How to write great property descriptions
Property descriptions are one of the most important elements of any property listing.
They can quickly communicate the value of your property and can help persuade potential clients to pick up the phone and get in touch with you.
If you’re about to start the marketing process for your listing… then go the extra mile and make sure to write an effective property description.
What You Should NOT Do:
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Write generic text
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That is too short
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With minimal details
What You Should Do:
Spend 10-15 minutes to write a well-crafted overview of the property with relevant details that can help quickly hook your prospective buyers.
How?
1. Brevity is Beautiful
Provide the facts quickly in clear English. Nobody wants to read a wall of text so use this opportunity to succinctly provide all the key information that is relevant to your target audience.
Remember: The majority of your audience are scanning through your listing, not actually reading!
A good rule of thumb is to write descriptions that are between 80-150 words in length. Less than 80 words is a bit too thin and more than 150 words starts to become very dense.
2. Accentuate the Key Amenities
The property description is a great place to reaffirm both building and local amenities. Consider highlighting a few of the key “stand-out” amenities using positive descriptive phrases.
This is not a place to include a laundry list of all features and specifications.
Keep it short and sharp.
If the building itself is uninteresting, then focus on the submarket and access to transportation and surrounding points of interest.
3. Highlight the Other USPs
In commercial real estate, there are a lot of “unique selling points” apart from the building itself. Besides the physical property there is other specific information that could be very relevant to your client that you should consider including.
For example: zoning, tax credits, new area developments, etc.
Use the USPs appropriately to seduce your buyer.
4. Define Who the Audience Is
Who is this property for? Spell this out.
The best property descriptions clearly tell you who the ideal tenant or buyer would be.
Not only can this save you time and get rid of inquiries from irrelevant leads, but it can also open the door to leads that might not have previously considered your property as a viable opportunity.
5. Optimize for SEO Friendliness
Typically, the property description is the first large chunk of text Google will see on your page so make sure you consider including SEO-friendly phrases.
Two important elements to remember to always include are the:
1) property type and
2) location
Here is an example of SEO-optimized lead sentence: “123 Main Street is a mixed-use property available for sale in West Hartford, CT…”
Why?
Because most tenants and investors will include a combination of those elements in all of their Google searches when looking for property. So make sure you have your bases covered for SEO.
6. Check Spelling and Grammar
This is basic: Incorrect spelling or grammar is a red flag that screams “sloppy”.
Don’t risk losing the confidence of a buyer because of a spelling or grammar mistake. Have someone (other than you) double-check your writing.
7. Break Up the Text
If you want to encourage your audience to read through and digest the content from your description, then break up your text into smaller paragraphs.
Don’t make the mistake of writing a large block of text.
This not only improves readability but also makes it much more appealing to your potential clients.