According to Wikipedia, more than 60% of property sales worldwide have been done via a real estate portal while in France, 70% of potential home-buyers use Internet for property search. So, writing an enticing property ad remains core especially in such a competitive market segment. To put the odds in your favor for the success of your property transaction, lexpressproperty.com has noted down 10 most common mistakes to be avoided when writing real estate adverts.
1. Lengthy advert description
Avoid writing too lengthy and boring text description for your ads. Be brief, concise and straight-forward. Your goal is not to draft an essay but to create engagement from the potential home-buyer.
2. Typos, spelling and grammatical mistakes
While writing an ad description, credibility remains key. Pay attention to typos, spelling and grammatical mistakes. Write simple and short sentences. If you are not so comfortable with English language, why not use an online free language correction tool. Also avoid using abbreviations. Your ad should not be an enigma which the home-buyer has to decipher. Time is money: he would not lose his time on your ad and would move to another ad.
3. Use of weird and hilarious email addresses
Your email address will be read by potential home-buyers. You should be professional in choosing your email address to appear more serious. Avoid using addresses like s3xy_ang3l_baby@xxxx... or inboxmebabe@xxxx... Use your forename+name and create an email on your Gmail account to boost your credibility.
4. Air your dirty linen in public
The reasons why you want to let or sell your property belong solely to you and the home-buyer is not interested in knowing them at all. Avoid mentioning those reasons in your ad description. Be straight-forward as stated above.
5. Overselling and features exaggeration
Just like an advert which is too should will not be taken seriously, an ad with too much information might sound too good to be true to be considered as serious. Remain objective and avoid performing misleading advertising.
6. No photographs
Images are stronger than words and photos remain the main feature of a successful property advert. Do make the silly mistake of overlooking photos in your ads. Don’t just include one or two photos, put as many as you want taken from different angles and perspectives. Note : Avoid putting texts over the photos.
7. Out-of-context photos
Logically, a real estate ad should enhance the property to be sold or for rental. Out-of-context and irrelevant images should be avoided. For example, a photography of the pavement or your neighbor’s garden especially if the garden is in a real mess. This would surely downgrade your property’s reputation.
8. Publish property photos on which you appear
The only thing which is either on sale or on rental is the real estate property. So you should not appear on the photos. You will surely meet the potential buyer personally in due course during the site visit.
9. Impose your personal views to potential home-buyers
In case you are either letting or selling your property, it is not your job to tell the potential home-buyers what adjustments and arrangements to be carried out. He should be the sole coordinator of his future project as he does not have necessarily the same tastes and preferences compared to you.
10. Publish the photo of your “mess” in your ads
Think of cleaning inside and outside your property before taking its picture to be published in your ad. Your property should look smart, neat and tidy to generate interest and engagement from potential home-buyers.
Important : When writing your property ads, especially when you have to translate it into French, avoid making literal translations. Below are some examples of some translations received on lexpressproperty.com:
Some geographical locations in Mauritius:
Morcellement Beau Manguier - Fragmentation beautiful mango trees...
La Preneuse - The Grab...
La Croisette (Grand Baie) - The Small Cross...
Pointe aux Canonniers - Advanced to the gunners...
Baie du Tombeau - Bay of Tomb...
Mon Choisy - My Choisy...
La plage de Bain Boeuf - the beach beef bath...
Canot - Canoeing
Some more:
Rez-de-chaussée d’un immeuble - ground chausee of a building
Belle clientèle - Beautiful customer
Maison non meublée, idéale pour bureau, spa ou gym - Not ideal home furniture for office, spa or gym.
