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Where have all the proofreaders and spellcheckers gone?

Does no one proofread their work anymore? And what about the spellchecker tools are they all broken? I know I am probably being a little over dramatic but I am seeing more and more listings for Spring Texas homes with errors.

Including these that I directly copied from our local MLS:

Physical Property Description - Public: WOW! Custom home on huge cul-de-sac lot. Jenn-Air convection oven & mircowave 2007, flat surface range 2006, & 2 panties in kitchen.

What .... 2 panties in kitchen? Are the sellers really including 2 panties in the sale of their home? I thought the lack of proof reading was hilarious. But I don't think the sellers would consider it quite as funny.

And

Physical Property Description - Public: DECORATORS HOME FEATURING FAUX FINISHED WALLS, SLATE FLOORS IN DEN, KITCHEN, BATH, ENTRY, PLUMBING FIXTURES AND SINKS REPLACED, GRANITE COUNTER IN MASTER BATH WITH CERAMIC TILE FLOORS AND COPPER PLUMBING, 2′ BLINDS THROUGHOUT

I have not been in this home so I can not say with 100% certainty that the description is not accurate. The home could have 2 foot blinds. But I have never seen 2 foot blinds. Now 2 inch blinds those I have seen.

And

Physical Property Description - Public: BRING ALL OFFERS, SELLERS ANXIOUS!!Wonderful large floorplan. 4/2.5/2 updated home. Laminage/wood/tile flooring downstairs. Carpeted upstairs. Recent paint inside. Stainless steel stove and dishwasher. Washer/Dryer and Frige are negotiable!

I wonder if Laminage is the French spelling for Laminate? And what is a Frige? According to Wikipedia, Frige is an Anglo-Saxon love goddess. Hmm ... maybe the sellers have a statue of the love goddess that is negotiable with the sale of their home?

And

Physical Property Description - Public: THIS 4 BEDROOM 2 1/2 BATH HOME IS LOCATED IN CYPRESS FOREST SUBDIVISION WITH EASY ACCESS TO I-45. FEATURES INCLUDE COVERED FRONT PORCH AND COVERED REAR PATIO. INSIDE HAS LARGE LIVING AREA WITH FIREPLACE, RECESSED LIGHTING THROUGHOUT THRU OUT,

Did the listing agent add the two different spellings of through out for additional emphasis. Or could the agent simply not make up his mind on which spelling to use so he decided to use them both.

Maybe I am expecting too much and I am being too critical. I am sure from time to time when I am in a hurry I forget to thoroughly proofread an email or forget to use the spellchecker tool on a post. But when it comes to marketing my clients homes, I proof and I use the little spellchecker tool. Because my sellers are counting on me to do a professional job and I am not going to let them down by advertising 2 panties in kitchen instead of 2 pantries in kitchen. Oh what a difference the smallest details make.

Posted by Jill Wente - Spring TX Real Estate on 03/03/2009 03:48 PM

Comments (23)

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23 Comments on Where have all the proofreaders and spellcheckers gone?

MAR

Welcome to Activerain, Jill.

LOL Good to see you up on my dashboard.

Well I do think that panites was spelled correctly! This does make for some laughs but I would also use these examples when doing a listing presentation to show potential customer how you will better serve them then your competition!

Alright i did'nt proof read my commentr, I meant to say customers nto customer.

Thanks, Missy. I have been on AR since September 2007 but have not posted on AR much recently. I have been focused more on posting on my outside blog regularly.

Sometimes our MLS descriptions just crack me up.

Jill - That is hilarious, and yes I think I've seen more of them lately. I better go check and make sure we don't have mistakes! ~Rita

Kari: If the panties was spelled correctly then it is TMI (too much information) for me. So let's hope not. This transparency thing only needs to be taken so far.

I see many of these typos and am guilty of a few myself. Unfortunately some words are spelled correctly but not used correctly would be skipped over

Whether your being to critical or not it was funny. BTW I am spell checking now. The panties and 2 foot blinds were really funny.

We are all typing way too fast and as usual, our fingers/mouths are outrunning our brains.

I would need a constant proofreader as my fingers and mind do not always work in sync....

Lisa: I frequently see 2 foot blinds and 42 foot cabinets in our MLS property descriptions. The builders must be constructing houses for giants.

Love the examples...spell check will catch spelling errors but skip right over grammer errors, like "right not" for "right now".

Very true comments on the grammer errors. But these are examples of how real estate agents are marketing their sellers homes. I think we should all slow down for just one moment and proofread our work.

Hi Jill ~ Great topic! I also hate "frig" for fridge (and I know there's no "d" in refrigerator!) At least some of the examples you gave could be chalked up to typos. I really think spellcheck is part of the problem. My personal pet peeve in MLS is using "quite" instead of "quiet" -it's rampant in our MLS.

I also believe that spellcheck is the root - or at least partially responsible for - the way too common problem with mixing up the possessive and the plural. I usually don't use spellcheck but once when I did it highlighted a plural word as incorrect (it wasn't) and was ok with it when an apostrophe was used instead. The misuse of the apostrophe or the absence of it when "your" is used instead of "you're" makes me hoopy.

So remember - you're walking home to your quiet house. And we sell properties - not property's. We take offers - not offer's.

Jumping off my soapbox.

Liz (and I'll spellcheck this just in case!)

Hi Jill,

Panties in the kitchen! I've shown many a home, but have never come across such a thing! :)

Don't forget me if you learn of anyone moving to "The OC"

Michael
949.495.8600

I agree that misspellings look sloppy. Sometimes, though, it's baby boomer eyes.... (We can't read the fine print.)

Liz: One of my personal pet peeves is the use of "Hurry this one won't last" in the MLS description and then you see the days on market is 221. I have more pet peeves on MLS descriptions which I think I will make into a follow up post.

I agre, peope need to realy start usin the spell checkr! (joke) I can't agree with you more, in Florida Realtors tend to "overlook" a lot of spelling errors, too. Clever blog idea, Jill.

Thanks for the laughs...there really is no excuse for poor grammar or mispelled words in business. Keep posting Jill!

Jill- These were a riot. But there really is no reason for such carelessness-- it just makes the listings difficult to read and reflects poorly on the realtor.

MAR

Too Funny. I know I am one of the worst offenders. Thanks for the fun.

MAR

I see that sort of stuff all the time. Today I showed a home that had "bambo" floors. Except they were oak.

P.S. My favorite misspelling is the word public.

Elizabeth: It could have been worse. They could have been "bimbo" floors instead of "bambo" floors.

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