Real Estate, Updates, News & Tips

Are you getting few showings for your listing, or do visitors want to leave quickly? Here are a few items that could be turning off potential buyers. Vague property descriptions. Online descriptions of just a few words—or none at all—create a missed opportunity to provide buyers with more details on why they should visit a property. Pictures aren’t always enough. Use the listing description to add details that pictures aren’t able to show. “If it is a lakefront home, highlight the best parts of living on the lake; if it is an urban town, mention that you are within walking distance of top-rated restaurants,” Cynthia Emerling with Finger Lakes Premier Properties in Canandaigua, N.Y., told realtor.com®. Be sure to lead off with the most eye-catching, relevant details, because all lines of text may not be visible in some online displays. Bad photographs. High-quality, professional photographs can do a lot to draw people to a listing online. “A professional photographer will have the correct camera lenses, lighting, and angles to allow the entire room to be seen in a single photo,” Robert Taylor, owner of Sacramento, Calif.-based home-flipping firm The Real Estate Solutions Guy, told realtor.com®. If you are taking your own property photos, be sure to avoid common amateur blunders, like including your reflection in a shot that includes a mirror, Stevenson says. “When the photo quality is lacking, it sends a message that your home is low quality, too.” Dismissing staging. Leaving rooms completely empty of furniture or design in listing photos and in-person showings can be a turnoff to buyers. “When a house is staged, you can get the sense of use and purpose of each space,” San Francisco real estate professional Matt Morgus told realtor.com®. Staging is particularly important for open floor plans because it can be “hard to differentiate a space with no furniture,” Morgus says. Get more staging tips at REALTOR® Magazine’s Styled, Staged & Soldblog.