Describe a House
Describe a House to Bring it to Life in a Buyer’s Eyes
Describe your home to create an image of what it is like to live there. The goal of your real estate description is to emotionally transport house-hunters in such a fashion that they picture themselves in your home and on your grounds.
Whether you are a homeowner trying to sell on your own or a real estate agent representing a homeowner, a house is so much more than just a building. All houses have a history — even new construction. The history of a house starts from the ground it is built on. Why was it built there? What makes that location special or interesting? Does it have views? Is it within a quaint town, a Brownstone in a major city, or a seaside escape?
Describing Your Home or Listing with Effective Words Can Make All the Difference
There are many tools you can use to describe a house. Focus on its setting, its architecture, history, owners, etc. I start with the setting or location first, then work my way inside, which I’ll share with you in the next post.
Using the Setting in Your Home’s Description
Talk about the setting to describe your home. Is the house in a city? Talk about the neighborhood restaurants — “Cheers” if you will. Can you ride a bike to the green grocers? If the property has hills or slopes, does it have views or areas for terraced gardens or rock gardens? Is there a water feature — a pond that is stocked or could be stocked. Could you paddle a boat across it? Use creative words. Use your imagination to describe a house.
A gully presents an opportunity for an arched bridge.
Buyers search for water of any kind when buying a home. Do you have a stream or creek — Is it seasonal or year-round? Is your property wooded or partly wooded? Is it low-maintenance or are the grounds manicured or need to be cleared? Are there perennial gardens that provide fresh flowers to grace your tables? Is the land flat and appropriate for a tennis court or swimming pool? Are your neighbors nearby and will you miss them? Is your community active? Can you see your neighbors or are you beautifully private in a park-like setting?
Following is an example of a house description using emotional wording. It paints a mental image of the setting, more than the house. The property description is most important as it lets a buyer know the history and use of the property which is farmland. The house itself is not the selling feature. It is very important to direct your property description to the right buyer, rather than just describing the property to the masses.
Use Adjectives when Describing your Home – Use Emotions
GRANDMA ALLISON’S PLACE – 70 ACRES
Every Sunday, sinners, and saints showed up at Grandma Allison’s house. No invitation necessary, no shortage of food – fried chicken, mashed potatoes, fried okra, and more. The kitchen was roomy and we all fit in — buttermilk biscuits hot out of the oven. Prayer, then pass the dishes – all gone.
Kids everywhere, slamming doors, hiding in the bedrooms upstairs and down. Out in the big barn, men discuss livestock, and when or if to cut the timber again. Women relax on the wraparound porch. Banana pudding for dessert!
Having trouble coming up with adjectives to describe your home?
Be careful not to overuse the same words! Is it better to use the word house or home? Rather than using the word “house”, You might use the word “home” in your descriptions. It gives your property warmth and feeling. The word home describes the home’s character. Buyers need to relate to your description and know that if they purchase your property they will feel at “home”.
Depending on the type of house or property, you could substitute those words with farm, or cottage, homeplace, manor or castle — use a descriptive name that makes sense and gives a true image of what you’re trying to convey. I use Inspirassione.com for assistance with ideas for coming up with adjectives when describing a house. The site helps you pick “elegant words”. You can also get suggestions for adverbs, nouns, verbs in many different languages! Plus, the site offers proofreading but I use the free version of Grammarly!
“A house is made of walls. The walls are designed to “contain” things. We buy the walls and the walls “hold in” our thoughts, our emotions. We create rooms within the walls. We color the walls with our dreams. As the walls become embedded with our personalities — our experiences, the house transforms into our “home”.
When we decide to sell the house, we still see it as our “home”. Our perception of its value is not only how much of our funds we’ve invested, but how much of “ourselves” we’ve invested. We don’t realize that in a buyer’s eyes, we are simply selling a “house”, a house upon which the new owner will imprint his or her own personality — and the cycle continues!”
© Brenda Thompson, 2016
Consider creating a video to describe a house. You can point out the features in a fun way without being too “salesy”!
In the video above, I used pictures to describe the house rather than a lengthy and wordy description. We believed the buyer for this property would most likely be going to use it as a vacation home. We already had ads written with all the factual data but wanted to open a buyer’s eyes to the property’s potential use. I used a whimsical and fun font and a little humor and it worked! And, because it was a light-hearted approach, buyers did not feel pushed or afraid to reach out to an agent to see the property.
Have fun as you write your home’s real estate description! Don’t be afraid to speak from your heart. Share stories so the buyer can see themselves living there and creating their own stories. Let your emotions flow free and bring your property to life with a fabulous property description!
