High quality images and well thought out descriptions have the power to get a prospective homebuyer to call or e-mail you. On the other hand, an incomplete description or jargon-filled word salad can really stunt your inbound leads by filtering out prospective buyers. Move these homebuyers into your sales funnel by writing a well-targeted and descriptive real estate listing.

Steps to writing an effective real estate listing:

1. Identify the property’s main value proposition
2. Write about the highlights
3. Sell the lifestyle
4. Prioritize readability
5. End with a call to action
6. Customize by platform

#1 - Identifying the property’s main value proposition:

At the most basic level, individuals at different stages in life consistently require different home attributes to fulfill their needs. This allows you to start with a sense of what your audience's concerns are.

Use the buyer's mindset to evaluate the information you already have, from sources like the Current Market Value you completed when assessing the property’s asking price. Things like accessibility to major roads, transit options, popular neighbourhoods, schools, and places of cultural significance will have varying degrees of importance to different buyers. To keep your property description succinct, pick the top 2-3 relevant ones.

Go beyond this surface level, and also talk to the existing homeowner about what they liked about their current property, or what they will miss about it. Use the homeowner’s answers to these types of questions to add human interest.

#2 - Write about the highlights

The vast majority of listings have a section where you present a quick snapshot of the property. These areas include things like the number of rooms, bathrooms, appliances included, year built, and other details. Since this information is already available, don’t waste valuable space re-iterating things that are already being presented.

Instead, brainstorm all of the home’s “nice-to-haves”, whether than be a walk-in pantry or the fact that it’s a fixer-upper that’s a clean slate for the buyer’s imagination. Also mention highlights such as renovations and updates, or the age of key components such as the roof or furnace. According to the National Association or Realtors, homebuyers are generally looking to avoid massive renovation projects, or appliance and electric repairs, so this information is critical.

#3 - Sell the lifestyle

For many, buying a home is so much more than putting a roof over their head. In fact, large swathes of people include home ownership as part of their definition of the American Dream. Tap into this by helping homebuyers imagine the life they’d live on this property (or if it’s a rental, the life the property will help fund).

You can do this by talking about community or street features, or by inviting them to imagine themselves enjoying elements of the home.

#4 - Prioritize readability

It’s important not to get too carried away with wordsmithing. While you may be really enthusiastic about the lifestyle potential of the property you are selling, avoid elaborate prose. Short sentences that communicate features and lifestyle propositions succinctly work best.

Also look at how you’re spacing your description. Where possible, break things up by having a line break every 2-3 sentences to facilitate skimming.

#5 - End with a call to action

An effective call to action will introduce a sense of urgency, and encourage the homebuyer to take the next step in the process. Encourage homebuyers to contact your for more information or set-up a viewing.

Real Estate Listing Template
Taking all of these components together, your listing will come together as follows:

• Sentence 1: Property overview
  
• Sentence 2-4: Property highlights
  
• Sentence 5-7: Lifestyle attributes
  
• Sentence 8: Call to action
  

This template is designed to resonate with homebuyers when they’re browsing listings. You’ll need to customize each listing by tweaking it slightly to perform well on each platform you plan to share the listing on.

#6 - Listing customization by platform

Facebook:

• Post your listing as an image.
• Add a sentence that has basic bedroom, bathroom, and other snapshot information that wasn’t contained in your written listing.
• Paste your written description. You may want to modify your call-to-action.
• Paste the listing’s URL.
• Make sure your post is spaced out well before publishing.

Instagram:

• Post multiple property photos (you can post up to 10).
• Add a sentence that has basic bedroom, bathroom, and other snapshot information that wasn’t contained in your written listing.
• Shorten your written description to lifestyle features.
• Paste the listing’s URL.
• Geotag the post’s location to the city or community in which the listing is located.
• Use 1-3 hashtags that are specific to a home for sale, such as #miamihomesforsale rather than generic ones such as #realestate.

E-mail List:

• Include the listing’s cover shot in your drip marketing e-mail.
• Add a sentence that has basic bedroom, bathroom, and other snapshot information that wasn’t contained in your written listing.
• Paste your written description. You may want to modify your call-to-action, as the individuals on this list are likely leads you have nurtured.
• Paste the listing’s URL.

Between writing listing descriptions, juggling showings, and staying on top of your leads, you need a system to manage your workload in a stress-free and intuitive way. RealOffice360 is an unbelievably simple CRM, business tracker, and daily planner for real estate agents and Realtors®. Rather being just a data dump for client information, RealOffice360 helps you visually build your business plan, cultivate your real estate database towards your goals, and ultimately keeps you focused on what matters most: your clients and your deals. Get started for free - no credit card required!