A great listing can help you sell a home fast.
But how do you create a real estate listing that helps your property stand out from the competition?
In its simplest form, a real estate listing is a notice that a specific property is available for purchase. But, in reality, it’s so much more.
A real estate listing is your foot in the door with an almost unlimited number of potential buyers. Considering that in a recent study, 41% of home buyers started their home buying journey by looking at real estate listings—compared to just 19% that reached out to an agent. Plus, more than half of everyone who reads your listing is a potential customer.
Therefore, every time you create a real estate listing, you have the potential to demonstrate your expertise and industry authority and attract new leads.
In this article, we’ll look at the best way to create a real estate listing that helps you make a powerful first impression on a potential buyer.
How To Create A Real Estate Listing: The Basics
Good real estate listings contain a few essential elements:
- Listing headline
- Descriptive opening statement
- A description of property features
- Information on current promotions or partnerships
- Make it easy for potential homebuyers to connect
We’ll look at each of them below and what you need to know to create a real estate listing that stands out.
Your Real Estate Listing Headline
A headline or title is important when sharing your listing on sites, especially social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter.
Think of the last article you read online. Chances are you clicked on it because the headline caught your eye. Your real estate listing is no different. By creating a clear, snappy headline, you can catch the attention of potential home buyers. Getting them to check out your listing is the first step.
Great headlines are short and sweet, usually fewer than ten words, and use words that evoke an emotional response.
Consider these two options:
- New listing: Two-bedroom, one-bathroom house for sale.
or
- Renovated two-bedroom bungalow w/fenced yard—great for dogs & kids!
If you’re a young family with children or retirees with a beloved pup, which one makes you want to find out more?
Descriptive Opening Statement
This is where you can share some of the details about your listing. Consider something like this:
“You’ll fall in love with one-level living in this 2-bedroom, one-bath home in the sought-after downtown neighborhood.”
Readers instantly begin to imagine themselves going about their daily routines. Once they begin to see themselves in a potential house, they emotionally invest in the property.
A Description Of Key Property Features
Now it’s time to detail your listing’s key features in a compelling narrative.
“Two fully renovated floors offer comfort and class in this luxurious 1750-square-foot uptown condo. With 3 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms, mornings will never be the same. Access your underground garage with two parking spaces and avoid even the coldest winter days. After work, enjoy a relaxing dinner in the formal dining room, complete with a fireplace and ceiling to floor windows that offer dramatic views of the city.
When you use adjectives that generate interest—words such as luxurious and dramatic—you help potential buyers consider more than just the property’s listing price.
Information On Current Promotions Or Partnerships
When you include promotions with your listing, you take your real estate listing to the next level. Promotions not only help increase your potential to sell a property quickly but also help your listing stand apart from the competition.
Examples of promotions include a home warranty covering the property for a specific timeframe (i.e., six months or one year). This can be especially beneficial if you’re selling an older home. Other promotion ideas include:
- Paying part or all of a homebuyer’s closing cost.
- A flexible closing date.
- Promoting your partnership with a mortgage specialist to help home buyers get mortgage pre-approval letters.
River City Mortgage’s real estate partnership program can mean the River City Mortgage Seal of Approval for prospective homebuyers.
Make It Easy For Potential Home Buyers To Connect
How you wrap up your listing is just as important as how you begin it.
Unfortunately, real estate agents often forget a strong call to action when they create a real estate listing. Always remember, one of the best ways to get someone to connect with you is to ask them to get in touch.
Use the last few sentences of your real estate listing to make a final pitch to your reader about why they should get in touch with you—and how they can do it. (You’d be surprised how many websites don’t actually contain an email address or phone number).
If you don’t expect this listing to last long, convey a sense of urgency to readers by telling them to act quickly if they’re interested.
When a prospective homebuyer finishes reading your listing, you want them to know how to find out more about the property.
Should they contact you for additional photos? How about scheduling a viewing? What if they have questions about how to apply for a mortgage?
By providing clear, concise information in your wrap-up, your reader will know what their next steps need to be.
And don’t forget to include links to any social media platforms you may use. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram can all offer additional avenues for an interested reader to connect with you.
How To Create a Winning Real Estate Listing: Partner With A Full-Service Mortgage Lender
At River City Mortgage, we get it.
We understand the challenge of getting offers accepted, especially in today’s competitive housing market, where even an accepted offer doesn’t always translate into a closed deal.
That’s why we are keen to partner with interested real estate agents and help you create offers that close the deal. If you’d like to find out more about our real estate partnership program and how we can support you through the home sale process from start to finish, get in touch today.
Photo by Douglas Sheppard on Unsplash
