Property listings have been known to use a bit of artistic licence to catch a potential buyer or renter’s eye, but now one user is turning the tables on agency jargon.
Blogger and web developer Liam Butler has developed a tool that spots and changes estate agent jargon on portals such as Rightmove and Zoopla as well as agency websites to remove the clichés and replace them with something deemed more honest.
The plugin, named Shitemove, can be downloaded and attached to Chrome or Firefox browsers and will automatically replace phrases deemed as clichés on the page. For example, it will take words such as “stunning” and “stylish” and replace them with words like “passable” and “tacky”.
Users can also add other websites for it to translate.
A section on the Shitemove website asking if the tool is unfair to landlords and estate agents simply says “no” and links to another website showing tiny rental accommodation in London.
See an example below of how one listing has been altered – “brilliant” shopping facilities become “horrendous”. A “most desirable” location has been changed to “Godforsaken”.
A listing on Rightmove before the tool is used
Comments (3)
Some might think that “the tool” refers to the creator; not the creation.
Pity, though, that instead of concentrating on wording which may or may not be embellishments, it could not instead focus on the content in terms of spelling and grammar. It would be far more useful.
Prime example of YET ANOTHER Estate Agent who either cannot spell storey – or simply doesn’t know the difference between the two words.
I despair sometimes…
This “tool” is presumably meant as a joke, since all it seems to do is replace one (albeit perhaps over-enthusiastic) adjective with another expressing the opposite. So “desirable” becomes “Godforsaken.” I can’t say I am blessed with an intimate knowledge of Elstree, and perhaps “Godforsaken” is actually more appropriate, but if the whole process is done automatically, without any human input, one can only wonder how a multi-million pound pad in Eaton Square might end up being described! Mind you, I do like the name Shitemove…
Sounds like an onlne version of Roy Brooks the 1960s Chelsea estate agent who told it as it was
https://www.mortgagestrategy.co.uk/issues/11-september-2006/remembering-roy-brooks-the-honest-estate-agent/