You know the story: you labor over your listing descriptions, trying desperately to come up with just the right words to describe your brand-new-listing-that-you-want-to-sell-today.

In reality, you should be paying closer attention to the images. Why?

Because the agent’s remarks are ignored by more than 40 percent of buyers.

Tip #1: Spend less time describing a listing and more time photographing it

I’m not making this up – studies prove it. An ocular tracking study (tracking eye movements of buyers on a real estate website) showed that “the real estate agent’s open remarks section is viewed” last and that viewers place “very little emphasis … on this section.”

In other words, you’re stressing over nothing.

Now, if the home’s photos are sub-par, you do need to stress because more than 95 percent of your website visitors will look first at a home’s photo. Then, they turn to the “quantitative property description.” That’s the MLS template stuff, like the number of bedrooms and bathrooms, square footage, etc.

Now, here’s the really surprising part of the study:

“In our experiment, participants comply by viewing the remainder of the home, but in an actual setting, one has to wonder if the agent remarks would ever get read if the home searcher does not like the initial photo of the home.”

In essence, you could probably fill your agent remarks section with “Lorem Ipsum” and nobody would even notice. Now, I’m not advocating that; just trying to make a point.

Tip #2 Who started this one?

It’s common knowledge that kitchens and bathrooms are the most important to buyers, right? Isn’t that what we all tell our sellers? Don’t photos of those two rooms dominate listings? Where did that come from?

It’s amazing how we do things without questioning why. Sure, at one time, kitchens and bathrooms may have been buyers’ hot buttons, but are they today?

Nope. New-home buyers crave a laundry room over anything else. The second in-room preference is a dining room, according to annual research for the National Association of Home Builders.

Whether you hire a photographer or DIY your listing photos, don’t neglect to feature a home’s usable outdoor space (whether a full backyard or a patio or lanai) as well. Anecdotal evidence from agents across the country hints that this is still a wildly popular feature in existing homes.

Some of the other popular outdoor features mentioned by agents include:

• Updated lighting
• Outdoor ceiling fan on the patio
• Ample fences to keep kids/pets safely enclosed in the yard
• Firepit or fireplace for those chilly nights

Allow space for photos of these items in your online listing photos.

We won’t always be in a hot sellers’ market. Someday buyers will rule and you’ll need every tool in your belt to lure them to your listings.

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The Get More Listings Series is shown above. To send a one-time mailing, Click Here. To launch a Get More Listing Campaign, Click Here.

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PLUS: When you have time…below are some marketing tools to help support your success.

1. Put Your Real Estate Business a Step Above with Your Own Branded Magazine

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6. The Take a Listing Today Podcast

Watch the ProspectsPLUS!, Take a Listing Today Podcast for actionable content to help you get more listings. – Click Here

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