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6.5 million homes were sold in the US in 2020 and that figure is set to increase to 7.1 million this year. As a realtor, you want a slice of the action. But with so much competition, it’s hard to make your properties stand out. This is where real estate copywriting comes into play.
Words can make a huge difference to your property listing copy, taking potential homes from average to amazing. When a buyer is scrolling through endless listings, it’s easy for them to burn out especially if those listings all start to sound the same. Good real estate copywriting will elevate your listings above the rest and give your properties the personality they need to sell.
What is real estate copywriting?
Real estate copywriting is essentially any writing involved in selling properties. It includes headlines, ad copy, an agent bio, your About Us page, and property descriptions, all of which have the potential to pique the interest of a buyer or turn them off.
Learning copywriting skills can be hugely beneficial for real estate agents to know how to speak to homeowners and buyers in a way that resonates with them and drives sales and commissions.
It might sound simple: surely, real estate copywriting just involves listing all the amazing features of a house - that’s what people want to know, right? Yes, but this is only a part of it. Buying a home is an emotional decision (and a big one). Buyers need reassurance that they’re making the right decision, which takes a lot more than listing out the square footage of a property and its location.
If you read a lot of real estate copy, you start to notice that a lot of it follows a similar pattern. It:
- States the features of a house in a dry list
- Includes boring text and vague sentences that don’t really tell a potential buyer much at all
- Doesn’t ignite the imagination and paint a picture of a property
- Doesn’t tell a story or create a narrative
- Doesn’t incorporate words that are geared towards sales
Learning how to create compelling real estate copy—and how to use copywriting tools that can help flatten the learning curve—will increase the chances of your properties getting seen and getting viewings.
How to write real estate ads that capture and convert
Real estate ads targets people who are actively searching for a new home and show up at the top of their feeds on social media or in search engines. Ads are a great way to reach people who might otherwise miss your online listings or skip past them if they’re simply scrolling through aggregate sites.
There are two main elements that make up a real estate ad:
1. The headline
This is the first thing potential buyers will see when they come across your ad. It’s usually the determining factor between them choosing to click through on your ad or skipping past it completely. If your headline doesn’t do its job, the rest of your listing will go unseen.
In fact, the headline is so important, we’ve written an entire section on it for this piece.
2. The body copy
This is your chance to share a bit more about the property and add any extra selling points. Getting the copy right here will help strengthen your headline and give buyers further information to see if the listing is a good fit for them.
Take a look at the body copy in these ads - not very enticing, is it? It’s obvious that they’re all trying to cram in relevant keywords for SEO, but they don’t really tell us much about the properties or give any further information about the kinds of homes that are for sale.
Imagine if you could write something that knocked this boring, keyword-riddled copy out of the park? Actually, it’s easy enough if you know what to include and what buyers are looking for.
This ad could be improved simply by talking about what these features actually mean for potential buyers. The large, open, eat-in kitchen might be perfect for big family dinners, for example, or the natural light might be great for a budding artist.
5 tips to improve real estate headlines and drive click-throughs
Your property listings are basically like your shopfront. They have to do all the heavy lifting, particularly if you’re sharing them on aggregate sites with tons of other listings all clamoring for attention.
However, your property listing could be the most beautifully written piece of copy in the world, but if your headline doesn’t encourage buyers to click-through in the first place, it’s going to go unread.
It’s no surprise then, that your headline is one of the most important parts of a property listing. If you can provide enough information to pique the curiosity of buyers, they’re more likely to click through to the listing, and then you can wow them with your amazing copy.
So how can you make sure your headlines hit the mark?
1. Put the client first
Remember who you’re talking to. A lot of realtors get technical with listings on their real estate website, almost like they’re trying to impress other realtors rather than the general public. When you put your target audience first, you’re able to imagine the kinds of things they want to learn about a property.
This ad taps into its audience’s desire for a big, family Thanksgiving.
Think about:
- What’s in it for them?
- How do you want clients to feel when they read your headline?
- What pain points do they have?
For example, a property might have tons of land but what does that mean for the client? It might mean that there’s renovation potential or the opportunity to build other properties on-site.
2. Get inspiration from other listings
Not all property listings are bad. In fact, there are a few gems out there that can act as high-quality inspiration. When you’re browsing through aggregate sites or your competitor’s list of latest properties, keep an eye out for listings that are well-written and stand out from the others.
Maybe they go into detail about the benefits of a property rather than just its features, or maybe they weave a narrative around the history of the property instead of just listing the amenities in a bullet point format.
3. Tell a story
All properties have a history, even those that have just been built. But more than diving into the story around the building, think about weaving a narrative that gets clients excited about living there. For example, you can paint a picture of what a sunny Sunday might look like, or highlight how cozy winter evenings will be with the grand open fireplace.
Use your words to tell them what life could be like if they buy that property. Tapping into their future will help them paint a picture of a property and become emotionally attached to it rather than simply being a list of features and measurements.
Circa Old Houses is great at telling a story around its properties. This description brings a quirky 1930s property to life with descriptive prose and benefits over features.
4. Focus on price
Let’s face it: the price is one of the most important factors when buying a house. If something is out of budget, it’s just not a viable option, which is why being upfront about the price in the headline can work wonders.
Making your headline price-focused doesn’t mean just jotting down the cost. It could mean stating that it’s a cheap property for the area, or that its listing price is lower than the appraisal price. Anything that makes potential clients feel like they’re getting more for their money is a winner.
5. Be descriptive
The mistake a lot of realtors make with their listings is simply using them as exactly that: lists. They bullet out the main features of a house without going into much more detail. While this gives potential home buyers a good idea of what the house might offer, it doesn’t really make it special.
The more descriptive you can get with your copy, the better. The easiest way to do this is to make sure you touch on the benefits of the property rather than the features. Yes, it’s nice that the property has a private garden, but use descriptive copy to bring it to life in a client’s mind. Describe what it looks like and describe the benefits of having this private garden. You might mention the possible BBQs in summers, or the potential to landscape it and create hidden spaces.
How to write real estate product descriptions using Jasper
If you’re a realtor with a lot of properties on your roster, it can be a huge time-suck writing unique and compelling copy for each and every listing. Thankfully, an AI-powered writing assistant can fix that issue. With Jasper, you can scale this process by creating AI-driven descriptions that touch on all the points we’ve listed here.
All you have to do is enter the basic information about a property, and Jasper will weave a narrative around that. Take a look at the example below of a five-bed property in Baton Rouge.
Jasper’ real estate listing template offers a bulleted option as well as a couple of paragraphs that all cover the benefits rather than the features of a property. It specifically helps buyers paint a picture of a property and imagine what their life might look like if they live there.
Sign up for Jasper to start creating powerful real estate ads.
