Good property descriptions can distinguish whether your property sells for $200K or a quarter of a million dollars—or whether it sells now or in 8 months.
You might need to write a property description if you’re selling your own home, a real estate agent working up a listing, or maybe you’re with an Economic Development Authority or municipal government wanting to add a listing for a commercial property in your database.
So, what are some key features to work into your description—what are the tips and tricks? Here are seven things to think about when writing your property description for your website or MLS listing platform.
Know Your Target Audience
Evaluate your target audience so you know who you’re writing for. Not sure how to find out who your target audience is? Check out this blog on how to create buyer personas and get a more detailed version of who your target audience is.
Knowing who your audience is is crucial because what might sound good to you could drive potential buyers away. You need to know who they are, what they’re looking for, and how you can best anticipate their needs.
Define Goals
Define the goals of the property listing. What do you want buyers to know about your property that justifies the asking price? How much are you hoping to get from this property, and is it realistic? Maybe get an appraisal of your property before listing, so you’re in the ballpark.
Detailed
Be diligent and detailed. Think of things you would want to know from a property database. Be sure to answer any questions you think potential buyers could have. Then, paint a picture and hook the buyer.
If you’re selling a commercial property, you should include important things for businesses to know. For instance, if you own a restaurant, buyers might need to know whether natural gas is available at the site, what kind of electric service there is, or if you plan on leaving any equipment behind.
This is helpful to buyers because some of those factors may decide whether or not they choose to buy your property.
Accuracy
Don’t estimate—be as exact as possible. For example, if you think there are 1,600 sq ft but you’re unsure, find out and list the exact amount of square footage. If a buyer uses a filter that only shows properties over 1,500 square feet, but you don’t know the square footage, so you leave it blank, you won’t show up in their search results.
Spelling/Grammar
Redfin found that 43.4% of the surveyed people said they’d be less likely to tour a property if its online listing had spelling mistakes. You may think it’s a simple mistake, but misspelling could cost you money. In addition, it makes it look like you’re untrustworthy because you don’t know what you’re doing. Use resources like Grammarly to help improve your language skills.
Honesty
Be open and honest but don’t deter buyers. There are ways to disclose issues about the property that won’t drive buyers off. Buyers will appreciate your transparency. What won’t help your listing is spending paragraphs outlining every minor flaw. There’s no need to mention the bathroom is dated and the fixtures are old. They’ll see it at the showing. But if you drive off everyone who might be interested before they do a walkthrough, they won’t get a chance to see the vaulted ceiling and antique woodwork.
Have an Easy-to-Update Property database
Properties are listed for sale—and then must be removed from the database once they’re sold—all the time. Asking prices change. You might get more (and better) photos. Maybe you’ll want to add a video walkthrough.
If you’re writing a single listing to sell your home on Zillow or Facebook, just one good property listing is all you need. But one of the most important things you can do if you have multiple property listings to manage is to have a good database that makes updating easy. If you need a website that includes a database of available properties for your municipality or economic development authority, contact us!
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