You’ve got great professional photos of the island kitchen, cedar deck, and ensuite master. As a recognized authority on the local market, you’ve set the right price. You’ve primed your network to send buyers to the open house. It’s practically time to spend the commission! Not so fast: You still need to describe the home in English. Like every other public component of your listing, the written property 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 mistakes.
Improve your property descriptions by avoiding these five common traps:
- Abbreviations: Few home buyers are code-breakers. Where character limits allow, features should be expressed 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.
- The word “boasts:” It’s easy to understand why “boasts” is so common in property descriptions. But it’s never quite right. 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.
- The word “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.
- Getting into a description rut: Especially when we’re selling similar homes within the same town or area, it can be difficult to distinguish one property description from another. A second set of eyes can help us draw connections between features. “Short commute” and “Close to open space” can be transformed: “The short commute to downtown Denver gives you more time to enjoy the natural attractions of Washington Square Park.”
- All caps: BUYERS WONDER WHY WE’RE YELLING. Any ALL CAPS property description, no matter how poorly written, can be greatly improved simply by restoring lower case formatting.
You’ve got great professional photos of the island kitchen, cedar deck, and ensuite master. As a recognized authority on the local market, you’ve set the right price. You’ve primed your network to send buyers to the open house. It’s practically time to spend the commission! Not so fast: You still need to describe the home in English. Like every other public component of your listing, the written property 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 mistakes.
Improve your property descriptions by avoiding these five common traps:
- Abbreviations: Few home buyers are code-breakers. Where character limits allow, features should be expressed 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.
- The word “boasts:” It’s easy to understand why “boasts” is so common in property descriptions. But it’s never quite right. 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.
- The word “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.
- Getting into a description rut: Especially when we’re selling similar homes within the same town or area, it can be difficult to distinguish one property description from another. A second set of eyes can help us draw connections between features. “Short commute” and “Close to open space” can be transformed: “The short commute to downtown Denver gives you more time to enjoy the natural attractions of Washington Square Park.”
- All caps: BUYERS WONDER WHY WE’RE YELLING. Any ALL CAPS property description, no matter how poorly written, can be greatly improved simply by restoring lower case formatting.