What Do Your Remarks Say About Your Home?

In this ever competing housing market, home sellers are looking for something to separate them from the competiton. As Realtors we are looking for ways to drive traffic to our listings; knowing that if someone would go inside and look at the house it would sell itself. The question we all wrestle with on a daily basis is how to effectively do that.. One way to separate your home from other similiar homes is what your Realtor writes in the remarks section about your home.

The other day, I had sent a client a list of homes through the Multiple listing service that met their criteria in a home. Out of the10 homes that I sent him; he called and said there was one in particular he wanted to see. Now, you would normally say it was priced way below market value or the photos stood out on the house. Well, neither was true. The home was priced slighlty below market value for the area based on the condition that the home was marketed and there was only ONE photo (and it was not flattering for the house). So, why did he want to go and look at the house? The remark section.

The Realtor wrote a one sentence remark for the house. It read "home was "cannabilized" inside & outside, and needs extensive repairs. Indoor pool in basement. Contact listing agent for more information". That was it. My buyer was so intrigued by the phrase cannabilized he had to see it for himself. The house had been on the market for a few days and when I talked with the listing agent prior to showing the house, he told me that he already had 7 showings. Well, when we went and looked at the house, there was one other Realtor there already and 2 other Realtors with clients showed up during our tour of the home. Talking with each of them, we all had the same response.... Our clients wanted to know what "cannabolized" looked like inside.

The home (for the record) was not that bad inside. In fact, the overall condition of the home was liveable and though some reapirs needed to be done to move in; the home was not in a condition I expected to see it in. Now, I suspect that the Realtor will recieve an offer on this home shortly if not multiple offers...Too many people viewed the house; and the ones there with us yesterday were there an extensive amount of time as well.

What this Realtor did was create an atmosphere where he let the imagination of the buyer decide what the home looked like inside and had to go and look at the house.. his choice of a key phrase and wording placed this home on the top of the list for people looking in that area and price range. i would not recommend using the word "cannabolized" unless the home warranted it. But there are many other adjectives out there that can describe a home and separate it form what everyone else is writing in their comments to separate your home form the competitiors...

So, what are the remarks saying about your home?

David diCecco
Realtor/Broker
www.davedicecco.com