I’m a recovering Realtor, but when I was selling, few things (save those folks who referred to themselves as “real-a-tor”) were more maddening than the generic, misspelled, “been there, done that” language used by real estate professionals when describing their listings. OY.
Now, I’m not saying that each description has to show you off as the Ernest Hemingway of the real estate set, but penning something thats paints your wonderful new listing as a place that’s different, possibly an interesting place in which all of those pesky buyers out there might want to live? That’d be a good thing. Does any of this look familiar to you?
The Super-Excited Realtor!
“WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! GREAT NEW LISTING IN SOUGHT-AFTER SUPER-AWESOME NEIGHBORHOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! GREAT SCHOOLS!!!!!!!!!!! NEAR EVERYTHING!!!!!!!!!!!!!SERIOUSLY!!!!!!!! I’M SO HYPED-UP ABOUT THIS 3BR, 2.5BA LISTING THAT I MIGHT WET MY PANTS!!!!!! THIS IS THE HOME YOU’VE BEEN WAITING FOR!!!!!!!!! TOO MANY FEATURES TO LIST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
Let me get this straight. This house is jam-packed with so many unbelievable features that you couldn’t tell us what any of them are? And yet you were able to include no less than 97 exclamation points? Call me crazy, but some of that verbal real estate might have been better served by actually describing the house. Maybe, just maybe, some of those exclamation points could’ve been spared while you told me about the kitchen or the master bedroom or the features of the community. Or anything.
Oh, and please turn off the “caps lock” button on your keyboard. Writing all in caps makes it seem like you’re yelling at me.
The Teen Wolf Realtor
“OMG! UR gonna be stoked when u see this GR8 home! Awesome kitchen w/stnlss, hdwd, grnt cntrs. Kewl! U will b sry if u miss this 1.”
Are you 12 years old? The last time I checked, using actual words to describe things actually did a better job than the shorthand that you copied from your daughter’s cellphone. I realize that using abbreviations like this saves space, but it makes you sound, well … less-than-smart. It also makes you sound unprofessional, and that can make dealing with your peers (and your clients, for that matter) pretty awkward.
The Soaked-in-Cliches Realtor
“Location, location, location. Must-see! This great home is just what you’ve been looking for. 4BR, 2BA, blah, blah, blah. This one is priced to sell, don’t miss out!”
This is the one that makes me give *facepalm* to end all *facepalms.*
While it may, in fact, be the most important rule in real estate, if I never hear the expression “location, location, location” again, it’ll be too soon. And “priced to sell?” Give me a break. Every house is priced to sell … some are just priced to sell much, much later than others (that’s fodder for another post, though).
The point is that using cliches like this does absolutely nothing to sell your listing. They do nothing to make it shine! Say something that makes buyers think, “If I don’t see this house, I’m going to regret it for the rest of my life!” A little imagination can be a very good thing.
Please. Don’t be the agent that other Realtors make fun of.
Take some time to think about what you’re writing. You’re holding your sellers’ future in your hands (not to mention your paycheck). That’s worth a little extra effort, right? A few choice, well-placed words can take your listing from bland, boring “everyhouse” to something with ZING! They can make it something that other Realtors can’t wait to show, and something that their buyers can’t wait to see. In short, they can make all the difference.
Note from the Editor: Please welcome AG’s newest writer, Melissa Delgaudio who is obsessed with the power of words and whose skin crawls if you type “their” instead of “they’re.” Melissa will be writing about how to improve your copy in all aspects of your business be it MLS descriptions, classified ads, blogs or simply your about page. Melissa is a fun, crafty gal who is well known in the industry for her skill and as a recovering Realtor, she knows the challenge you’re up against. Please tell her in the comments what you think of her first article here at AG.
