{"id":2514,"date":"2008-01-21T11:21:22","date_gmt":"2008-01-21T18:21:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/?p=2514"},"modified":"2008-01-18T21:45:14","modified_gmt":"2008-01-19T04:45:14","slug":"descriptive-text-as-benefit-not-feature","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/2514\/descriptive-text-as-benefit-not-feature\/","title":{"rendered":"Descriptive text as benefit, not feature"},"content":{"rendered":"

Over the course of developing Estately<\/a>, Doug and I have looked at a lot of listings. We\u2019ve seen humorous irregularities, things like the neighborhood called \u201cSeattle\u201d that has been carved out of adjacent cities or the neighborhoods of large cities that are promoted to city status by agents who apparently want no one to ever find their property on traditional, select-your-city-from-a-list real estate search sites.<\/p>\n

After the awful photos, which are well documented by Athol<\/a>, the most painful part of viewing listing after listing for me is the \u201cdescriptive text.\u201d Of the dozens of boxes agents fill for every property, this is the one where a listing agent can sing the praises of the listings benefits and go beyond the laundry list of features.<\/p>\n

Or at least it should be the box that is about benefits<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

But all too often it is either meaningless filler or a relisting of selected features. It\u2019s like real estate agents, people who are steeped in personal marketing strategies, who bandy about marketing words like conversions and leads, had never heard of benefits.<\/p>\n

The following are a few of the regulars; the features buffed with flowery adjectives and sent off to the ether, and my amateurish reworking of them<\/strong>. I don\u2019t market for a living, so I\u2019m sure (positive!) we\u2019ll see better reworkings in the comments.<\/p>\n

Feature<\/strong>: Beautiful view, huge picture window
\nBenefit<\/strong>: Watch the sunrise through the picture window from anywhere in the living room<\/p>\n

Feature<\/strong>: only 15 minutes from downtown, hot tub
\nBenefit<\/strong>: relax in the hot tub after a short (less than 10 minute) commute from downtown<\/p>\n

Feature<\/strong> (barely): You’ll love this floor plan!
\nBenefit<\/strong>: hallway-free floor plan maximizes living space OR open floor plan maximizes feng-shui<\/p>\n

Things I wouldn’t put in a public description because they aren’t features or benefits:<\/p>\n