How to write compelling property adverts

Most of us are attracted to a career in property because we enjoy talking to people. When you gain your energy from others and are used to working verbally, it can be hard to sit down and find the creative energy to write a compelling property advert.

The end result is, most often than not, rather un-original property descriptions that do a job but fail to inspire any sort of emotive response.

Keep the following tips in mind if you want to write more compelling adverts...

1. Put max effort into the headline. Along with your main photo, this is how buyers decide whether to click on your listing or not. Try to avoid cheesy alliterations based on the street name. Pick a target market to focus on and write directly to them, with a headline like: 'Make me your first home'. If stuck, try posing a question, like 'Are you running out of space?' for a bigger home, or 'Focus on what matters most' for a simple, minimalist property.

2. Features vs Benefits.

Here's a feature: 'Afternoon sun.'

Same feature, this time expressed as a benefit: 'Each day when you get home from work, you can sit yourself down with a glass of wine and soak up the last of the sunset. What a way to end the day.'

Don't just list features in your advert. Describe how those features will benefit your buyer. Eg. Instead of just writing '2 bathrooms' write 'thanks to the addition of a second bathroom, you'll never have to deal with queues in the morning...'

3. Create scarcity. You have to show buyers why this home is special. Every compelling advert should have an element of 'scarcity' built it. Something like 'I have been in real estate many years but I have rarely seen a home with this combination of style, sun-aspect and family-friendly living spaces.'

4. Avoid lazy adjectives.

Examples of lazy adjectives: Really, interesting, great, beautiful.

I call these lazy adjectives because they lack creativity. Real estate buyers are over-saturated with these words because every single advert is filled with them. So as a result, they lose their meaning. In essence, we gloss over them once we've read them a hundred times.

Once you have written your advert, go through it again and if you spot one of the words above, replace it with something more interesting. Use an online synonym search tool to find an alternative word that is more compelling.

Synonyms for 'beautiful' include: Alluring, elegant, bewitching, enticing, sublime.

Show your owners that you care about their home by taking the time to choose slightly more unique words to describe their home.

5. Close off like a pro. Don't ever finish an advert without a call to action. What do you want buyers to do at the end of the advert: Call you for a viewing? Download an info pack? Text you their email?

Whatever it is, make sure it has one option. Keep it simple, don't offer them 4 different phone numbers to try. Ideally offer them something of value too, eg. 'Email andrew@agentmonday.co.nz for a property info pack.'

One final point: Use vendor motivation if you can. Some people feel differently about this but personally, I'm a big believer in using the owner's motivation if they give you permission to do so. For example: 'Owner moving out of town. Seeks urgent sale.' Buyers love this stuff and it will help attract more interest.

Will it attract bargain hunters? Probably, but that's ok. The more offers, the better right?