Regardless if you are an experienced writer, or you are a writing novice just trying to get the most out of your listing, these five tips will propel your listings to the next level to ensure you are covering all basis.
Put Yourself In The Tenants Shoes
You are not writing just because the listing website requires a description for a valid entry. You have a distinct goal: list key information about your rental property and portray what life would be like living at the address. Put yourself in a potential tenants shoes- what questions about the property would you have? What features are key selling points? What do you like most about the rental property? Does the rental property come with any bonus extras?Create a Catchy Headline
What was the last youtube video you clicked on? Or how about the last newspaper headline you read? You probably scanned the page looking for a story with a caption that resonated well with you or caught your eye. The process for attracting tenants to your listing is the same. Strong headlines engage potential tenants and encourage them to click on your listing. For example; which listing title do you think would make you click on it?“Four Bedroom Rental available now” or “Stunning four bedroom, three bathroom family home with incredible city views, School zones, and mall near-by!”
Clearly, the second example is far more enticing than the first. It provides a quick snippet of information about the house, and the type of tenant the property manager is targeting.
Brainstorm what your future tenants are looking for when they browse rental property listings in your area. For further inspiration, SnapInspect suggest looking at the high performing listings and noting what descriptive words they are using to sell their place to renters.
Next, get your ideas out. Draft headlines, write quickly, and focus on getting all of your ideas onto paper or recorded digitally. Change the sentence structure, swap words around, and keep making adjustments until you create a few headlines that you are happy with. Run them by your colleagues and friends. Once you are confident, you have the perfect headline to use for your list edit it to ensure that each word is specific, explicit and can not be removed or replaced with stronger words.
Get creative
By now, you have a clear indication of what your listing is selling and what type of tenants you will want to be attracting. Write down a basic content outline by listing all the features you want to showcase in the description.Don’t stress over punctuation and grammar, worrying over minor details in the drafting phase of your rental listing is a quick way to stop the creative juices flowing. Record your properties most attractive features, adjectives you want to use to describe the house and any other details you think potential tenants want to read.
There’s no right or wrong way to write a rental property listing description. You can detail literally anything that makes your rental property listing unique and appealing for tenants. Your listing could include the homes location, property size, parking, amenities, perks, traffic routes, sunlight hours, and so much more.
A large number of tenants also need to know before booking a viewing whether your property is accessible for disabled tenants, families, or pets. Be sure to include these points in your rental property listing if your home does cater to each group.
Write your first draft
Rental copy that wins tenants connect directly with the reader. No Idea where to begin? Imagine asking a potential tenant, “What’s your current home like?” Then create a quick draft as if you were that tenant answering that question. Again, don’t stress over the quality level of your draft, you can fix all the errors later. For now, write a draft that uses active language to help paint a picture of what living in your property is like. Be honest and specific, if something is worn down state it. Tenants respect truthfulness far more than lying. Tell your future tenants why you enjoy the house so much and why you think it’s the ultimate spot.
Don’t stop to correct grammar, punctuation or spelling- you will fix things up later. For now, focus on creating a piece of writing that will compliment your rental property listing nicely.
Refine Your Rental Property Description Draft
Define all details
Engaging copy is to the point, specific, and uses a factual tone. Copy written in a vague tone does not convert page viewers into tenants. Say you wrote “It’s a really good house.” what does that mean? How would the page viewer know what that really means? Instead, use precise reasons why your property is so strong and paint a picture in the reader’s mind that will resonate and potentially convert them into a tenant.Active Voice
Active voice uses fewer words, making the writing to the point and efficient. Which also creates a fast-paced narrative, that makes writing easier to read and more engaging at the same time. Go back on your draft and change all passive voice sentences to active voice.For example, say you had a passive voice sentence like: “The outdoor fireplace is loved by tenants on winter nights that are cold” restructure clunky, passive sentences to active voice: “You’ll love the warmth of the outdoor fireplace on cold winter nights.”
Active voice will give your rental property listing the pull you need to land high-quality tenants.
Be to the point
If a potential tenant finds themselves on your listing chances are that they have already been on several other listings that day, hour or minute even. The best rental property descriptions say the most in the least amount of words possible. Cut down your sentences, use short paragraphs, and avoid rambling at all costs.If your rental property has a lengthy list of amenities you wish to showcase to the tenant, SnapInspect suggests that you curate the amenities into a bullet point form list. When you use a bullet point list, potential tenants can scan the list of all the essential information they need to know in one scan of the rental property listing.
Use Adjectives That Excite Tenants
Spacious, elegant, minimalistic, beautiful, paradise, relaxing can all portray the vibe of your rental property to entice tenants. Remember, everyone has different definitions of adjectives. Someone from downtown New York may not consider a house “spacious” the same way someone from country-side Texas would.Avoid overdoing it. Too many adjectives, exclamation marks, and capital letters will make your rental property listing weaker rather than stronger. Use strong adjectives that quickly paint an image of what your rental property is like.
Be the first to comment