Creating Property Descriptions That Sell

Whether you’re a real estate professional yourself, you’re selling your home by owner, or you’re a homeowner who wants to make sure your agent is representing your property in the best way possible, property descriptions are critical. Most buyers at least start their home search online, making listing descriptions more important than ever. It’s not always easy to paint a picture with words, however. The following are some tips and best practices to keep in mind when creating property descriptions that sell. Start Strong Your opening is one of the most important parts of your listing because this will persuade buyers to keep reading (or not). Use descriptive words that quickly grab the reader’s attention and avoid being too vague. Start with the elements that make a property unique compared to everything else. Your headline is also essential. When you enter the property into the MLS, you may not be able to create a headline, but you can add one within the description. If you’re writing a headline, call out the best features of the home, whatever they might be. It could be the location, character, or the home's architectural style. When starting your description, think about the buyer asking you what they’re looking at. Your initial statement or opener should provide them with an answer to this question. Choose the Right Descriptive Words Before you start writing your listing, you should begin by brainstorming all of the home's features first so that you can home in on descriptive words with meaning and avoid being too vague. Your adjectives need to be exciting and compelling. Ideally, they should appeal to the emotion of the reader. You want to convey a sense of excitement through your word choice, not things like exclamation points and words that are all capitalized. If you can come up with a list of features for the home first, that can guide you toward the right descriptive words, and from there, you can start to piece things together to create a visual for the potential buyers with the listing. Avoid Negative Language Every property will have some potential downsides, but you don’t want to deal with this in your description. Avoid negative language, and if there’s something you feel like you need to include, you can still choose words that put a positive spin on it. Homebuying is very emotional, so if you include negative language or your tone doesn’t seem completely upbeat, that’s the emotional connection someone will make with the listing. Luxurious is an excellent example of positive language, as it is captivating. Zillow’s CEO and Chief Economist wrote a book about the language to use in real estate. According to their guide, homes described as luxurious with a median estimated value in the bottom third of their market beat their expected sales price by 8.2%. Captivating was another word highlighted in the guide. Homes with median estimated values in the top third for their market described as captivating exceeded their sales price by 6.5%. Other words the book mentions include landscaped, remodeled, upgraded, and updated. On the other hand, you should avoid certain words unless you’re sure this is what you’re framing the property as, including investment, investor, potential, opportunity, and bargain. Maximize Your Word Count A property description is around 250 words, so make these words count. Don’t add fluff or anything that’s not directly explaining to your reader what the property is all about and why they want to see it. Finally, with that in mind, ensure that you always wrap up a description with a clear call to action that highlights the next step you want the reader to take. Don’t leave this ambiguous.