Today, almost every homebuyer begins their search for a new home online. Not listing your home online is a huge mistake as any real estate agent will tell you. This is because you’ll be limiting the number of buyers that will know about your property, much less come to see it. However, this doesn’t mean you can just throw up any old listing and expect buyers to arrive at your home in droves. Because practically every property that is for sale is listed online, you’re going to have a lot of competition.
Here are 10 tips to help your real estate listing stand out from the crowd:
Provide the basic information — This should be a no-brainer. At the very least, you should mention how many bedrooms and bathrooms the home has, what type of home construction it is, how many square feet it consists of and how many acres it sits on. If you have converted any room in the house, be clear about what the room is today, not what it started out as.
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Use professional photographs — Photographs are what will catch the attention of buyers. Make sure you have well-lit, clear photos of every room in your home as well as of the exterior of the house. You’ll want to stage each room before taking photographs, especially if you’ve already moved out of the house. Pictures of empty rooms are not going to cut it. Additionally, don’t take them yourself. A picture you snapped with your smartphone is going to look amateurish. Hire a professional photographer.
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List your kitchen features — The kitchen is the most important room in the house, the one that every buyer looks at first. List all the details about your kitchen, including whatever high-end appliances it contains (name the brand of the appliances as well), the types of flooring and countertops, and whether there’s a breakfast area, kitchen island and open floor plan. Don’t list what you are not prepared to include with the sale of the property.
List your bathroom features — Mention any high-end features that your master bath has, such as dual sinks, spa-like bath tubs, walk-in showers, chandeliers that hang over your tub and skylights.
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List any upgrades you’ve made to the house — If you’ve invested in any remodeling over the years, be sure to explain what you’ve upgraded, such as if you replaced the roof, updated the plumbing or electrical system, upgraded the HVAC system or finished the basement.
List outdoor features — Outdoor living spaces have shot up the want lists of many homebuyers over the last few years. Show off any outdoor features your home may have, whether it’s simply a small patio or porch, or an entire outdoor kitchen.
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List any eco-friendly features in the home — Not only are homebuyers looking to lessen their impact on the environment, they’re also looking to save more money on energy and water costs. This means that your home will look a lot more attractive if you list any eco-friendly features, whether it’s that sustainable bamboo flooring or the solar-powered heating system.
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Provide details about unique features — If you’re selling an older home, then it probably has features that are unique to its type of construction. For example, if you are selling a craftsman-style home, then mention the built-in bookshelves and fine attention to detail. Or maybe you’re selling a Spanish Colonial-style home, in which case you should point out those arched doorways.
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Provide a short overview of the neighborhood — The neighborhood is just as important as the house. The house may seem amazing, but if it’s in an area where the crime rate is high, not many buyers will want to look at it. Provide details about the neighborhood that include things like access to public transportation, distance from major roads, nearby restaurants, nearby shops, nearby parks and more.
Provide some information about the school district — One of the biggest factors for many homebuyers is the school district the house is located in (or school zone). This is because they want to make sure their kids attend a good school. Provide some information about the school district and mention any awards or high ratings that the schools within the district may have received.
This kind of detailed information will help to provide potential homebuyers with exactly what they want to know, which will in turn pique their curiosity to the point they will attend an open house or schedule a walk-through with your agent. One thing to keep in mind as you include all of this information is to make sure you break it up by using bullet points. Few people have the patience to read through big blocks of text, especially when going through hundreds of different listings.
