In real estate marketing, word choice is everything. Enticing descriptions add depth and detail to accompanying photos. Nail the copy and your buyers will swoon. Miss the mark and they’ll feel uninspired, or even worse, uninterested. According to the National Association of Realtors (NAR), 85% of buyers who looked for homes online found detailed information about properties very useful. Take advantage of written descriptions to share with buyers what’s amazing about your home and why they’ll love it. “We really try and figure out what the target market is for a particular home or kind of building. Then we use words that would entice that particular buyer. We’re also looking for what makes that particular building or home special,” shares top real estate agent Jackie Mack who sells 66% more homes than the average agent in Evanston, Illinois. To help you craft compelling descriptions, we’ve teamed up with Mack to create a list of the best (and worst) advertising words for home selling. Get your notebook out, it’s time to write your way to a successful home sale. These words will showcase your home at its finest. “New” is a proven power word in advertising. Buyers love knowing a home element is the latest model, with little to no wear from previous owners. Use “new” wisely to highlight the most important home feature greatest and sneak in its synonyms when possible: No matter how popular, there are some advertising words for home selling that still work every time. Mack elaborates: “Mention the many things that buyers are looking for. They love having double sinks in the master bathroom or luxurious finishes like a steam shower . . . We try to fit in these special details that we know are very desirable: open plan, kitchen with an island, quartz countertops.” Here are some top real estate buzz words: “Wood floors” sounds OK, but “Brazilian cherry solid wood flooring” paints a picture. Include particulars on materials to add value and delight. Dress your listing prose with these inspiring words to entice buyers: Does your house light up the moment the sun rises? Or emit a warm glow at night from adjustable dimmer lights? When you provide a written description of the lighting, you’re confirming your home is just as brilliant in person as it is in the listing photos. Remember money talks, wealth whispers. These words suggest your home is a gem that’s well worth the asking price: Your sentences should go beyond describing your home’s contents and convey what it truly feels like to live there. These adjectives trigger emotions, bestowing feeling upon the setting. A recent PEW Research Center study reveals 75% of U.S. adults say they are particularly concerned about helping the environment as they go about their daily lives. Mention your home’s environmentally friendly features, especially those pertaining to climate control (85% of recent buyers agreed that heating and cooling costs were the most important environmental features). Eco-friendly advertising words for home selling include: Your home deserves a moniker better than “house.” Name it one of these imaginative alternatives: Mack shares it’s essential to include details relevant to the top reasons buyers want to move to your home’s location: “For our area, anything close to transportation lines is a big draw. It’s why people move here. We always include “walk to train,” “close to train,” or “easy access to the train.” We’re also right on Lake Michigan so we’ll mention “views of the lake,” “walking distance to lake,” or “close to beach.” Sketch an image of your home’s surroundings with these delightful descriptions: When describing your home’s color palette, branch out from standard rainbow colors with these evocative alternatives: Imported materials sound exclusive and valuable. Specify the origin of countertops, drapes, and flooring to flood your buyer’s subconscious with jet setting imagery. Examples: Go ahead, casually mention the refrigerator is Smeg. Buyers recognize quality appliances and will pay more for these brands. In a recent survey by NAR, 69% of buyers who did not buy a home with new appliances admitted they would be willing to spend $1,840 more for a home with these included. Top brands include: When you revise your listing, replace as many “to be” verbs as possible with more specific verbs. Example 1: The foyer has hardwood floors Example 2: The living and dining room have custom moldings. Example 3: This backyard garden is lovely. This little hyphenated adverb scores bonus points with buyers: “Gorgeous Georgian, splendid Victorian, charming Dutch colonial — all those start creating a mental picture in your head of what the house looks like,” Mack demonstrates. Embrace your home’s architecture with descriptive words celebrating its style. If your home is a fixer-upper, emphasize its best features and lightly reference its potential for future upgrades. Mack advises, “there are some buyers that really love to make a home their own. They don’t want to buy somebody else’s renovations. Try to highlight those opportunities to make the house their own.” The best advertising words for selling fixer- uppers include: Other opportunities for buyer improvements include: Avoid these overplayed, uninspired, and inappropriate words. The bathroom is not “very pretty,” it’s “beautiful.” Edit out these filler words and replace them with more specific adjectives for greater impact: Mack’s biggest word to avoid in your home advertising? Cozy. “Cozy just makes people think that the home is small. And maybe it is, but there’s a better way to say it,” she says. Toss out cozy’s friends while you’re at it: If you’re looking for a quick sale, don’t reveal your cards in the listing. Find a top real estate agent, price your home appropriately, and skip out on these desperate advertising descriptions: * Yawns. * Replace low-brow words like “huge” with more refined synonyms like “expansive” or “extended.” Find more attractive alternatives for: “Crime is pretty relative where we are. Some people love living in urban areas and I think that they’re going to have a different feeling about certain neighborhoods than another person,” shares Mack. Don’t reference the crime in your description — let the buyer research the area and come to their own conclusions. The Fair Housing Act prohibits housing discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, disability, religion, and family status. As such phrases like these warrant scrutiny in your listing description: Remember, the more inclusive your listing is, the more buyers your home will attract. Mack advises, “you certainly don’t want to eliminate any kind of a buyer. You want to leave it as open as possible so that everyone could imagine living there.”The best advertising words for home selling
1. Harness the power of new.
2. Sprinkle in real estate buzz words that sing.
3. Get specific with materials.
4. Include positive, descriptive adjectives.
5. Describe enchanting lighting.
6. Decorate with words that suggest value.
7. Set the tone of the property.
8. Highlight green features.
9. Replace “house” with a more descriptive synonym.
10. Set the location with picturesque descriptions.
11. Paint the picture with inspiring colors.
12. Add international flavor when possible.
13. Name drop high end brands.
14. Add excitement and movement with active verbs.
15. Highlight roomy spaces with “-in” words.
16. Flaunt your home’s architecture.
17. Suggest potential for adding value and customization.
The worst advertising words for home selling
18. Edit out filler words.
19. Avoid uninspiring euphemisms.
20. Don’t sound desperate.
21. Pass on these old cliches.
22. Avoid aggressive, pompous words.
23. Leave out references to crime rate.
24. Don’t show preference to or discrimination against any demographic.
