After listing photos, the listing description—those 100 words or fewer describing the property for sale—is one of the most valuable tools in your marketing arsenal. Whether it is in print, on a website, or read aloud during a real estate promo show on your local cable access channel, your listing description potentially could make the difference not only in selling that particular property, but in attracting both homebuyers and sellers to your business. Your listing description is often your one chance to not only sell your listing, but you as an agent. With leads galore at stake, and seemingly endless numbers of competing real estate professionals vying for their share of this emerging buyers’ market, you must make your 100 words work for you.

One of the best strategies for stopping would-be homebuyers (and for that matter, those seeking a listing agent) in their brochure-skimming tracks is to instill a dream in their minds. This method of advertising works time and again, selling everything from cigarettes (quite infamously) to sports cars. As consumers, advertisers bombard us with messages telling us that if we buy this pair of jeans that we will feel younger, or if we drink this water that we will be healthier. Even advertisements for items as mundane as dish soap have enticed consumers to believe that they too can bask in that Leave-It-To Beaver-esque cleanliness if they only buy a bottle of X-brand dish soap. People buy products because they want to buy the image, emotion or dream associated with the product, not just because of the product’s size, shape or color. In that 100 words or less of your listing description, don’t sell them so much on the physical specifications and features of the home. Sell them on the life they can have if they buy your listing!

You may ask, how can I create this “dream” in so short of a space? What about all of those “required” pieces of information that I must put in my listing description? Read this example below and see how this very typical listing description can be transformed into a must-read (and, consequently, must-call-about!) ad:

Before

New 3/2 ranch in Killearn Lakes. Situated on a big 5-acre lot with surrounding woods. Walking distance to elementary and middle schools. Stainless appliances and granite countertops complete the kitchen.

After

Imagine peaceful, country living in a lush forest. Also imagine seeing your children off every morning as they walk along shaded sidewalks to their neighborhood school. Make this dream a reality with this new, 3 bedroom, 2 bath ranch home designed for a young family in mind. Located on 5 sprawling acres in Killearn Lakes, children will have plenty of room for outdoor activity, while you’ll have room to relax. Eat around your dinner table together with a meal prepared with your durable, yet beautiful stainless appliances and granite countertops. Don’t pass up your piece of the American Dream!

In this example listing “makeover,” I have transformed a simple listing description giving bedroom/bath count, lot size, kitchen specs and other features into a “piece of the American Dream.” Instead of just listing numbers and features, I use these to emphasize the dream image I weave for the reader. Instead of “walking distance to…schools,” I paint a Rockwell-like picture of children gleefully walking to school as in the days of old. Instead of just a 3/2 ranch on a 5 acre lot, my description offers homebuyers a family-friendly enclave, with plenty of room for the kids to play. Everything I write in this listing description describes more than a physical structure: it describes the dream of the ideal American family home. Many who have not yet purchased their first home seek this dream, and will probably stop to read this listing description. Those who want this dream badly enough will follow-up on this ad!

Plant the seeds of dreams in your listing descriptions and watch them grow into leads and profits! Don’t just offer a property, offer a lifestyle. Your listing descriptions won’t be ignored!

For more helpful copywriting tips, please attend my class hosted by the AgentAdvantage Learning Center, “Copywriting 101: Get and Keep Homebuyers’ Attention” on March 6th at 3 PM ET. For more information, or to sign up, click here.

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