4 Real Estate Copywriting Mistakes

Copywriting for real estate listings is one of the most overlooked and misused pieces of marketing content. I see mistakes with this made daily. I'm not the best writer either but you cannot ignore this crucial component of the marketing plan. Here are my top four copywriting pet peeves and common mistakes:

• WRITING IN ALL CAPS
  Why are you doing this?! Stop yelling, people can read lower-case letters too. ALL CAPS just makes your listing look desperate for attention.
• Abbreviation Overload
  Most MLSs have a character limit for property description remarks. Many agents use this as an opportunity to abbreviate the heck out of everything and describe a property as a "4 BR, 2.5 BA w/ EIK. Master suite w/ WIC. Walk out LL." Seriously? If you must abbreviate, change your copy for the rest of the internet so potential buyers are not left reading this garbage.
• Not Telling A Story
  This is your opportunity to have the listing sing. Most agents end up writing a glorified fact sheet in paragraph form, such a waste. You are selling a lifestyle. Use this opportunity to tell buyers how incredible life is in this home, neighborhood, town, etc.
• Not Proofreading
  Spelling and grammatical errors are uncalled for. Read your copy out loud or have someone else read it to you. Sometimes you'll miss items from reading it over and over and over again on a computer screen.

First impressions are everything when presenting a listing to the world and that first impression is happening online. If you have bad copy, you could turn people off. So take the time to write creative, quality copy that is attractive. Not the best at writing? Hire a copywriter. It's not very expensive and will impress your sellers and potential buyers.