Words Matter: Crafting Listing Descriptions That Sell Homes

Words are magical; string the right ones together and you can transport readers out of their world. Use the wrong ones and poof! — your audience’s interest and trust are gone. A listing description is one place where using the right words has a proven impact on a home’s selling price. According to Zillow Group® CEO Spencer Rascoff and Chief Economist Stan Humphries in their book, “Zillow Talk: The New Rules of Real Estate,” not all listing descriptions are created equal. Certain words have hidden meanings that might send negative signals about a home’s quality and features; other well-chosen words can actually raise the selling price by thousands of dollars.

As you craft your listing descriptions to attract more buyers, consider these magic words to use and dangerous descriptors to avoid.

A lady never reveals her age, but your home should

Describing a home as “modern” or “state-of-the-art” means something very specific in real estate. Calling a home “modern” can imply that it was built in the immediate past, but in real estate, a “modern” home indicates one built in the 1950s or 1960s — as in mid-century modern. “State-of-the-art” might invoke images of food replicators and a holodeck in the rumpus room, but actually it means a home built in the mid-to-late 1980s.

When home buyers read “modern,” “state of the art,” “classic,” “traditional” or “original” in a listing description, they might view the home with one definition in mind, but leave the showing with quite a different impression. Before you publish the listing description for a home, clearly state its age.

Code words can create or kill a sale

At first reading, a listing description that uses “cozy,” “charming,” “cute” or “quaint” might be describing the perfect garden cottage that’s just waiting for a Jane Austen fan to grab her bonnet and move in. But a second glance provides a more accurate picture of what that home is really like — and it might not be what originally attracted that home buyer. For example, compared to the median-sized home of 1,640 square feet, “charming” homes have, on average, less than 1,500 square feet. That’s still larger than a “quaint” home, which comes in at around 1,300 square feet, or the “cute” home at less than 1,200 square feet.

Rascoff and Humphries found other words — like “potential,” “investment,” “fixer” and “unique” — to be listing description poison. Data shows that “potential” and “investment” tend to mean the home is no longer the beauty queen it once was. In real estate, the real F-word is “fixer”: When quantifying its effect on final prices compared to expected values, “fixer” reduced middle-tier home prices by more than 11 percent. And if a home is describe as “unique,” it can sell for 30­–50 percent less than expected.

The granite effect

Objective quality words — like “granite,” “landscaped” and “stainless” that relay inherent superiority, not perceived superiority — can boost the final sale price. In 2011 to 2012, top-tier homes whose listing descriptions included “granite” sold for 1.1 percent more than similar homes without that word. In middle-tier and bottom-tier homes that included “granite” sold for 2.7 and 4.16 percent more, respectively.

“If you've got it, flaunt it,” Rascoff and Humphries advise.

There are other words you should add to your listing description when applicable. Use “luxurious” to describe a bottom-tier home and it tends to beat its expected sale price by more than 8 percent. Call a top-tier home “captivating” and it might sell for as much as 6.5 percent above expected.

Use your words — up to 250 of them

Whether you write a listing description for a mansion or a fixer, buyers want details, and the better the home is, the more there is to say about it. The average listing for a medium-tier home uses 60 words to describe it, but data shows that 250 words is the sweet spot.

A caveat about writing extended listing descriptions: It’s not enough to just to reach 250 words; you’ve got to use the right words. Avoid vague euphemisms that waste space and don’t tell a buyer what they want to know about the home. Stress its quality features, upgrades and differentiators. Be vivid, but not verbose.

Listing descriptions should paint the picture of a home so buyers can determine whether it’s worth their time to take a look. There are so many ways to describe a home without making it more than it is — or less than it is by omitting features for brevity’s sake. As long as your listing description is clear, honest and accurate, you will attract buyers who are willing to pay for that exact combination of features.