Magic words in home selling
March 12th, 2007 by Kenric“Listings with the words “beautiful” or “gorgeous” sold 15% faster. “Landscaping” in a listing hastened a sale by 20%. Describing a property as in “move-in condition” quickened the sale by 12%. Calling a home a “handyman special” cut sale time by half (researchers excluded listings that used the term to describe a workshop or hobby area).
Other familiar jargon, such as “must see” or “vacant,” or including the information that a seller was moving, had virtually no effect on the time before a sale.
The kiss of death appears to be language that reeks of desperation — words such as “motivated” and “must sell.” These slowed sales by 30%. The term “ranch” house slowed sales by 10%. Properties described as rentals (income producing) took 60% longer to sell.”
The shockers to me are the words that actually retard the sale of your home. Landscaping, Motivated, Must Sell, Income Producing all had negative impacts.
| Term | Effect on time until sale | Effect on list price | Effect on selling price |
| Beautiful | -15% | +5% | +5% |
| Move-in condition | -12% | Insignificant | Insignificant |
| Good value | -5% | -6% | -5% |
| Must see | Insignificant | +4% | Insignificant |
| Starter home | -9% | -10% | -10% |
| Vacant | Insignificant | -5% | -8% |
| Rental property | +60% | -7% | -9% |
| Handyman special | -50% | -30% | -30% |
| Moving | Insignificant | -1% | -1% |
| Motivated | +30% | -6% | -8% |
| Landscaping | -20% | +5% | +6% |
| Source: “House Prices and Time-till-sale in Windsor,” professor Paul Anglin, University of Guelph, Ontario | |||
Read the entire article here.
Posted in Real Estate | 1 Comment »
Stumble it!
This is a variation on what I read about in Freakonomics 2 years ago. I wrote about it here. The article you quote is based on a Canadian study, so I would be hesitant to apply it to U.S. properties and buyers.
By Shaun on Mar 13, 2007