reality of the market has yet to hit property brochures...


It’s almost  the end of 2012  and let’s face it, the property market is all about reality these days…some would say grim reality so why haven’t some estate agents tempered the grandiose  language in their brochures to reflect the general mood, one wonders?  It’s supposed to be a new era of transparency following the introduction of the  Property Services Regulation Act 2011 so shouldn’t that involve a rethink on the adjective  count  in the average brochure?
Take for example the use, or misuse,  of the word “residence”  which seems to apply to  the  pokiest townhouse and  modest three-bed semi. While referring to a small house as a residence  isn’t wrong exactly, it is a tad misleading, or it would be if you couldn’t see the photos. Maybe the hope is if they use the word often enough it will subliminally trick the buyer into thinking  they are buying Downton Abbey .
There seems to be a brochure  template that some agents sleepwalk through whereby all cul-de-sacs are quiet , all patios are perfect for al fresco dining and all south and west  facing gardens are sunny even in the depths of winter.
Properties are  attributed  feelings, they enjoy all sorts of things including the benefit of being in a  good location, they can boast and, most alarmingly,  they can even exude.
If they’ve got any age at all , they are invariably referred to as “charming”  and “characterful”,  the locations of properties  are often  “second to none”. Although that kinda depends on who you ask, doesn’t it? Communal grounds are often manicured which  roughly translated  usually  means “not meadowland” . The spiel is often finished off with “viewing is highly recommended”…well they would say that wouldn’t they?
And on the subject of  adjective counts, an estate agent in Carlow describes a house “in the beautiful picturesque village of Ballymurphy Co Carlow”, “a superb residence  that affords views in every direction and offers the opportunity for country living in a vibrant and welcoming community. The property itself is situated on approximately half an acre and is bounded by a beautiful stream. Surrounding the property are the foothills of Mount Leinster, and the spectacular scenery that accompanies them.”
Phew…I’m exhausted thinking about all that beauty and splendour. Wouldn’t it be easier all around to let the photos speak for themselves with some supporting detail from the estate agent. The savvy potential buyers of today won’t be buying a place on the strength of fancy descriptions so why bother?

Report by EDEL MORGAN - Irish Times

Popular posts from this blog

Property Ireland - Irish Land Values Go Up Like A Rocket & Fall Like A Stone...

Land values go up like a rocket and fall like a stone... SITE EVALUATION: Why would a developer bid €225,000 an acre in 1999 and €2.8m an acre in 2007? Bill Nowlan explains WHY HAS THE value of development land fallen so precipitously, by over 50 per cent in the past 12 months, when residential and other property values have only fallen by 25 per cent or 30 per cent? There is an old property cliché which says that "land values go up like a rocket and fall like a stone" and this seems to have been bourne out in Ireland over recent years. Why does this happen? To answer this question requires an insight into the way developers prepare their bids for development land and I set out below a glimpse into that process. Let me start by looking at how a developer in normal times estimates his bid for a plot of land with planning permission, which in estate agents' parlance is ready-to-go. The key starting point in a developers equations is the expected sale price of the finished b...

As Featured On Dublin Postcards, Ad's, U2 Video...

I see in the Irish Independent today an item concerning a favourite, Dublin landmark, of mine... "THEY have featured in numerous postcards and a very famous Guinness ad, but perhaps their most important cameo appearance came when they featured in U2s 'Pride (In The Name Of Love)' video. However, Dublin City Council does not believe the Poolbeg chimneys are iconic enough to place on their Record of Protected Structures. Following a request from Cllr Dermot Lacey (Lab) to have the landmark ESB chimneys placed on the protected record, city councillors heard that city planners had conducted a survey, history and full assessment of the chimneys. They concluded from this that while the Poolbeg chimneys were considered to be of a certain level of architectural, social and historical significance, they were not of sufficient value within the meaning of the Planning and Development Act, 2000. Complex The twin red and white chimney stacks measure 680 feet in height and were construc...

Property Crash Homes For Sale...

Hundreds of repossessed homes in Ireland to be sold by auction... UK property consultancy Allsop to hold auction in April at Dublin's Shelbourne hotel: Flats in Ireland that could have fetched €150,000 in the Celtic Tiger years are to be put on the market for as little as €25,000 (£21,000) in the country's first ever mass auction of repossessed homes. And, in a sign of how wide the property crash is, the latest item to turn up in liquidation sales in Dublin is a job lot of 15 cranes, including a pair towering over Anglo Irish Bank's half-built headquarters in the city's docklands. "Tower cranes were among the most sought-after heavy plant and machinery 10 years ago," Ricky Wilson of Wilsons Auctions says. "You couldn't buy them quick enough. Now they are left idle for two or three years on sites." He has 15 cranes worth €500,000 going on sale on 26 March, with German, Dutch and Polish buyers expressing interest. But it is the auction ...