4 Reasons a Realtor Should Work with a Real Estate Writer
The Results Are In…Typos Scare off Potential Buyers!
In every job, there are some tasks you enjoy and some…not so much. For many real estate agents, writing listing descriptions is nothing but a headache and a chore. Writing, after all, is a very specific skill, and not every Realtor is a rock star with the pen. Listing descriptions, though, are incredibly important to landing sales—we’ll get into the data in a little bit—but for now, here are the top four reasons you should consider reaching out to a professional editor or a real estate writer.
Reason #1: Save Yourself Time
If writing isn’t your forte, putting together a listing description can take a huge amount of your time. When time is money, you shouldn’t be chained to your keyboard trying to remember if it’s “your” or “you’re.” Reaching out to a professional writer can take that task off your plate and put that time directly back in your control.
Reason #2: Never Miss an Opportune Listing Window
In real estate, it’s all about timing. Many Realtors want to get a house listed on a certain day and even a specific time. (Homes that debut on Thursdays at 5:00 p.m. are shown to sell faster.) If you’re desperately trying to hit your hard-and-fast deadline for getting that listing live, it can lead to sloppy, incomplete, or rushed descriptions. Working with a writer you trust to meet deadlines means you never have to worry about this again.
Reason #3: Focus on Your Strengths
When you’re showing a home, writing up an offer, or negotiating over that sagging roof line, you’re competent and confident. You’re doing all the aspects of the job that made you want to be a Realtor in the first place. When you sit down at your computer to write, you’re less sure of yourself. By passing off the listing description duties to someone who actually likes to write, you’re free to focus on the aspects of your job you enjoy.
Reason #4: Enhance Your Chance of Landing the Sale
If none of those other reasons seemed compelling to you, here’s the big one. A poorly written listing description negatively affects the chance of that home selling. In a Redfin-conducted survey of 1,291 people, 43.3 percent said they were “much less inclined” to pursue a home if that listing contained grammatical errors or typos.
Additionally, 87 percent of those surveyed listed the description as either “extremely” or “very” important in the decision to pass or to move forward on a particular home.
“Hiring a professional writer or editor is less an expense and more an investment. ”
In this way, hiring a professional writer or editor is less an expense and more an investment. If a stellar, error-free description enhances the chance of that home selling, you can see some pretty incredible return on your investment.
4 Practical Tips for Writing Listing Descriptions
Whether you end up working with a writer or editor or not, here are just a few tactics for putting together effective listings:
AVOID ALL CAPS!! (See what we did there?)
It looks as if you’re yelling for no apparent reason, and it actually makes the writing difficult to read. Just say no to your caps lock button.
Spell Check Isn’t Infallible
A lot of real estate agents run spell check, get the green light there, and call it a day. That can catch some errors, but lots can still slip through the cracks. Spell check, for example, can’t distinguish between homophones (“wreck room” and “rec room”), and it also can’t catch correctly spelled but incorrectly used words. (Who wouldn’t want a “walking closet” or to live in a “low grime” area?)
Go Easy on the Jargon
Real estate is filled with those dreaded TLAs (three-letter acronyms). Sure, they save on space, but they often confuse anyone who isn’t actually a licensed Realtor. You have seconds to attract the attention of your buyer before he or she is on to the next house. Confused buyers don’t take the time to dig for answers; they just click on through to the next option.
Keep It Short and Sweet
That same Redfin survey found listings of about fifty words performed best. Those homes were more likely to sell in ninety days or less and for a higher price than asking. A listing description shouldn’t be a novel about every minute detail. It should hit the highlights and get out!
(For reference, that last paragraph is fifty words exactly.)
As a Realtor who’s interested in outsourcing your listing descriptions, you have two main options. You can either have a professional writer create the entire listing from scratch, or you can put together a draft and have a professional editor run his or her eyes over it. Either tactic can help avoid embarrassing errors that scare off potential buyers before they even see the home.
If you’re interested in learning more about what working with a real estate writer entails, reach out to MACE Writing today. We’re a remote writing and editing consultancy, and we’d love to discuss what we can do for your real estate agency!
