A House With ‘Good Bones’? It Could Be a Complete Wreck.

Too typically, advertisements are written to gratify sellers fairly than herald consumers, in response to Ms. Saatchi. “They want you to say everything about their property including that the pavers are two years old,” she defined. “Or there will be things like ‘Relax by the pool,’ which sounds stupid,” she stated, including: “Are you going to tell buyers what to do in the bathroom?”

Mr. Peters is amused by new development developments “in which you have the brand of every appliance and the name of the marble in the bathroom,” he stated. “For God’s sake, who cares about the source of the marble? I think it’s done to convey luxury.”

Judy Szablak, an affiliate dealer at Coldwell Banker Realty in Westport, Conn., feels in another way. “Some buyers may not know what Carrara marble is, but they’d rather read ‘Carrara marble’ than just plain ‘marble,’” she stated. “Absolutely, I think that flowery language is valuable, maybe not with all buyers but with what I think of as expressive buyers. A particular descriptive phrase can help them identify with a property, see it and put an offer in.”

Unsurprisingly, the coronavirus pandemic has reshaped the content material and language of some advertisements. “Retreat,” “secure” and “private” are continuously deployed. Highlighting options like the house office, tech infrastructure and web pace, significantly in rural environments, “is now incredibly important if prospective buyers have a hybrid work arrangement,” stated Brad Nelson, the chief advertising officer for Sotheby’s International Realty.

Further, Mr. Nelson stated, what may need been billed earlier than the pandemic as “a nanny suite” would possibly now be extra flexibly labeled a secondary principal bed room, i.e. lodging for quarantining pals or household. “It’s the same feature but you’re describing it in a different way now.”

To ensure that listings are boiled all the way down to their essence, Sotheby’s International not too long ago imposed a 350-character depend on property descriptions within the promoting dietary supplements. “This way,” Mr. Nelson stated, “agents are forced to focus on the most important feature that will capture a buyer’s attention.”

For weekly e-mail updates on residential actual property information, join right here. Follow us on Twitter: @nytrealestate.