Most weak listing copy fails for one reason: the writer has not looked closely enough at the house. When you do not know what to say about a property, it is easy to say something about the person you imagine living in it. "Perfect for entertaining." "A dream for the growing family." "Ideal for the busy professional."
Those phrases are filler, and some of them are a risk. Our note on Fair Housing-safe listing copy covers why describing the buyer can cause trouble. This article is about the craft side: how to write remarks that are better because they stick to the house.
What good remarks do
Good remarks answer three questions in the first few lines:
- What is this? The type of home, its scale and where it sits.
- What is distinctive about it? The one or two things that set it apart.
- What does a buyer need to know to decide whether to visit?
Everything else, the long list of features, the adjectives, the suggestions about how the home might be used, is optional. If the first three questions are answered precisely, the remarks already work.
Start with nouns and measurements
Specific nouns do more than adjectives. Compare:
A beautiful, spacious kitchen with high-end appliances.
A galley kitchen with a twelve-foot island, soapstone counters and a commercial range under a plastered hood.
The second tells you what the room is, how big and what it is made of. It is also, if the details are confirmed, entirely verifiable. The first could describe any kitchen in any listing. Houses with a design pedigree need exact vocabulary, as in marketing architecturally significant homes.
A few habits help:
- Name materials. Oak, limestone, plaster, slate, zinc, terrazzo. Only name what you have confirmed.
- Give dimensions where they help. A ceiling height, a lot width, a terrace depth.
- Use direction and light. South-facing, overlooking the garden, morning sun in the breakfast room.
- Name the architecture. Georgian, Tudor, Prairie, mid-century, brick row house. Use terms you can defend, and confirm architect and year with the seller or the record.
Replace judgments with facts
The most useful edit is turning a judgment into a fact. A judgment asks the reader to trust you. A fact lets them decide.
| Judgment | Fact |
|---|---|
| Quiet street | A dead-end street with no through traffic |
| Close to everything | A short walk to the train and the village shops |
| Huge yard | A deep lot with a fenced lawn and mature trees |
| Move-in ready | Roof, boiler and electrical replaced, with dates confirmed by the seller |
| Great light | Windows on three sides of the living room |
Some facts will not be available. That is a signal to ask the seller, not to reach for a more generous adjective.
Rewrite exercise one: the suburban house
First draft:
Perfect for a growing family! This charming home sits on a quiet street with the best schools nearby. The master suite is a retreat for mom and dad, and the kids will love the big yard.
This draft describes the buyer four times, makes a judgment about schools, and says very little about the house. A rewrite:
A five-bedroom brick Tudor on a tree-lined street, set well back on a deep lot. The living room has a stone fireplace and original leaded windows. The kitchen opens to a screened porch and a lawn bordered by mature maples. The primary suite occupies the rear of the second floor, with a dressing room and a bath overlooking the garden.
Every sentence describes the property. Nothing in it needs a disclaimer.
Rewrite exercise two: the condominium
First draft:
Urban professionals will love this sleek, modern home in the heart of the city, ideal for the buyer who wants to be steps from nightlife.
Rewrite:
A two-bedroom corner residence on a high floor, with floor-to-ceiling glass facing east and south. The living room opens to a balcony. The kitchen has a quartz island, integrated appliances and a pantry. The building has a doorman and an indoor garage, and the train is a five-minute walk.
Note what changed. The buyer disappeared. The unit, the building and the location appeared, each with specifics. For more on how to present buildings, see our note on marketing a condominium.
Words to watch
A short list of terms that tend to describe people rather than property, or make claims that are hard to support:
- Phrases that name a buyer: "perfect for families", "ideal for singles", "great for retirees", "bachelor pad".
- Terms that describe neighbors: "exclusive", "desirable crowd", "family neighborhood".
- Claims about safety, schools or the character of a community. Leave them out entirely.
- Gendered or familial room names where a neutral one is available: "primary suite" rather than "master", "bedroom" rather than "nursery".
- Absolutes you cannot prove: "best", "most", "only", "never".
Your brokerage will often have its own list. Keep it beside you when you write. Anything that remains uncertain is your managing broker's call, not a designer's. Claims about a house's past are covered in writing about a house's history.
Structure for print and for MLS
The MLS remarks field has limits, and print has room. The same copy can serve both if it is built in layers. The one-page version is covered in the feature sheet buyers' agents read.
- Opening sentence: what it is and where. Complete in itself, suited to the MLS field or a social caption.
- Second paragraph: the distinctive features, in the order a visitor would meet them. This matches the photo order. See our note on sequencing photographs.
- Third paragraph: practical details, systems, updates, inclusions and the setting.
- Closing line: one quiet sentence, usually about the grounds or the street, that gives a sense of place.
In a listing brochure, each paragraph can become a spread with room to breathe. On the MLS, trim from the bottom.
Tone
Luxury copy rewards restraint. A house that is exceptional can be described plainly, and a plain description is more persuasive than an excited one. Avoid exclamation marks. Avoid stacking adjectives. Avoid the vocabulary of the genre: "nestled", "boasts", "stunning", "must see". A reader who has seen a thousand listings has learned to skip all of them.
Short sentences keep the copy honest. Where a longer sentence earns its place, usually to describe a view or a sequence of rooms, let it run, then return to short ones.
A five-step editing routine
- Write freely. Get everything down, including the clichés.
- Circle every adjective. Replace each with a noun, a measurement or a material, or delete it.
- Read for people. Highlight any word that describes who lives there, who might, or who the neighbors are. Remove or rewrite.
- Check each fact. Source it from the seller, the plans or the public record. If you cannot source it, cut it.
- Read it aloud. If a sentence sounds like a brochure from any other house, rewrite it.
The result
Remarks written this way are shorter than most, more specific than most and easier to approve. They also make the rest of the marketing easier. A designer given precise copy and an ordered sequence of photographs produces better pages, because there is something real to set.
If you would like copy and layout prepared together, our listing brochures service includes a copy edit against these principles, with anything uncertain flagged for your broker rather than quietly changed.