You could write your own property listings … OR, you could invest around 0.65% of your commission to have them written by a professional marketing copywriter. It’s chicken feed when you think about it but that powerful, enticing listing needn’t take you hours to write.
I’ve asked agents this question myself and they variously tell me:
Then I ask them what their strengths have to be in order to do those things. They tell me:
Not one of them says their strengths are writing, making coffee, driving, taking photos, doing letterbox drops, managing paperwork or hammering signs into the ground yet they do all these things in the course of their job. Some might pay a local teenager ten bucks an hour to deliver their letterbox leaflets. Most will have the office admin assistant make the coffee. Even more will attempt to write their own listings and photograph properties. And all of that takes time; time that could be better – and for sure, more profitably – spent nurturing relationships by:
The real estate agents for whom I write property listings know and appreciate the value of:
You’ve seen them; the listings that are riddled with typos, grammatical and spelling errors. But just as awful are the listings that don’t say much about the property beyond “close to schools and public transport, great family home, 4 bed/3 bath, motivated vendor”.
A good copywriter can turn a property listing into an enticing story without it sounding like a romantic novel. A good copywriter will skilfully extract the lifestyle appeal of a property and articulate them so that the reader will picture themselves living there. Once that’s achieved, the would-be buyer will feel compelled to make contact with the agent.
So what about the fees? Marketing copy is an investment. You are investing in enhancing your opportunity to sell a product.
One of the most important things to remember when engaging a professional copywriter to write your real estate property listings is the end return on investment. It is a tax-deductible marketing expense, yes, but it’s a mistake to consider the copywriter’s fee as a ‘cost’, or as a percentage of those expenses. Think instead of what portion it makes up of your ultimate commission and then you’ll see that it’s the proverbial ‘chicken feed’.
Wiser words were never spoken. It’s just not good enough to apply a half-hearted effort to the marketing of a property. Poor quality photography and poorly written listings are akin to driving your would-be buyers around in a rusty, early model station wagon with dog hairs all over the seats and junk food wrappers on the floor. You simply wouldn’t do it, would you?
Yes, that low, to be assured of rapid turnaround (usually within hours), excellent copy and a hassle-free process.
Consider this: On a sell price of $500,000, the investment you will commit to copywriting equates to less than one per cent of your commission.
Call me on 0404 879 100 to discuss writing your property listings professionally.