The Botched Listing That Cost Dollars and Days on Market

TLDR
The sale of a house starts the second someone sees it online. That means pricing, photos, and copy have to line up and tell one story. Get the story wrong and you bleed days on market.

Table of Contents

The Digital Introduction

I was looking at a house on Zillow that a buddy of mine had just listed. The renovation looked great. The house was going to sell. But it was not going to sell for what he could have gotten for it.

That is because of what I call the digital introduction. A house starts getting sold the second a buyer sees it. Before any showing. Before any walk-through. The listing is the filter through which a buyer sees the house from the start, and it has three parts: price, photos, and copy.

Get those three in alignment and you pull offers quickly. Get them out of alignment and the house sits.

The listing is the first pitch, not the showing.

Price It Right or Sit There

Price is step one of the digital introduction. I did not even look at his price. I assumed he had not priced too high. Because if you price too high, the house sits on the market longer than the average days on market. And a house that sits longer than the average starts to make people wonder what is wrong with it.

That already puts a negative filter on the house before photo one even loads. You want to use comps to land inside the range of comps, not above it. Pushing above the range is speculation, which is a different game. Most flippers are not playing that game and should not be.

Pro Tip
Use the current market to tell you what the price should be, not what you wish you could get. A house priced at the top of the range of comps with nothing special to back it up will sit.

Photos Tell a Story Whether You Mean To or Not

Step two is the photos. His photos were actually high quality. I was looking at them and they looked fantastic. That was not the problem.

The problem was the story the photos told. He led the listing with a photo of a Frankenstein-looking barn in the backyard. Three different types of siding. The doors were a different color. I love a barn. I have to have a house with a barn. But the second picture is this ugly thing.

What he was thinking buyers thought: sweet, a place to go drink some beers. What the decision maker was actually thinking: there is an ugly monstrosity in the backyard.

I asked him what the three biggest features of the house were. He told me it was right across the street from an elementary school. That is a great feature. That is what I would lead with. This is a super cute house, big white with a nice deck, great curb appeal. I want to get people to picture this life where they walk their kids to school.

My second, third, and fourth pictures would all be of the front of that house. Maybe one of them somehow showing the elementary school across the street. The next thing I am showing after that, I do not care how you walk into this house, is the renovated kitchen with stainless steel appliances. Because that is the vision people want.

Common Mistake
Leading with your favorite feature instead of the buyer’s favorite feature. The barn was the seller’s favorite thing. The decision maker did not care.

Copywriting Is Just Getting Them to Book

Step three is the copy, the listing description. Copywriting means writing in a way that gets people to take an action. The action here is to book a showing. Nothing more.

The subliminal action is to create the filter through which they see the house, which is the same story the photos are telling. Your words have to back your lead photos. If the photos say cute house across from the school, the copy better say the same.

If the copy tells one story and the photos tell another, buyers feel it even if they cannot name it. They click away.

Pick one story. Make the photos and the copy tell that same story.

Who Is Actually Buying This House

The wife is usually the decision maker on these things. That is just how it tends to go. When I bought my own house, I did not get to decide about the hangout space behind the house. It was all about the kitchen. It was all about the kids.

So when I think about who I am writing the listing for, I am thinking about that buyer. Not the person who loves a 50 by 30 shed. Not me. The listing is written for the person who is actually going to pull the trigger.

When the lead photo is the monstrosity in the backyard, she is out before she gets to picture six. When the lead photo is a cute house across from an elementary school, she is calling her agent.

Key Concept
The story that sells the house is the story told to the decision maker. Write the listing for her, not for you.

FAQ

What is the first thing I should change on a listing that is sitting?

Look at the order of your photos. The first four photos do most of the work. If they are telling a scattered story or leading with a flaw, that is probably the problem before the price ever is.

How do I know what the real “three biggest features” are?

Ask other people. Ask your agent. Ask a friend who is in the target buyer range. Do not trust yourself on this, because you are biased toward what you spent the most time on during the rehab.

Should I ever lead with a backyard photo?

Only if the backyard is the headline feature and it looks great. A pool, a view, a huge flat lot. Not a patchwork shed.

Can good copy save bad photos?

No. Buyers scroll photos first. If the photos turn them off, they never read the copy.

I am just starting out. Do I really need to care about this?

Yes. Days on market costs you money every single day the house sits. Carrying costs, interest, utilities. You can lose more to a bad listing than you make on the renovation.