Our material is addressed primarily to individuals who place ads on the portal, but it may also be of interest to market professionals; We have collected tips given to inexperienced home sellers by the American specialized publication Bob Vila, and supplemented them with our recommendations.
By putting real estate on the site, you probably want to sell it as quickly as possible, but you probably don’t want to sell it cheap either. Sometimes it is tempting to embellish the characteristics of an object, but you have to be very careful with this. Misrepresentation of information can alienate a potential buyer.
So, what features of making an advertisement and further managing it can serve you badly?
1. The phrase “bargaining is inappropriate.” Some sellers do not like to bargain, so they immediately publish the minimum price they agree to. Although this may work in a very hot market, in other cases, such a statement, on the contrary, will scare away many potential buyers. Usually, the final price in transactions is 5-6% lower than the originally requested one. Agents advise setting the price slightly above the market to leave room for negotiations. This will allow you to get the desired amount in the end.
2. The phrase “all household appliances are included”. Many sellers of foreign real estate are not interested in taking away such bulky things as a refrigerator or stove, and prefer to leave them in the apartment to the new owner. This is quite understandable, however, by announcing that household items are already included in the price, you are missing a good opportunity to bargain.
3. Falsification of facts, or “our basement never floods.” Customers rely on the information in your ad, and if you misstate the age of the house, exaggerate the size of the plot, or even mistakenly call the area safe, when in fact it is not, you may lose a potential buyer.
4. The phrase “very urgently for sale”. Do not show excessive interest in the sale! This may give a signal to the buyer that you are ready to dump and agree to a deal on unfavorable terms. It is better to describe the house or apartment in the best possible way and do not overestimate the price.
5. “Many letters”. Too long descriptions of real estate listing boring details and repetitive information will tire a potential buyer. Moreover, do not forget that a person in search of housing, as a rule, flips through dozens of ads on the site. Reveal the main points about your object, and the details can be told or shown during further communication. It is worth noting that ads that are too short and stingy with information are just as bad as overly lengthy ones. By the way, don’t forget about the paragraphs! The text must be structured, otherwise it is not a text, but a series of words.
6. Phrases like “a unique apartment at a great price!”. Although you may be tempted to draw attention to your lot with exclamation marks and flowery prose, be careful! Real estate listings should be written clearly and professionally. The abuse of emotionally colored vocabulary, as well as an abundance of cliches, will at best make you wary, and at worst it will push you away.
7. “Living complex and inanimate premises”. If there are typos in the ad, a potential buyer may doubt the seller’s attention to detail in principle and the seriousness of his intentions. What can we say about advertising with a bunch of errors and inconsistencies (these also occur)! Sometimes mistakes are the fault of automatic translation. If you place an object on a foreign site, contact a native speaker to edit the text after a machine translator.
8. “Take it off the site immediately!”. Photos are key in real estate listings! The description of your property may be one hundred percent perfect, but without good images you send a clear signal: we are not proud of our home. Often, pictures in advertisements from private individuals are taken on phones with a bad camera and, accordingly, the frame resolution is low. Sometimes, the apartment is not prepared for a photo shoot at all (a slight mess, personal belongings are scattered), which is absolutely unacceptable. If you are really interested in a profitable sale of your property, do not skimp and hire a professional photographer. A specialist will help, for example, visually enlarge a small apartment due to the angle, make the right accents.
9. There is no reference to the area. Many sellers do not indicate the location of the object on the map, although the real estate portal provides such an opportunity. But the location is what the buyer is primarily interested in, no less than the immediate characteristics of the apartment. You should not deprive him of the pleasure of immediately “walking” around the area, finding supermarkets or transport stops, making a virtual path to the sea, if we are talking about resort real estate. In addition to linking to the map, the attractiveness of your object will be enhanced by beautiful photos of the surroundings, ideally shooting from a copter. Remember, advertising and modern technology are a tandem forever!
10. There is no layout of the apartment. It is impossible to get an idea of real estate only from photographs. Be sure to add an object diagram to the ad! In this way, it will immediately become clear to customers whether the option is suitable for their tasks or not.
11. “Posted – and forgot!” We came to the most important point. Your ad worked – the photos impressed, and the text aroused initial interest. A potential buyer jumped right into the sales funnel by sending you a request, but you didn’t see it or noticed it only two or three days later. During this time, your failed client managed to write to other, more efficient sellers and has already received a dozen offers. Do not lose the buyer at this stage! Keep an eye on and respond to requests on time!
So, let’s summarize! Beautiful photos, competent clear text, location reference, market price with a small gap for bidding and quick response to requests – this is the formula for a quick and profitable sale of real estate through a specialized portal.
Source: Bob Vila
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