'Oozes location': why property ads are so oddly written

Opinion: the language used to sell property to potential buyers is linguistically rich, unique and usually downright odd

By Chris Fitzgerald, Mary Immaculate College

With demand for housing in Ireland far exceeding supply and prices creeping up towards Celtic Tiger levels, more people than ever are clicking into property websites to peruse listings of potential homes. Those who are in this unenviable position will be all too familiar with the type of language that is used to present property to potential buyers. These ads are linguistically rich, unique and often, let's face it, odd in their descriptive nature. What is it that makes these ads different from other types of discourse and how have they come to be like this?

Let’s look at some examples in order to answer these questions. What stands out most in property listings is the number of pairs of descriptive words. In Irish property websites, these most often start with well and are followed by any of a list of adjectives. This long list includes well furnished, well situated, well maintained. Almost any space can be described as 'well proportioned’ to the point that this phrase seems to lose any relationship to a set definition.

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From RTÉ Radio 1's Today With Claire Byrne, are property ads over-promising on location?

Derelict houses that need substantial investment to be made habitable are presented as opportunities for buyers with a ‘keen eye’ who can make the hovel a home with a touch of creativity. What is being sold here is the potential and not the present reality. Estate agents attempt to turn the obvious negatives into positives. If a property is not in ‘turnkey condition’, it is ‘an ideal investment opportunity’ often with ‘the potential for expansion’ subject to the minor detail of planning permission. Small properties are spun as being ‘quaint’, ‘cosy’ and often ‘make great use of space’.

At the higher end of the cost spectrum, descriptions of houses veer into full on property porn territory. Here, the meaning doesn’t seem to matter as much as the sense of superiority created by phrases such as ‘commanding aspect’, ‘alluring sensibility’ and ‘domineering façade’. Adjectives that are usually reserved for people are employed to provide descriptions of gardens that are ‘generous’, kitchens that are ‘endearing’ and spaces that are ‘discreet’.

When estate agents struggle to find the positives, they tend to repeat the same idea in different ways. One Limerick semi-d was described as ‘beautifully appointed'. It also apparently ‘oozes location’, is ‘conventionally positioned’ and is ‘prominently located’. All of these, of course, are different ways of saying that the house is in a good location, so why all of the repetition with terms that would not be found anywhere else?

From RTÉ Radio 1's Morning Ireland, Cian McCormack reports on how increasing house prices in Co Clare reflect a national trend

The ubiquity of property television programmes has no doubt contributed to the use of such language to describe Irish homes. These shows didn’t invent the language, but they are partly responsible for disseminating and normalising it. Hugh Wallace is known for his use of alliteration (fun-filled family homes full of passion and pleasure) as he sums up his opinions on Home of the Year. In Cheap Irish Homes, Maggie Molloy has been known to describe what most would see as downtrodden derelict dwellings (eat your heart out Hugh) as ‘the dream’.

It is possible to have some sympathy for these presenters whose job it is to attempt to repeatedly describe properties in new ways. I’m sure there is a thesaurus just out of shot in most of these sequences with many of the superlatives crossed out for having been used already. The issue arises, just as in political rhetoric, when the language use is intentionally obscure or even deceptive.

Just as there are genres of music, movies and literature, there are genres of language. Property ads and listings represent a genre that is unique in its descriptive repertoire. A genre of language is successful if there are shared expectations between the creators and consumers of the language. We have come to expect these types of expressions when we open the property section of a newspaper or browse through the many websites advertising property for sale or rent. Estate agents have established this genre and we have become so used to it that we barely notice how odd it really is.

From RTÉ Radio 1's Morning Ireland, Tommy Meskill on how the Oireachtas Housing Committee are looking at ways to bring derelict and vacant properties back to life.

Language use is bound to the outcome that language users wish to achieve. In the case of estate agents’ language in property listings, it is their job to persuade people to be interested in what they have to sell. The language of persuasion is what marketing deals in, and this often takes the form of some kind of language trickery. Think of the ads you see that intentionally play with conventional grammar to be more memorable; I’m lovin’ it, Impossible is nothing, Experience amazing are all slogans that might be deemed ungrammatical, but they work because this is also what makes them memorable.

While property listings may often stretch the truth, they are not complete lies. Estate agents have an inherent ability to expand the kernels of positivity so that anything apparently negative seems irrelevant. Perhaps we all have something to learn from estate agents’ creativity in focusing on the positives to the point at which they overshadow the evident negatives. Maybe 2022 isn’t a year where we face into more climate disaster, pandemic anxiety and unprecedented inflation; maybe 2022 is really a year of unparalleled potential with a commanding aspect.

Dr Chris Fitzgerald is a postdoctoral Linguistics researcher at Mary Immaculate College. He is involved in a project investigating language use in online work meetings.

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