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If You Want To Sell Your Home, Call It Beautiful

Published by Joseph Ferrara (2) January 26th, 2007 in Real Estate Marketing. Comments

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Effective real estate marketing depends on a great headline and good copy to motivate buyers to come a-knockin’. Several studies indicate that certain ad words sell real estate faster, while others can cost you time and money.

Bottom Line: Emphasize beauty and extravagance rather than value and price.

Good Ad Words: Sell Faster, Get higher price

  • Curb Appeal
  • Landscaping- 20% faster
  • Gourmet
  • Handyman’s special
  • Beautiful & gorgeous- 15% faster
  • Golf – 5.6-7% higher price
  • Lake- 7% higher price but 8.9% longer to sell
  • Updated- 2.7% faster, 5% higher price
  • Move-in condition
  • Starter home

Bad Ad Words–Longer to Sell, lower price

Rental- 60% longer to sell
Motivated- 15% longer (prior study showed 8% longer)
Good value
As-is
Foreclosure 16% lower price but no effect on sell time

Neutral- Little effect, possibly negative on price/time

Clean
Quiet
New Paint
New Carpet
Roof work & other property improvements
Vacant (4% lower price)
Moving
Must-see

Original Sources: Very interesting reading
Real Estate Agent’s Remarks: Help or Hype? [pdf] Haag, Rutherford & Thomson (Univ. of Texas) Study of 58,000 closed transactions between 1994-1997
The Selling Process, If at first you don’t succeed…Prof. Paul M.Anglin (Univ. of Windsor, Canada) Study of 20,000 listings from Essex and Windsor County MLS 1997-2000
Prof. Paul M. Anglin’s Other Working Papers.

H/T: Redfin Blog. (via LA Times)

Related Posts:

How To Write An Ad That Sells Real Estate
How to Write a Great Classified Ad
World’s Best Acroynm Finder

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  • They spoke to no one. They merely looked at listings. One involved 58,000 lisitngs, the other 20,000. For the particulars, including references to earlier studies, you can check the links to the original sources.
  • I'm from New Zealand, trust me the Grand Canyon is way overated. The Nigara Falls is okay I guess... assuming you've never seen a proper waterfall. ;-P

    Really laughing at "rental" taking 60% longer to sell. No kidding. I means the house completely failed to sell, and now the owners are already moved out and paying two mortgages and are just desperate to cover one of them with some sort of an income.

    Did they even talk to anyone in real estate before they did the study? Or just sit in the library and number crunch towards their Piled High & Deep?

    All in all it seems that the words do have an influence, just it's not as reductionist as the studies suggest. The ads that smack of desperation "motivated seller", "as-is", "vacant" all are repulsive. The ones that ooze "beauty", "quality", "updated" are attractive.
  • The findings of one or both of these studies (one US, one Canadian) have been repeated in several newspapers but I decided to track down the original studies and get it straight from the horses' mouths. I provided links to the Original Sources. They make for interesting reading.

    I agree that a beautiful house should by its nature sell faster and beauty is indeed in the eye of the beholder but some beauty can't be denied (the Grand Canyon, Niagra Falls as extreme examples). And if a house is truly beautiful, say so to get more buyers to come see its beauty.

    What I got from the studies is focus on beauty and extravagance more than good value. If there is proof that using the words "motivated" or "as-is" works against you, dont use them. And if handyman special works better than fixer-upper, go with handyman.
    It reminds of the "used car" stigma. Upscale dealers starting calling them "pre-owned vehicles". I guess the same can be said for RE ads.

    I would be curious if any brokers have done their own studies on ad word effectiveness. I wonder if some words are market sensitive.
  • It's the chicken and the egg to some extent. Most people don't call an ugly house beautiful, they only use the term for a beautiful house. And a beautiful house will sell faster even if it isn't called beautiful.

    Since that term is used more often on houses that already sell more often it seems to be a magic word, but it isn't.

    That does not mean that we shouldn't use it for a truly beautiful house however.

    And it's true, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I thought my listing was beautiful and said so, and was told I should have called it rustic.
  • StuartD
    P.S. Interesting real estate articles and discussion forum here: http://www.homefindinginfo.com/
  • Interesting points. Where did the info come from, or did someone just decide to make it up?

    Cheers,

    StuartD
  • The power of words is enormous.

    Add:

    Ocean (front, view, sunsets, -close)

    Tree-lined street

    Excellent schools

    Cottage (if it fits)
  • I agree with you on both of your points. There's no point in building people up for a let down and that kind of approach seldom results in offers.
  • norm - of course. beauty is in the eye of the beholder. but in real estate, if it's really not "beautiful", then don't use that word. e.g. Triple Mint, XXX MINT. you may give someone false hope when they actually do see it. rather, if your description was more neutral, then people may look at that same property differently and quite possibly, with an open mind instead of a pre-determined image of the place based on your copy. sometimes, it's better to play down the $100 words and let the place speak for itself.

    re: motivated: sometimes means desperate. also, may be a signal to a buyer that they can get a deal on property
  • Hmmm. I wonder about this research. There's no doubt that good copy is more effective than poorly written copy. It seems to me that a "beautiful home" is likely to sell faster than an ugly home because it's actually "beautiful" and not necessarily because that word is selected to describe it.

    Same deal with "motivated." One might expect that word would draw some interest. Most often, it's used to promote activity on over-priced homes where the agent is unable to influence a reduction and it's no wonder they take longer to sell.
  • Very good points! In fact one of them, I plan on using and changing what I wrote on fixer-upper...so much better to say handyman special or something of that nature. Good points.
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