In this day and age, when people do most of their research, decision-making, and ultimately purchasing online, writing good rental listings has never been more important. According to the National Association of Realtors, the first stop for potential buyers in search of a new home is almost always the internet. And with millions of options to choose from on the world wide web, it’s important to make a great first impression.

But if you aren’t already skilled in the art of marketing or selling, it can be difficult to know where to start. The objective is to paint a picture of the perfect home; but, at the end of the day, that picture must be an honest one. It can be difficult, especially if you’re working with a fixer-upper, to strike that balance between accurate and appealing.

To assist you in your mission, we’ve put together some helpful tips. These handy tricks will help guide you in communicating the full value of your listing, while also snagging the attention of those most promising tenants. These tips will help you execute your apartment marketing plan to the fullest.

Accentuate the Positive

As mentioned earlier, your property listings, no matter how perfect they may be, are competing with thousands of other options online. Pad seekers are swiping left and right at lightning speed, making decision after decision in a matter of seconds. Your window to make an impression is very small, which means you have to know what’s valuable and different about your property. Oh yeah - and you have to tell them right away!

Start your writing process by making bullets of the best, most attention-grabbing features of your listing and commit to emphasizing those early and often. Your objective is to stand out, and this trick will help you do just that.

Paint an Honest Picture

While we all know in the marketing game a little spin can go a long way, it’s important to make sure your enthusiasm doesn’t turn into embellishment. This is not the time for the old “bait-and-switch”, as prospective renters will undoubtedly view the property in real life and recognize that they’ve been duped. This is a surefire way to lose the trust of the tenants and ultimately the sale.

Rather than misleading renters, be transparent about things potentially perceived as shortcomings. Get ahead of the negative by illustrating some adjacent positives that may offset those less-than-stellar feelings.

For example, if your listing has a tiny kitchen, that might not be something you want to highlight. But perhaps the floorplan is open, making the kitchen appear larger and suddenly “perfect for entertaining!”. This way you can cast all aspects of your listing in a positive light without being deceitful.

Choose Your Words Carefully

Again, back to the notion of limited impression time. You only have one shot to make an impact on your consumer. It’s important that the words you choose mean something and resonate with your audience.

This goes especially for adjectives. Many landlords fall into the trap of over-using words like “impressive”, “beautiful”, and “amazing”. So much so that the words eventually lose their luster. These days, the online consumer can sniff out inauthenticity from a mile away, and this problem of adjective overkill reeks of it.

If you’re struggling to pare down your phrasing, or worried it might water down your “wow” factor, check out these other ways to incorporate personality into your listing. 

Pay Attention to Punctuation

You don’t have to be a great writer or grammar expert to create a great listing. However, at the end of the day, your listing does have to make sense.

One common mistake found in listings the world over is the overuse of exclamation points! Just one point can communicate and carry excitement throughout the entire listing. However, using numerous exclamations over and over will have the exact opposite effect. If everything is exclaimed, readers will struggle to determine what’s exciting or important, and eventually lose interest.

Another key box to check is to eliminate run-on sentences. Without proper punctuation to clarify your points, readers will get lost and, as with the exclamation overuse, tire in doing the extra mental work. They will move on.

Lastly, it is always important that you write in complete sentences. This might seem like a no-brainer, but it’s actually a very common faux-paux. If you are expecting someone to take the time to read your posting, you should then take the time to properly write it. And don’t be shy about asking for help. A little professionalism can go a long way. 

Share High-Quality Photos

Before your potential tenants read one word of your listing, they will look at the photos. Why? Because a picture is worth a thousand words. Many will make their decision on the spot to stay and read a while or move on to the next.

Lucky for you, the technology of most smartphones today can provide you with exceptional photos of great quality. Pick a sunny day to stage your rental and snap away. Take your time and get shots from all different angles. Then simply select the ones from your camera roll that immediately capture your attention, as those are the ones that will also capture your audience’s. 

Keep it Brief

As stated earlier, you want to be upfront and honest about what the property has to offer; however, that list need not be all inclusive. There will be a whole host of things that you just can’t fit in one quick snapshot. Renters will have to see the property for themselves to get the entire picture.

To keep it concise, make sure you are not duplicating information. Details like square footage, number of bedrooms, or even your contact info need only be listed once on the page. The point of your listing is to catch their attention, but you can’t keep it there forever! 

Conclusion

Whether you’ve got a total gem on your hands or more of a klunker, in today’s online marketplace the competition is tough. And when having the right photo or highlighting the best feature can mean the difference between a seamless switch or a months-long vacancy the stakes are high. But follow these fool-proof steps and you’ll have renewed interest in no time. Afterall, it only takes a few seconds to make a great impression.