Every aspect of a listing’s marketing can impact its sale price, even the word choice. For agents, making sure descriptions capture a serious buyers attention is key to getting your sellers the most money.
When describing a home, the details matter. In the bestselling book Freakonomics, authors Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner explain that “An analysis of the language used in real-estate ads shows that certain words are powerfully correlated with the final sale price of a house…. A ‘fantastic’ house is surely fantastic enough to warrant a high price, isn’t? What about a ‘charming’ and ‘spacious’ house in a ‘great neighborhood!’? No, no, no and no.”
Levitt and Dubner say, “If you study the words in an ad for a real-estate agent’s own home…you see that he or she indeed emphasizes descriptive terms (especially, ‘new,’ ‘granite,’ ‘maple,’ and ‘move-in condition’) and avoids empty adjectives (including ‘wonderful,’ ‘immaculate,’ and the telltale ‘!’).” Also, Don’t make it appear that your clients are desperate to sell, as in “Must Move Quickly.” You’re going after the buyers looking for their dream home – and willing to pay for it—not the bargain hunters!
Words that kill deals or decrease profits
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Words that make deals or improve profits
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The Smart Words Philosophy
When it comes to writing descriptions, the smart thing to do is to be very specific. Don’t be vague and use words like “fantastic,” “spacious,” or “charming.” Boring! Avoid sweeping adjectives.
Give specifics using descriptive, straightforward terms that tell the physical attributes of your home, as in “Marble,” “Spiral Staircase,” “Gourmet Kitchen with New Viking Appliances, and “Solid Bamboo Flooring.”
Remember, home buyers are interested in the facts not your (possibly biased) opinions.
Descriptions Matter
This time of year, there are many new listings hitting the market. Pay attention to these key power words that can help your listings get the right attention and ultimately the best prices. What power words are working in your market that might be missing from the list?
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Legacy Comments
Great tips, thank you.
So if the property is not energy efficient, and there is no state of the art “gourmet kitchen with “granite counters” and “maple” cabinets or flooring care to suggest some better adjectives????
Some properties need the use of charming and great neighborhood for this reason!!!
If your listing is not state of the art with granite. What is it? Is it in a great commute location? Does it have a large, walk-in closet in the master bedroom, if no closet, is the master bedroom big enough to fit a king sized bed? How about the kitchen, if its not energy efficient with Bosch appliances, is there a double oven, gas cooktop, GE Stainless steel appliances, broom closet, double sink, pantry, can a family sit and eat in the kitchen, does it face the TV for football fans and busy commuters who want to catch up on the news while making their vegan lunch? How about the backyard. If its not lush with an ocean view, is it a gardener’s dream? Are there fruit trees such as lemon, fig, oranges, apples? Is there a stately old tree that would be perfect for a tree house? Does it have a view of the freeway. Freeway lights at night are amazing. Does it give you a restful feeling where you can bring your evening cocktail and walk around in the yard and think? And if you describe these things in your ad is there a picture to support what you are saying. Dont let your lead picture be of the front of the house. If you mention the freeway lights, have a picture of the freeway lights. If you are going for the massive walk-in closet, show the closet. People want to “see” the house before they see the house. You will do in that the quality of buyers will go up dramatically if you give them the reason why your house is the “one.” Best wishes. JB
Our MLS requires that photos lead with front of house – some exceptions are permitted.
Exactly!!!
Yes, this is true what do we do.
There are two words ‘spacious’ and ‘fantastic’ that should be in advertisements.
Maybe not in your multi-million dollar homes, but in local areas of Queens, it is a necessity. It is rare to find a Gourmet Kitchen in Queens or Brooklyn. However, thanks for your advice, keep selling million dollar homes.
THE BEST DESCRIPTIONS OF A HOME, SAVES YOUR CLIENTS TIME, THEIR EFFORT AND YOURS.
Most times local agents hardly say enough about the home, making everyone spin their wheels for nothing. Even when the list it on multiple listing, they descibe only whats in the boxes, short and sweet.
Thanks again,
Barney from Middle Village,Ny
I would avoid using the term “new” in any description…that can be a legal issue.
A legal issue? Really? What if the wood flooring or carpeting are brand new?
The word “new” did become a legal issue in our area. An agent had used the word new to describe the appliances and roof of a 30+ year old house. Both had been replaced in the past 6 months to year respectively. The buyer was upset with some other issues in the transaction and did not have a legal grounds to stand of=n for their other issues, but their legal council picked up on the word new to describe 6 month old appliances and suddenly she had a case against the listing broker. It was settled out of court. “NEW” is a word to avoid at all costs unless the items are unused.
Great discussion!
Thanks for mentioning this Kathy, I can see how new might actually mean brand-spanking new in a court of law. I sent a copy of your comments to my BIC.
This is a great tip, thank you. Maybe use “replaced in the last 6 months” instead?
I agree the five word listed are boring, but they are not “deal killers.” Not even close. That’s a really misleading title.
Great article Michael. A good listing description is tough, some MLS systems are only supports 250 characters.
The worst is writing in shorthand. I can’t stand seeing a listing description with touts a “great lvng room!”
It’s very important to create imagery when creating an MLS description, but you can’t state imagery. There’s a difference between “modern gourmet kitchen” and “kitchen filled with lots of amenities.” Both create images, but only the first one shapes your imagination while the second one pretty much leaves it up to you.
Don’t use an MLS description created by automatic description generator. Truly the worst MLS description I’ve ever read comes from the Robo-Descriptor 9000. Why anyone would use the scripts generated by that script generator on their MLS descriptions is beyond me. If you don’t believe me, take a look for yourself… http://www.reallyrottenrealty.com/blog/robo-descriptor-9000-mls-description-generator/
Listing description killlers– agreed. I have no idea what an “executive home” is but we have a lot of them in our mls. Another area is cliches: “this home won’t last”, that’s unfortunate because I was going to take out a 30 year loan. “All your real estate needs”, I have no needs and if I had a need to sell my 2 bedroom 1200 sq ft house and buy a 15 story office building in downtown Chicago, are you really capable of being the go-to person?
Jargon—Listing. Deal. Counter. Showing. Tour. I might know what these words mean in the process, but I may be speaking a foreign language to a customer…or worse yet, he may have a different interprtetation.
This is a good article…great food for thought!
Great post Michael, I bet we can get many others to avoid from our colleagues. I’ll start it off with, Cozy=small, let’s see how many others we can come up with!
How about, “You will fall in love”? Grates on my nerves when I read this.
“Solid Bamboo Flooring” is a description I would never use regarding bamboo since its a plant, not a tree.
A tree is a plant too.
Jonathan,
What you say does not make much sense. To begin with, “solid bamboo” is a valid description. It would be used to differentiate from flooring with a bamboo vaneer. What disturbs me is that you say it is a plant, not a tree. So what? Does that mean that only a tree can make solid flooring? Furthermore, a tree is a plant as well. And to be really accurate, bamboo is a grass – which of course is a plant, just like a tree.
To go a step further: bamboo flooring has become quite popular in the past several years, but what I have found (being both a woodworker and grassworker besides being a Realtor) is that bamboo is not really quite hard enough to be a great flooring material. It is beautiful – especially the carmelized color, but needs to be treated as gently as Clear Vertical Grain Fir to maintain a nice finish.
There you go…
Solid bamboo describes how the material is put together for use as a flooring material. It could also be a composite. So the term solid means something.
The “words that make deals” like Bamboo flooring, granite counters, gourmet kitchens or Viking appliances may work in San Francisco or Los Angeles but not in middle America. I always found you advertise to your market. What gets you the greatest amount of response.
That’s a great point Randy. Local market knowledge is key. What words tend to work best in your area?
Another vague discription: Well Appointed. Sounds good, but ‘Well Appointed’ for who? People with children have a completely different idea of ‘Well Appointed’ then people without children. Also, many people have no idea what “Well Appointed’ even means.
Good article to make us think about the words we use in our listing descriptions. The descriptions should surely be tailored to the local market and whether the home has lots of trendy or upgraded features, but if it doesn’t, the best advice is to think carefully about the choice of words and not always use the same ones in all one’s listings. Sometimes I laugh when I see the term “gleaming hardwood floors” as apparently all hardwoods gleam–and in my experience, they do not!
I think in this day and age, while the words matter, the most important thing is nice pictures. I really wonder what the words do to get someone in the house?
I’ve always wanted to try the following just to see what happens: List a house with really nice profesisonal pictures, and in the remarks just type “house for sale”. I wonder if I would notice a difference in the showings. I think the simplicity and mysteriousness of “house for sale” would arguably bring in more people that didnt cross the house off the list because of a phrase in the description of which we agonize over the exact correct wording – while trying to fit it in our 250 or whatever characters allowed
Seriously though, the rest of the listing has most of the details of the house. Our MLS allows us to check off things like granite counters, hardwood flooes, etc in several places.
Anyway, I’ll probably never have the guts to try it — maybe I will with one of my own investment proeprties – then I cant get fired!
My husband the contractor came up with an office favorite of ours.
TLC=Totally Lousy Condition! Some things are so subjective.
Keep it local to your market and the listing.
Solid Bamboo (Wood) Flooring
I’m not sure what Jonathan Bowen is saying regarding the “solid bamboo flooring” description being a problem. Bamboo and trees are both “Plants” (they use chlorophyll…the green stuff). Algae and mosses are plants too. Of course I would never say that a flooring is made of “Solid Moss Flooring”…that would be bad, and a bit squishy.
I think Jonathen was referring to a description often used, “Solid Bamboo WOOD Flooring”. Botanical and common terms often differ in their meaning and use. From my review of terms, bamboo is not a true wood. It lacks a “secondary xylem”, which is “the dead xylem or wood”, found in trees. But Bamboo does have a primary xylem (and phloem).
SERIOUSLY! It does! It’s also a monocot (grass)..has to do with the seed.
To attract a serious (nerdy) buyer, perhaps a really detailed description could read “Newly installed, Solid monocotyledon, primary Xylem, Strand Woven, Bamboo flooring”. It would certainly attract questions, and even ire, but perhaps a purchase offer too.
My Botany teacher will be calling soon with a harsh critique of my terms (I’ve forgotten a lot).
But, it’s not a generic description. Odd, but not generic.
Not only was the title misleading…but it really offered nothing for the average listing…Its all very nice to have that listing with the gourmet kitchen etc….but what do you do when the house has an 15 yr old kitchen..in good shape..but no granite..nothing “state of art”..and the house is 80 yrs old..nothing “energy efficient”..the best it may have going for it are “spacious rooms”, is in a “great neighborhood, and a fabulous yard ‘!!”…these are words that are needed when theres often not much else to say…Any ideas for these houses??
Good information. Any recommendations on books on the same subject?
Where is the data to back up these assertions? Word choice is important, but to truly know the most effective words would require a scientific analysis of data.
Context is Everything! Granite alone is not enough! People are tired of new granite tops on old, musty, warped counters. Energy-Efficient means little when the owners turn everything ON/OFF every hour or leave doors open all the time.
State-of-the-Art does not tranlate to “bargain”. Mid-West families re-locating to the Southwest are sick-to-tears of Maple and Walnut!!! They don’t want their kitchens and great rooms to look like a forest.
This is what gets you the attention “DRASTICALLY REDUCED”.
Thanks for your thought provoking article. I’m just curious about other people’s opinions of describing the experience you are selling rather than just the amenities of the home. Appealing to the senses, and trying to get prospective buyers to visualize the experience they will have in the home is something I’ve been toying with lately. I live in a resort town, Big Bear Lake, California where people buy second homes to come enjoy the Mountains, the lake, and the ski slopes. If I had enough characters in my remarks section one of my home descriptions in the winter months might read something like: “This energy efficient, brand new, log home on the Lake is the perfect mountain retreat to relax and get away for the weekend. Smell the cedar as you bask in the warmth of a crackling fire in your river rock fireplace and watch the snow drift silently onto the frozen lake outside. Walk comfortably in your bare feet on the warm hickory floors with built-in radiant heat and trust the dual pane windows and R-35 rated full log walls to keep you cozy all winter long. Breathe the crisp, clean, mountain air between sips of hot cocoa as you sit in the hot tub on the redwood deck after a long day skiing. . . ” I don’t have enough characters in the remarks in my MLS system to go overboard like I did above, but I’ve been playing with this concept to a lesser extent. I’m interested to hear if other people use this technique and if so, what kind of results are you getting?
I sell homes to teachers & police officers & blue collar workers …..they like spacious homes with wood floors, large well landscaped lawns & updated kitchens. The simple, honest words to discribe a home in some areas & price ranges is the best way to advertise these homes. Maple cabinets aren’t really that popular here in Texas & not all homes have granite.
I love your ad Will, sure made me want to go look at that one!
Thanks for the tips. I understood the basics, but it is good to know some specific words that are red flags.
This article seems ripped right out of Freakonmics. You’re list of words is even set up just like it. I thought I might get new info, the comments were more informative and helpful. Thanks everyone who commented
Boy, wouldn’t it be great if every home had granite, maple, a gourmet kitchen, etc. With some homes “spacious” is as good as it gets. I don’t know what market the author is working in, but it’s not mine !
I disagree with the conclusion that certain words are going to have a material effect on the final sale price and find the headline super misleading.
I am all for a well-crafted description that is useful, descriptive and relatively free of cliches. Having watched buyer focus groups and how they interact with real estate websites, the description is given a scan or flat out ignored. Pictures, location and price are what put the property on the tour list. Once a property is visited in person, the description is long forgotten, and certainly it doesn’t weigh on negotiations.
There is no excuse for poor quality or misleading descriptions, but I’ve had to compete with other buyers on listings that had literally no description or two words in them. Would they have gotten more money from a couple sentences with your keywords? Nope.
Yeah…you’re right! The Buyers already know it is a “fantastic” neighborhood…that’s why they are there shopping for a house! And generally the sq footage and how many bedrooms will clue the Buyer if it is “spacious” or not. There is a lot of superfluous verbiage out there….how about this one? “Honey stop the car!!!!” But I have to admit…I have been guilty also….but I try to stick to the specifics and not exaggerate.
Thanks for the Reminder.
I agree with many above. REALITY CHECK. The ‘deal killers’ you describe are often the best things you can say about most if not many middle class American homes, you know…our bread and butter. I would love more listings that fit Corbett’s standards. And obviously his MLS does not have the regulations & size limits that NJ does. Heck, we can’t say ‘perfect for’ or ‘starter home’. talk about having to get creative!!
Thank you for the tips. I encourage all of my Agents to take the time and compose a well thought out description of the property involved. We often find ourselves rushing to enter content into the MLS database forgetting that the information we enter quickly becomes ubiqitous all over the web in minutes. I suggest with some properties try to find words that attach a lifestyle. For others,focus on the postive features that get buyer’s attention. Most importantly think before you write!
I generally think of a shifting foundation or an ancient roof that is discovered during the property inspection as a deal killer, not using the words “fantastic” or “spacious’ in the property description.
Great tips. When selling a home in today’s market, you have to be creative with words. Typical words like “charming, fantastic, great neighborhood” are great descriptions when trying to attract buyers, but I find that most buyers today are looking for words like “move-in-condition, quick sale”, no waiting, closing help” and of course granite, hardwood floors, energy efficient.”
to Will Rahill,
How are you? Remember me from USARC? Nice cozy thoughts for your description, but since there are not enough characters in the MLS notes, then see if your MLS allows an attachment (ours MLS in San Diego County does). In the Remarks section, just say “see Attachment for more information about this unique cabin”. At least agents can read more about the home and get inspired from your words. Of course, when the MLS feeds to Realtor.com, etc, the attachment won’t be there for the general public.
I hope you are doing well!
From Julie Fisher
There was a story in the book Freakonimics about this same thing. They found that homes that had descriptions with words like “Granite, Gourmet Kitchen, Mountain View, Marble Floors” sold for more money than homes with less attractive words. DUH!!! If a house has all those features OF COURSE it will sell for more.
Great post. It makes us think about the value of words and the feeling they elicit. I wrote a post a long time ago about words to avoid…like “charming”. That word is the kiss of death in my neighborhood. It’s Grandma’s old house; and it may smell like Grandma’s house. Thanks.
Let’s not throw our guest contributor under the bus all at the same time. I’m certain that the article wasn’t intended for all the agents out there who are independantly wealthy, debt free and on their way to an early retirement. He was just trying to be helpful, and look at all the rocks being thrown. At least he had the chutzpa to submit his own article.
There are some good discussions open. Words used in your marketing presentation of a seller’s home need to be true, not misleading… And not all home are energy efficient or have maple or gourmet kitchens, granite or be state of the art homes; but I believe the article was truly written for you high end homes, which a lot of the newer high end do have. I will say I don’t like the word fantastic at any level, but I don’t think the other words & ! are deal breakers. We as Realtor should be honest and present the real & true picture or a property at all time. And I will have to agree with the comment on the word “new” be very careful. It’s always best to put a date.
Best of Luck to you All!
If “!” is a deal breaker, then why did the Author use it in his very own book title, twice? Just askin
LMAO
funny
Thought provoking article, however I do agree w/many of the comments that the words to attract have much to do with your buyer profile. Certain words are key to some, the same words to others can be a turn off. For instance, Granite/Stainless Appliances, in truly high end homes, this is assumed (or something else is assumed to exist that is better, more unique), that’s where the specifics of a custom kitchen manufacturer name, for example, can make the difference, vs. a more moderate home where the buyers rightfully cannot assume these features exist, have a lot of pull power. It’s knowing not just your market area but if that area has any diversity, WHO your buyer is and what will speak to them at different levels.