| Why Words Matter - Writing Ad Copy for Real Estate | November 15th, 2008 |
|
Buyers go for style over substance: words like “curb appeal” or “beautiful” made homes sell faster than cut-and-dry terminology like “value” and “price.” Homes described as “beautiful” moved 15 percent faster and for 5 percent more in price than the benchmark. A home pitched as a “good value” sold for 5 percent less than average. Another dead-in-the-water phrase is “must see!” which had a statistically insignificant effect on the number of days homes took to sell. If you’re selling, it’s important to think about how words that sound good can be misunderstood. Here are some commonly used ad words and how buyers and/or their agents often interpret them: Motivated Seller - Please low ball ************************************** When I write about my listings, I try to help someone imagine living there. I also focus on the lifestyle a property offers and use words that will draw in the appropriate buyer- for example, copy for a SOMA loft should differ significantly from copy for a Noe Valley single family home. When moving into details, I like to augment my descriptions with language that helps a buyer picture the space. ”Big walls for art” and ”Rooms you can roller skate in” are two examples of how words can offer affect a home buyer’s experience of the property. To learn more about how I write about my listings, please visit the ‘featured properties’ section on my website. Leave a Reply |
|
|
|
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Researcher Paul Anglin, who teaches real-estate and housing trends at the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada, studied the wording of more than 20,000 Canadian home listings from 1997 to 2000. His aim was to see how the language of the ads affected the speed and price a property sold for. Here is some of what he learned: