The Description Is Your Calling Card. Avoid These 6 Listing Description Mistakes!

Like every other public component of your job, the property listing description is a showcase for you as a real estate agent. Posting a bad one is like showing up to the office in a t-shirt and cut-offs. Potential sellers will take note. The audience for your property listing description extends far beyond those who have an interest in buying the house. You can find lots of advice online about how to write a home description, but a great start would be to avoid common property listing description mistakes.

#1: Abbreviations

Few home buyers are code-breakers. Where character limits allow, property listing descriptions should express features in plain language. A “wood-burning fireplace” will warm our buyers’ feet as they read a novel or watch a movie. A “Wbfp” sounds like something out of an auto-parts catalogue. And where there is smoke from a Wbfp, our buyers might find a blaze of unwieldy abbreviations: Appls, Bsmt, Dk, Pl, and the like. If you are trying to fit within a character count limit, find some other way.

#2: "Boasts"

It’s easy to understand why “boasts” is so common in property descriptions. But it’s always a listing description mistake. Does the home “boast granite counters?” Or can we say instead that the “u-shaped granite countertop provides ample space for small appliances and food preparation?” The latter does a better job of placing our buyers at the cutting board.

#3: "Stunning"

Judging from a random sampling of property listing descriptions found on Zillow, we should avoid going to open houses, lest we be “stunned” by every view and entryway. Find a new word.

#4: The writing rut

Especially when we’re selling similar homes within the same town or area, it can be difficult to write property listing descriptions that distinguish one property description from another. A second set of eyes can help us draw connections between features. Does the home offer a short commute? Is it also close to open space? Cook these ingredients together: “The short commute to downtown Denver gives you more time to enjoy the natural attractions of Washington Square Park.”

#5: The worst property listing description mistake is ALL CAPS

BUYERS WONDER WHY WE’RE YELLING. You can greatly improve any ALL CAPS property listing description, no matter how poorly written, simply by restoring normal sentence casing.

#6: "Perfect for"

It’s not always terrible, but be careful with this term. We wrote a whole blog post about it: Don’t use “Perfect for” in property descriptions.