How to write a listing description that sells

Listing descriptions are read by buyers who have already looked at the photos and want to confirm what they think they saw. That makes the job specific: answer the questions the photos raised, and add the facts the photos cannot show.

Lead with the strongest fact, not an adjective

"Stunning" and "must see" carry no information and appear in every competing listing. Open on the thing that is actually true only of this house: the corner lot, the year of the renovation, the size of the workshop, the fact that the primary suite is on the ground floor.

The structure

• Hook: the single strongest specific fact, one sentence
• The main spaces, in walkthrough order, with concrete detail
• The practical facts: systems, updates, parking, storage, year of major work
• Outdoor space and lot
• Neighbourhood: what is within walking distance, what the commute looks like
• A close that says what to do next

Concrete beats evocative

"Spacious kitchen" tells a buyer nothing. "Kitchen with a 9-foot island and a walk-in pantry" tells them whether it works. Every adjective you can replace with a number or a named feature makes the listing more useful and more credible at the same time.

Length

150 to 250 words is the working range. Portals truncate long descriptions on mobile, which is where most of the reading happens, so the first two sentences carry disproportionate weight. Under 100 words reads as a listing nobody put effort into.

The fair housing landmines

Describe the property, never the buyer. Language that suggests a preference or discourages anyone based on a protected class is prohibited, and it is easy to trip over accidentally — phrases about who the home is perfect for, references to a neighbourhood’s character in terms of the people in it, descriptions of religious facilities as amenities, or anything implying a family type. When in doubt, describe the feature and let the buyer decide who it suits.

• Avoid: "perfect for a young family", "walking distance to [church]", "safe neighbourhood"
• Use instead: "four bedrooms", "0.3 miles to Main Street", "quiet cul-de-sac"

The close

End with the action: the open house time, the walkthrough link, or the showing instruction. A description that stops mid-feature makes the reader do the work of figuring out what happens next.