Writing the Perfect Property Description
Upad have teamed up with Rightmove in a series of videos sharing best practice and top tips for making the
most out of your online ad.
In our first video, James speaks to Sam Mitchell, Head of Lettings at Rightmove, about how to write the perfect property description.
Here are the takeaways from the video;
- Get it right from the outset. When your ad first goes live, an email alert is sent out to registered users looking for new properties
in the area. Get your ad right first time as you only have one chance to make that initial impression.
- Tenants don’t read the detail. Get to point as soon as possible in your description because tenants won’t bother reading through a
long descriptive text. Think about the main features and selling points of your property.
- What does a tenant care about? You may be excited about your brand new boiler with 5 different functions but a tenant will only want
to know there is one! Try to think from a tenant’s point of view: what are they looking for and why might they be moving to the area?
- Logistics of property. Stick to how tenants will get about in the property area. Highlight how close the property is to transport,
getting to work places, nearby town, amenities etc.
- Use capital letters. Use capitals to highlight key features such as ‘garden’ or ‘terrace’ to attract tenant’s attention to these
selling points. Sam Mitchell states to avoid using capitals through the advert- it might sound like you’re shouting!
- Avoid estate agent speak. Avoid coming across as too cliché such as ‘We are delighted to present…’
Try using a more conversational tone that gets your key points across.
- Use bullet points. Using bullet points rather than prose will help to break up the text and tenants will be able find the key
information quicker. You could try writing a small prose description of a couple of sentences before breaking up the rest with bullet points.
- Get your Summary right. The Summary Description is the few sentences of text that shows next to the main images on the listing pages,
so it’s important you grab a tenant’s attention here. Stay away from descriptive language and opt for key ‘punchy’ features. Consider lifestyle and who it’s
for along with transport links.
- Look at your competition. Sam and James both advise looking at what you’re competing with before advertising.
You can set up a Property Alert in your area to see what’s coming onto the market and take bits you like from other ads, as well as helping you set the right
price.
Upad have helped over 15,000 landlords find new tenants as well as educating through webinars,
blog articles, landlord guides and How To videos.
