The Secret Weapon Hidden in Home Listings
2.28.25 đĄđ°đ§ What an MIT Economistâs Homework Assignment and an Analysis of 25,000 Listings Revealed About Selling Homes
Folks, I promise Iâm not slacking on the Wicked Moxie essays. But even with all this wonderful Zoom technology, attempting to coordinate from bed can sometimes get rather exhausting. And todayâs real estate market report is rather a whopper. Plus, at the end, I sound like one of those late night infomercial hosts.
Once, I said my sales pitches resembled the ShamWow guy, but then someone quietly emailed me and told me to never ever compare myself to the ShamWow guy, cause I guess he did some bad things after a late night at a bar back in 2009.
My cat has not left my side since Iâve been in bed for near 12 weeks. Sheâs so concerned she doesnât eat unless someone brings her food from downstairs, and if you knew her, you would know exactly how strange that behavior is.
Sometimes I prop the window open even when itâs been blistery cold and listen to the long tail wind of the train horn and the chig chig across the tracks that shakes the entirety of the house. Saturn, Mercury, Neptune, Venus, Uranus, Jupiter, and Mars all align tonight. You should be able to see them with your naked eye. A rare and powerful event in both astrology and magic, creating an opportunity for transformation, manifestation, and deep spiritual insight if you believe in that kind of thing. Which I donât but wish I did so sometimes pretend.
Soon, we will be in False Spring. Mud Season will overtake us. Eventually we will wind our way back into summer.
In the real estate market
TL;DR: I sometimes act before thinkingâlike when I cold-emailed Jonathan Gruber before realizing heâs a major economic heavyweight. Instead of ignoring me, he assigned homework.
One of the other interesting things you need to know about me is that sometimes I act way before I thinkâwhich is probably best described as a shortcoming in the qualities you want in a Realtor. I have begun watching the MIT OpenCourseWare Intro to Microeconomics, taught by Dr. Jonathan Gruber. And so, who is Jonathan Gruber, you ask?
MIT professor since â92. Director of the Health Care Program at the National Bureau of Economic Research. One of the brains behind Massachusettsâ health care reform and ObamaCare. Heâs worked across party linesâfirst taking on an assignment for George W. Bushâs 2000 campaign. Heâs written books that sit on desks of policymakers (Public Finance and Public Policy, Health Care Reform, Jump-Starting America), edited top economic journals, and racked up awards, including a Guggenheim Fellowship and the American Society of Health Economistsâ Inaugural Medal. Slate called him one of the âTop 25 Most Innovative and Practical Thinkers of Our Time.â Twice, Modern Healthcare named him one of the 100 most powerful people in the industry. And yeah, in 2014, The Grub got dragged into a congressional hearing for saying the quiet part out loud about the Obamacare. If anything though, that just proves he was making an impactâbecause if no oneâs mad, youâre probably just doing it wrong. No matter your politics, it's difficult to deny that The Grub is a force in economic policy.
And yeah. I cold-called emailed him. Of course, way before I realized who he actually is.
I felt rather embarrassed after I looked him up cause all I did was make a joke about coffeeâin his lectures the guyâs a bit obsessed with the interchangeability of pizza and cookies, and you all know about my coffee obsession so at least in my act-before-thinking mind, the email was apropos.
Well, heâs not going to respond. I mean, who am I, really? A disenfranchised ex-academic turned local Realtor? Iâm not the president or governor of anything. Then he sent me homework.
Uhm, sure, I asked for it. But just didnât expect at all, you know.
đĄ Ever acted before thinking and ended up in an unexpected situation? Hit Leave a Comment and tell me your best (or worst) "oops" moment.
Freakonomics, Ku Klux Klan, and Real Estate
TL;DR: Freakonomics compares Realtors to the KKK (seriously), but more importantly, it reveals a real estate hack: the language in home listings signals price trends. Weak adjectives signal weak listings.
Out of the three books he assigned was Freakonomics by University of Chicago rogue economist Steven Levitt and New York Times journalist Stephen Dubner, published back in 2005, and there have been several updates since, but I had never heard of the thing. If I remember correctly though, in 2008/2009 I was driving OTR semi-trucks with undiagnosed, untreated sleep apnea. The bookâs introduction argued, among other weird, cool topics, that maybe Realtors didnât really have your best interest at heart. Yeah, well, I could buy that, but Chapter Two compared Realtors to the Ku-Klux-Klan! This had to be a joke. I mean, Jon one-upped my coffee humor and blew me out of the house with mad white men riding horses at midnight wearing pillowcases over their heads, burning crosses, and exchanging secret handshakes.
đ Must-Know Insights From This Section: Language Shapes the Market
đ For Sellers: Fluff wonât sell your home. Vague words (âcharming,â âfantasticâ) = longer time on market + lower sale price. Ask for writing samples before signing.đ° For Buyers: Weak descriptions = negotiation power. Listings with hype but no details often mean hidden issues. Use this to your advantage.
đ For Realtors: Details sell. Skip the adjectivesâspecifics like â1,200 sq. ft. patio with firepitâ drive higher prices.
Then, Freakonomics did the unexpected. Levitt and Dubner revealed my real estate secret weapon.
We arenât going over the numbers like we normally do. But if youâre a buyer, this weapon will give you an edge up in spotting deals. If youâre a seller, youâll start asking for writing samples before you sign an exclusive listing agreement.
If you're a Realtor--I'm about to give away one of my biggest competitive edges. Knowing this levels the playing field. Even though I rather liked having the edge.
The secret weapon: Grammar.
Levitt and Dubner argue that the words Realtors use in home listing descriptions are signals. Their analysis reveals a pattern: certain words correlate with higher sales prices, while other words indicate homes that sell for less than expected. Words like granite countertops, stainless steel appliances, and maple cabinets show up in higher-priced homes because they convey actual, valuable features. Weak listings rely on vague, filler words such as charming, fantastic, and great neighborhood. A cozy home is small. A fixer-upper means a project. TLC? Bring a contractor.
High-value features: Words like granite countertops, stainless steel appliances, and maple cabinets signal higher-priced homesâthey convey actual, valuable features.
Weak listings rely on vague, filler words:
Charming, fantastic, great neighborhood â Adds no tangible value.
Cozy home â Small.
Fixer-upper â A project.
For those of you who read Coffee with Steve on the regular, this is old hat. Nice homes naturally get better descriptions, but a rundown home triggers a Realtorâs reflex to hide the shortcomings behind vague, feel-good phrasing.
And a Realtor writing badly about a good home? That will tank the price.
đĄ Ever seen a home listing with âcharmingâ or âcozyâ and immediately knew something was off? Drop your favorite (or most ridiculous) real estate listing phrase in the comments! âŹď¸ Hit the green âLeave a Commentâ button.
Data vs. Real Estate Intuition
TL;DR: Freakonomics says bad listing descriptions lower home prices. But the real trick? Strong, honest writing can increase a homeâs value by building trust with buyers.
But what Freakonomics misses is that good writing can also make a bad home sell for more. A Realtor who leans into the truthâwho isnât afraid to write chipped Formica countertops or huge mouse condo in the basementâisnât scaring buyers away. Theyâre building trust. And that trust translates into a higher final sale price.
đMust-Know Insights From This Section: Honest Writing Sells Homes
đ For Sellers: Honest descriptions build trust. Buyers appreciate âchipped Formicaâ over âquaint vintage charm.â Transparency leads to stronger offers.
đ° For Buyers: Listings that admit flaws = serious sellers. A home described with real details (not fluff) often means more competition and higher prices.
đ For Realtors: Good writing sells bad homes for more. Lean into the truthâbuyers trust real descriptions, not overhyped sales copy.
People who are not trained to write tend to write what they already read, and because real estate descriptions are full of bad habits, those writing features get copied over and over across the industry. And those unexamined features tell you a lot more than what Levitt and Dubner simply call signals.
At this point, I need to warn you about what comes next. I have an associateâs, an undergrad, an undergrad specialization that involved the Iowa Writers Workshop, and two graduate degrees in creative writing and English. You may stop reading right now and I wonât be the least bit upset because Iâm about to deep dive intoâŚ
Grammar. Numbers. Statistical nerdery. Basically, the kind of stuff that makes normal peopleâs eyes glaze over and English majors start breathing heavy. If you thought Freakonomics was wild (you did read that already, right?), wait until you see what happens when I start diagramming real estate listings like a crazed linguist with seven mortgages. So either turn back now or buckle up. All Iâm saying here is, youâve been fairly warned.
I am by the way no Matthew Jockers using R alongside Stylometry within an NLP model, leveraging libraries such as tidytext, ggplot2, syuzhet, and stm.
My sample size is small, and I focused on two primary datasets.
ChatGPT Deep Research selected a set of 100 single-family homes sold in the New Hampshire Seacoast region between 2015 and 2024. This included a mix of balanced price points, tracked addresses, days on market, list price, price adjustments, final sale price, and listing descriptions.
The broader dataset I downloaded directly from the MLS, a decade of New Hampshire Seacoast transactions totaling 25,250 single-family homes, tracking pricing data, days on market, public listing descriptions, and non-public agent remarks.
This entire analysis is limited by how much I could pull from the MLS at any one single time, constrained by available data exports and my own processing capacity.
Iâm working with low-tech spreadsheets and ChatGPT, not a high-powered machine-learning model, and my methodology is rooted in my expertise with the English language rather than advanced statistical programming.
Sample Size & Scope: This analysis focuses on two primary datasets.
Smaller Dataset:
ChatGPT Deep Research selected 100 single-family homes sold in the New Hampshire Seacoast region (from 2015â2024).
Includes:
Balanced price points
Tracked addresses
Days on market
List price & price adjustments
Final sale price
Listing descriptions
Broader Dataset:
Pulled directly from the MLS
Covers 10 years of New Hampshire Seacoast transactions (from 2015-2024, 25,250 homes)
Includes:
Pricing data
Addresses
Days on market
List Price & price adjustments
Final sale price
Public listing descriptions
Non-public agent remarks
Limitations & Methodology:
Data retrieval limited by MLS export constraints & manual processing capacity
Statistical analysis conducted using low-tech spreadsheets + ChatGPT, not a high-powered machine-learning model
Rooted in close reading & language expertise rather than advanced statistical programming
Letâs be clearâthis is more back-of-the-envelope than Bayesian. I put this all together in about two days. But language, unlike numbers, doesnât need a neural network to expose its patternsâit just needs close reading, repetition, and a willingness to push beyond the surface of what most people skim past. If youâre interested, you can download my dataset at the end of the essay.
đĄ Think a brutally honest home listing could actually boost the sale price? Or would it scare buyers away? Drop your take in the comments! âŹď¸ Hit the green âLeave a Commentâ button.
Listing Photo Counterargument
TL;DR: Realtors obsess over SEO and photos, but thatâs outdated. The MLS and Zillow already handle SEO. Writing shapes perceptionâand neuroscientists prove it can literally rewire a buyerâs brain.
I can hear a lot of Realtors shouting at me right now about how the listing description doesnât mean boo, and where itâs really at are the photos.
đMust-Know Insights From This Section: Writing Beats SEO & Photos
đ¸ For Sellers: Photos grab attention, but descriptions close the deal. A strong listing description builds buyer confidence.
đ For Buyers: Vague listings = red flags. If the description dodges details, the home likely has hidden issues.
đ For Realtors: Stop overthinking SEOâMLS and Zillow do it for you. Your job? Craft a description that makes buyers feel something.
I have strong feelings about listing photos. Realtors tend to write descriptions for SEO and not people, so oftentimes the description just becomes a copy cat of the photos. Supposedly that makes for better SEO, but doesnât. The MLS and all the aggregate sites like Zillow, RedFin, Homes.com, etcetra etcetra do all that SEO for youâand their algorithms are pretty simple in comparison to Tik Tok or Facebook. The Zillows and MLSs mainly prioritize listings around three core concepts:
how new the listing
the most views
the most saves
ânot necessarily in that order. The MLS allows you to place captions on the photos themselves, and so as a Realtor you should do that. But please say more than âHey this is the kitchen.â My high school English teacher Mrs. O taught me a good caption includes two sentences: the first in present tense and describes exactly whatâs in the photo, and the second sentence is presented in past tense and provides the reader with a detail that is not apparent from the photo. For real estate listings, just do sentence two. And if you are super worried about SEO, geotag your photos meta-data before you upload them.
I donât want to discount the importance of photos, especially since people say they prefer photos. But the Pennsylvania Association of Realtors reported that even though photos were considered more important than the home description, 87% still said the description is extremely important. Thereâs all kinds of crazy going on inside the brain when you read. When you read, you are fully aware that you are reading, but your brain at a very biological level canât tell the difference between reading and reality.
Neuroscientists like Uri Hasson at Princeton have shown that when we read a story, our brain activity syncs with the storytellerâsâan effect called neural coupling. Isnât that crazy? Youâre sitting at your office reading this too long essay on grammar and real estate and I have made you think exactly like Iâm thinking right now. Cognitive scientist Lisa Zunshine goes as far as suggesting fiction hijacks our brainâs theory of mind, tricking us into feeling what characters feel. Nicole Speer and Jeffrey Zacks found that reading about an actionârunning, tasting, touchingâactivates the same parts of the brain as physically doing that action. Even metaphors can trigger sensory responses: when you read about a ârough day,â your somatosensory cortexâresponsible for processing textureâlights up as if you were physically touching something rough.
Your Brain on Reading = Reality?
You know youâre reading, but at a biological level, your brain canât tell the difference between words and real life.
Mind-Meld Mode Activated
When you read a story, your brain syncs with the storytellerâs thoughts.
Right now, Iâve hijacked your brain. (Sorry, not sorry.)
Fiction = Mind Control
A good story tricks your brain into feeling what the characters feel.
Reading vs. DoingâYour Brain Says âSame Thingâ
Reading about running, tasting, touching? Your brain activates the same areas as if you were actually doing it.
Metaphors = Sensory Triggers
Read about a ârough dayâ? Your brain reacts as if youâre physically touching something rough.
You want to control someoneâs mind? Write a better story.
Weâre at the midpoint of the essay. If you scroll up, youâll see my counterargument on photos again. That placement wasnât accidental. Readers remember the beginning and end of an essay. The middle? Itâs just the bridge getting them from point A to point B. And thatâs exactly why I buried my counterargument there.
By the time you finish reading, you wonât be thinking about high-quality listing photos anymore. Youâll walk away ready to write a killer home description.
This next section? I want you to forget it too. But not before you read it.
Bad writing in a listing signals a dealâa detail buyers can exploit and listing agents should never, ever include. This is my edge. Itâs the reason buyers think Iâm a genius and listing agents feel relieved when I take a property off their hands.
But hey, if you do remember this section later⌠I wonât hold it against you.
đĄ Whatâs more important in a home listingâkiller photos or a killer description? đĄ Drop your take in the comments! âŹď¸ Hit the green âLeave a Commentâ button.
When Bad Writing Loses Buyers
TL;DR: 3 Ross Roadâs listing description reads like luxury, but vague wording and weak nouns undermine the price. Buyers see generic fluff and move onâresulting in a major price drop.
Letâs take a look at 3 Ross Road, MLS#4883932. The original price was $1,250,000.
Prominently situated for privacy, this stylish country estate is sure to impress the most discerning buyers! The home was architecturally designed and custom-built to its surroundings and offers more than 3,100 square feet of impeccably maintained living spaces, along with spectacularly landscaped grounds! The kitchen serves as the hub for the main level and features custom cabinetry, professional appliances, ample counter space, and wonderful views in all directions! The main level offers a dramatic two-story great room with a handsome masonry-built fireplace, an inviting master suite with a large walk-in closet and lavish bath, a well-placed home office and mudroom, along with a screen porch that also serves as an outdoor kitchen! Upstairs you'll find two additional bedrooms and a full bath, along with an unfinished space that could serve as a fourth bedroom if expansion is required. The backyard is an oasis and features an in-ground pool and patio with multiple spaces for entertaining including a wood fire pit and the head-turning, custom-stone dining table! Additional features include A/C, radiant heat, generator, irrigation, pool house, heated barn and a heated garage! Perfectly set on 1.99 acres and surrounded by conserved land, 3 Ross Road is minutes from the Cochecho Country Club, Berwick Academy, downtown Portsmouth, and several of the Seacoast's best beaches and finest restaurants. Don't wait - this property will not disappoint!
At first glance, the description looks like a luxury listing. But guess the sold price.
đMust-Know Insights From This Section: Bad Listings, Lost Buyers
đ° For Sellers: Weak descriptions cost money. Fluff signals desperation, not value.
đ For Buyers: "Sure to impress!" = Skip. Generic hype often means overpriced or lingering on the market.
âď¸ For Realtors: If it sounds like every other listing, itâs forgettable. Use precise, vivid details to stand out.
Back in the day as an English professor, I taught my students to circle every noun in their writing. I wrote dog on the board and asked every student what they saw in their mindâs eye when they heard or read the word dog. The overwhelming response was golden retriever. To drive the point home, I did the same exercise with tree, and the majority of answers were oak. You ask the second question, okay, what does a golden retriever look like?
âI dunno. Four legs. A tail, you know, like a dog.â
Okay, what does an oak tree look like?
âBig. Just a tree man.â
But itâs only a golden retriever, only always like a dog, only an oak, only always just a tree unless you, the author, tell us something different. And often when students wrote about dogs or trees, they meant something completely different than the default we all fall back uponâand, what if you are weird like me and think of my last dog Scruffy. A half miniature schnauzer half poodle who fought me on the stairs, baring his glistening teeth as he pulled on the red leash and eventually died in his old age of depression being hand fed Gerberâs baby food by the half spoonful. That is the very last image you want in anyoneâs head.
Except me. I wanted that image. I wanted that image in your head. And now itâs undeniably there. Whether you want it or not.
Yet, there is not a single noun anywhere in 3 Rossâ description that smacks of that same Scruffy visceralness.
Other issues I have. The average sentence length is 22 words. If an author uses all long sentences or all short sentences to the exclusion of anything else, you have an author who is boring their reader. All but two sentences end in exclamation points. So many of the same words are repeated over and over, and if I was putting down 1.25 million dollars for a home, I would assume A/C, radiant heat, generator...that is wasted space.
What went wrong with the 3 Ross Road listing?
Average sentence length: 22 words â Creates a monotonous rhythm.
Overuse of exclamation points â All but two sentences end in one.
Repetitive phrasing â No variation or impact.
Wasted space on expected features â A/C, radiant heat, and a generator donât add value in this price bracket.
Moving away from the grammar and putting on my Realtor hat, the Freakonomics signals for me are the phrases âsure to impress the most discerning buyers!â and â Don't wait - this property will not disappoint!â I guarantee, 3 Ross missed out on buyers because they blew past this listing despite the photos and 100% because of the description.
đĄ Have you ever read a real estate listing that was all fluff and no substance? đ¤ Drop the worst (or funniest) listing description youâve seen in the comments! âŹď¸ Hit the green âLeave a Commentâ button.
A Special Kind of Hard
TL;DR: Writing is deeply personal, and critiques can feel like an attack. I just ripped apart a fellow Realorâs listing description, but the data is even more brutal.
This, however, is just my personal take. What does the data say? Because according to Freakonomics, according to The Grub, economics, the âdismal scienceâ is not about how we wish the world worked, or how we think it works, but how it actually works.
đMust-Know Insights: Writing Feels Personal
đ For Sellers: A weak listing isnât just bad writingâitâs lost money. The market doesnât care if feedback stings.
đ For Buyers: Poor descriptions = negotiating power. If a listing reads like a rushed college essay, thereâs leverage.
đĄ For Realtors: Every word shapes perception. If your listing makes buyers roll their eyes, youâve already lost them.
Look, I personally know the listing agent who wrote the Ross Road description. I just in the last several paragraphs eviscerated his home description. I tore it apart like a first-draft freshman essay drowning in passive voice and last-minute panic. My biggest fear is that the dude has read up to this point, and heâs probably mad, but heâs not mad enough to stop reading, so heâs going to continue and hit this dataset, and Iâm going to get a call in the middle of the night. But Iâm telling you, if you havenât been yelled at by at least one Realtor during the day, if you havenât been called up to a congressional hearing, then youâre probably doing something wrong.
Iâm also telling you writing is a special kind of hard. Writing is personal, intimate, raw. Thought made visible. Your brain on the page. And when you are critiqued, you often feel threatened and exposed.
Writing is a special kind of hard.
Itâs personal, intimate, raw.
Itâs thought made visible.
Itâs your brain on the page.
Critique feels like being exposedâeven when itâs constructive.
What makes this essay so much different than the thousands of other critiques Iâve done over a lifetime of writing, having begun way back more than thirty years ago on a po-dunk newspaper, is that this Realtor, whoâs home description was randomly chosen other than a filter for price from a dataset of 25,250 potential home descriptions spanning a decade is that this dude never asked for the critique.
If he believed my critique was damning. The dataset directly points toward a price drop even more so. If you remember, the original sales price for Ross Road was 1,250,000. Have you taken a stab at what the closed price was? Maybe, hedge your bets.
đĄ Ever received a critique that stungâbut was brutally accurate? âď¸ Share your toughest writing or work-related feedback in the comments! âŹď¸ Hit the green âLeave a Commentâ button.
The Dataset
TL;DR: Superlatives, passive voice, and redundant feature lists donât add value; they tank it. The data proves that bad writing costs sellers money, while strategic language boosts perceived value.
The dataset brutally concludes that Ross Roadâs description actively undermines the homeâs value.
The description is packed with superlatives, but none hold weight. Phrases like "sure to impress the most discerning buyers!â and "this property will not disappoint!â are empty fluff; they correlate directly with price reductions and longer days on market. The dataset shows that listings relying on generic hypeââfantastic,â âamazing,â âmust-seeââwithout tangible details tend to underperform. A prime example? 364 Colonial Drive in Portsmouth proclaimed an âamazing opportunity!!!â with no hard facts to justify and sat on the market before ultimately selling below asking.
đMust-Know Insights From This Section: Bad Writing Kills Home Prices
đ For Sellers: Vague superlatives and fluff donât sell homesâthey sink them. Buyers want details, not hype.
đĄ For Buyers: Listings packed with âmust-seeâ and âfantasticâ often signal price drops. These homes may be ripe for negotiation.
âď¸ For Realtors: Passive voice and redundant feature lists weaken your listing. Sell the experience, not just the amenities.
Ross Road leans on a laundry list of amenities, but instead of adding value, they create white noise. A/C, radiant heat, a generator, irrigation, a heated barn, and a heated garage sound impressive until you realize these features are expected in a home at this price point. High-end buyers donât need to be sold on the existence of basic infrastructure; they need to understand what sets it apart. A Portsmouth home that similarly overemphasized its "move-in ready" condition and basic amenities like an âupdated HVACâ struggled to attract interest because buyers already assumed those features were standard for the price bracket. The dataset confirms that when listings oversell ordinary features, they create an inflated perception of value.
More subtle, but just as damaging, are the accidental signals that suggest the seller is motivated, even if thatâs not the intention. "Don't wait - this property will not disappoint!" tries to create urgency. Experienced agents recognize this kind of phrasing as a tell. The phrase "Perfectly set on 1.99 acres and surrounded by conserved land,â that oddly specific lot size raises questions. Easier to leave that number out of the description altogether and let the MLS fact sheet do the work there because that detail suggests an irregular shape or some kind of easement, which could turn buyers off.
Then. The unfinished spaceââcould serve as a fourth bedroom if expansion is requiredââwhich is meant to hint at potential but instead tells buyers theyâre not getting a complete product. 213 Colonial Drive in Portsmouth fell into a similar trap. Originally listed at $590K, its price tumbled to $385K, in part because of a description that included "Price improved! Motivated seller, all offers considered!" While 3 Ross Roadâs description isnât as blatant, it subtly invites the same lowball mindset.
The passive phrasing dilutes any confidence. âThe home was architecturally designed and custom-built to its surroundingsâ sounds like an attempt at prestige, but is just more filler. Every home is architecturally designed. Who designed this one? What makes it distinct? The dataset shows that listings using passive language and vague claims consistently see weaker sale outcomes compared to those that frame details in an active, concrete way. Buyers donât just want to hear that a home is âcustom-builtââthey want to know how and by whom.
Perhaps most tellingly, the listing makes a classic mistake: pitching âpotentialâ rather than present value. Buyers see phrases such as âAn unfinished space that could serve as a fourth bedroom if expansion is requiredâ as a hassle. A home in Rye, NH tried the same approach, advertising a âgreat space for expansionââand sold 5% below asking because buyers viewed it as an incomplete product. Listings that focus too much on what could be done rather than whatâs already move-in ready tend to struggle.
Writing Mistakes That Cost Sellers
Overuse of superlatives with no substance (e.g., "sure to impress," "will not disappoint")
Generic hype instead of concrete details
Laundry list of amenities that adds noise instead of value
Emphasizing standard features as if they are selling points
Accidental signals of seller motivation, making the home seem negotiable
Oddly specific details that raise red flags instead of adding appeal
Framing unfinished space as âpotentialâ, which makes buyers see it as incomplete
Passive language that weakens confidence in the home
Fails to highlight what makes the home unique
Ultimately, the issue with 3 Ross Roadâs listing isnât just the wording, but the way the wording shapes perception. Right now, this description reads like an invitation to negotiate than a compelling case for a premium price. It leans on vague enthusiasm instead of concrete value, oversells standard features instead of highlighting unique ones, and defaults to the linguistic equivalent of calling every dog a golden retriever. This listing description relies on language so broad it erases the homeâs individuality. Without precise detailsâwithout a compelling, specific imageâbuyers fill in the gaps with whatever default assumption they already have. In luxury real estate, or any kind of real estate, when buyers assume, they downgrade.
Any ideas on what the price reduction was yet?
đĄ Think you can guess how much 3 Ross Roadâs price dropped? đ Take a shot in the comments before I reveal the number! âŹď¸ Hit the green âLeave a Commentâ button.
How Good Writing Sells Homes for More
TL;DR: 4 Scarlett Laneâs listing nailed it with specific, evocative language. The description made buyers picture the lifestyle, not just the houseâleading to a higher sale price.
Before I say what the price reduction was, I want to also look at 4 Scarlett Lane MLS#4882358 listed nine days earlier than Ross for $1,290,000.
Introducing âThe Great Barn at Victoria Pointâ! One of the finest 200 year-old hand hewn post and beam barns in New England was lovingly converted into a spectacular open-concept smart home with a wall of glass overlooking the Salmon Falls River. Truly one of a kind! Welcome your guests into the open concept dramatic 3 story great room with exposed beams and stone fireplace. Entire 3rd floor is a 2 story master bedroom, there is truly none other like this! Victoria Point is a brand-new cul-de-sac 7 lot subdivision with town roads, and also comes with a 1/7th interest in 2 stunning common lots one acre at the entrance and 3.5 acres with 900âof water frontage on a picturesque point of the Salmon Falls River where you can enjoy fishing, kayaking and canoeing. Rollinsford students can attend Marshwood Middleand High School in Maine. Enjoy easy access to major roadways, 20 minutes to Portsmouth, one hour to Boston and minutes from Dover, Eliot and all the seacoast of NH and ME have to offer! This is a rare opportunity to purchase your modern dream home! Matterport tour, video and floor plans available.
Some issues with Scarlett exist, and our dataset specifically points towards overuse of vague superlatives without proof, repetitive phrasing, confusing master suite description, subdivision and shared land details, weak losing statementsâŚ.
đMust-Know Insights From This Section: Good Writing Sells
đĄ For Sellers: Strong, specific language sells the lifestyleânot just the house. Buyers pay more when they can picture themselves living there.
đ For Buyers: Listings that highlight unique features (e.g., âhand-hewn post and beamâ) often signal homes that command top dollar.
âď¸ For Realtors: Lead with the most compelling feature. A âsoaring great roomâ in the first sentence hooks buyers more than generic âmust-seeâ hype.
But Scarlett also gets a lot of stuff right.
The first sentence doesnât just describe the homeâit frames an experience. âOne of the finest barns in New Englandâ immediately establishes exclusivity. Then thereâs that âwall of glass overlooking the Salmon Falls River.â Buyers arenât just picturing a house. Theyâre imagining their morning coffee with river mist rolling through the valley.
The dataset shows homes that open with a strong visual anchorâespecially one tied to nature or craftsmanshipâconsistently perform above market expectations. A Portsmouth home described as âPerched above Sagamore Creek, this mid-century modern retreat features seamless indoor-outdoor flowâ sparked a bidding war and sold for 12% over asking. Buyers connected with the vision. They werenât buying walls and windows; they were buying a feeling.
And thatâs the core strength of 4 Scarlett Laneâs description. The listing moves with intention, leading buyers through the homeâs most compelling features in an order that keeps them engaged:
The historic barn origins and dramatic conversion
A soaring great room framed by exposed beams and a stone fireplace
A master suite designed with unique architectural details
Shared land and community benefits
The homeâs prime location near Portsmouth, Dover, and Boston
The dataset found high-performing descriptions introduce the homeâs most valuable features earlyâbefore getting lost in logistical details. A competing Rye home that described âa soaring two-story great room framed by original timber beamsâ in the first three lines sold above ask, while another listing buried its best features under dry technical details and struggled to attract interest.
Even the word choices are strategic. Some of the high-impact phrases in this listingââhand-hewn post and beam,â âsmart home,â âexposed beams and stone fireplace,â â900â of water frontageââalign with language that has driven top-tier listing performance within the dataset. Whether luxury or not, buyers want to feel like theyâre stepping into something crafted, something rare. A historic home in Exeter that highlighted âoriginal hand-carved moldings and restored wide-plank floorsâ received above-ask offers in a week. A similar home that simply said âhistoric charmâ without specifics? It lingered.
The final touch? A call to action that recognizes how buyers actually shop: "Matterport tour, video and floor plans available."
Intentional Writing
Frames an experience, not just a home
Strong visual anchors tied to nature and craftsmanship sell homes
Intentional structure keeps buyers engaged
Features are introduced in the right order
Strategic word choices elevate perceived value
Call to action aligns with buyer behavior
4 Scarlett Lane commanded 1,300,000, .78% above asking, which doesnât seem like a huge leap, but when weâre talking million dollar plus homes, thatâs an extra ten grand. As a Realtor, this is not a property I would have underbid on; however, Iâm left wondering how much more the home would have sold for if the problematic writing features had been fixed before the home was listed.
đĄ Whatâs the best home listing description youâve ever read? đĄ Drop a line from it (or make one up) in the comments! âŹď¸ Hit the green âLeave a Commentâ button.
đ Your Takeaways & My Secret Weapon
Everything Iâve uncovered is laid out for you in easy, printable PDF worksheetsâbut Iâm not just handing them out. If you want all the good stuff, youâll need to email me directly.
đĄ Want the final answer on how much 3 Ross Road dropped in price?
đĄ Want the cheat sheets, red flags, green lights, and negotiation hacks?
đĄ Want the data on how home descriptions have changed over the years?
And thereâs a ton of other cool insights buried in the data that Iâll send your way too. Check it out:
đ The one phrase in a listing description that guarantees a higher sold price than list price.
âł The one phrase that correlates most strongly with the shortest days on market (DOM).
đ°ď¸ How listing descriptions have evolved over the past decadeâwhat bad habits need to die and which forgotten writing techniques we need to bring back.
âď¸ The perfect length for a listing description (hint: itâs not what most people think).
đ¤ Comma splices vs. fragmentsâwhich one you should use (and how to even tell the difference if grammar isnât your thing).
đ The power of the first three wordsâwhy they make or break a listing.
đ The impact of storytellingâand how to use it without sounding like youâre writing a novel.
đĽ How to handle scarcity languageâwhen âact fastâ helps and when it backfires.
Want all this? You know what to do. Hit the green button and send me a message. đ
Not sure what to say? Hereâs your easy copy-paste email template:
Subject: Send Me the Good Stuff!
Hey Steve,
I just finished reading your deep dive on listing descriptions, and Iâm all in. Iâd love to get my hands on:
â
The final answer on 3 Ross Roadâs price drop
â
The cheat sheets, red flags, green lights, and negotiation hacks
â
All the insights on how home descriptions have evolved over the years
Also, Iâm especially interested in [mention any specific topic that caught your eyeâe.g., the impact of storytelling, the perfect length for a listing, etc.].
Looking forward to diving into the dataâthanks for putting this together!
Best,
[Your Name]
[Your Contact Info, if relevant]
Further Reading: How to Write, Persuade, and Think Smarter
On Writing Well â William Zinsser (A classic on clear, compelling writingâconcise, practical, and timeless.)
Bird by Bird â Anne Lamott (For when you need motivation, humor, and a reminder that writing is a messy, human process.)
Story or Die â Lisa Cron (Because storytelling isnât just for novelsâitâs how we make people care.)
Influence is Your Superpower â Zoe Chance (A modern, research-backed guide to ethical persuasion and how to get people to say "yes" without feeling sleazy.)
Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion â Robert Cialdini (The OG book on how persuasion actually works, from reciprocity to social proof.)
Gruberâs Recommended Reads: How We Think & Decide
Freakonomics â Steven Levitt & Stephen Dubner (Economics, but make it fun. The hidden incentives behind everything from crime rates to real estate listings.)
Thinking, Fast and Slow â Daniel Kahneman (How our brains make decisionsâsometimes brilliantly, sometimes stupidly.)
Nudge â Richard Thaler & Cass Sunstein (Subtle changes in wording, structure, or environment can completely shift behavior. This book explains why.)
PROPERTY OF THE WEEK
181 Charles Street, Farmington
đď¸4 Beds, đ4 Baths, đ3,249 sq ft, $969,900
Estimated payment: $7,114/mo
Estimation provided by Keller Williams Realty Inc.
Contact a mortgage broker today!
Welcome to this extraordinary maintenance free home offering a rare combination of space, privacy, and versatility. Situated on beautifully maintained, level grounds perfect for gardening or small-scale farming. This single-family home is in excellent condition, with recent renovations including Anderson windows and doors, vinyl siding, flooring, kitchen upgrades including stainless steel appliances and granite counter tops. It offers additional separate living space that can be used for an at home business or an apartment with rental income. The highlights of this unique property include a new barn 42x36 with 16ft ceiling offering ample space for your RV plus a truck, storage, or use as a workshop. The oversized paver patio is perfect for outdoor entertaining, barbecues, or simply relaxing in the peace and quiet of your private home. There are two sheds offering additional storage space for tools, equipment, or hobbies. The building with the additional living space includes a 4-car heated garage, providing the perfect setup for automotive projects or extra storage. Enjoy ultimate privacy in this serene setting, with plenty of room to roam and grow. The expansive level grounds are ideal for gardening, farming, or simply enjoying the outdoors, with plenty of space for recreation or future projects. Currently there are apple, cherry, peach, plum, and pear trees along with elderberry, blueberry, raspberry bushes. This remarkable property offers endless possibilities-whethe
Just a note on these properties of the week: I donât write the descriptions. But after reading the entire blog up to this point, what do you think about 181 Charles Street? How much would you offer?
QUOTE OF THE WEEK:
In yesterdayâs Pivot Shift call (if you know, you know, and you should probably know if you are a Realtor), James Shaw, our fearless leader talked about how maybe the real estate market isnât really that bad, but it was just our vibes shaping our own personal narratives.
âI'm driving on I-4 on my way to Orlando and it's wide open, which never happens, but it's often, you know, it can be wide open and I'm very excited. And I look down and all of a sudden, I'm going like 90. Has this happened to anybody where you're just minding your own business, your business, and you look down and all of a sudden you're on the interstate and you're going like 90 miles an hour. Has that ever happened to someone? And then you're like, whoa, hold up, wait a minute, something ain't right. I need to slow down a little bit. And so you pump the brakes, you slow it down. Because you've been going 90, it feels like you're going like 25 miles an hour. Going so fast, you're like, whoop, don't want to get pulled over, so I'm going to slow it down a little bit. You're still speeding, but it feels like, oh my gosh, I'm going so slow. I think that's what the market feels like right now. I think the market had been moving so quickly for so long that any type of slowdown feels like a halt. Before you start running your mouth that it's a buyer's market, go look at the information. Go pull the data.â
~James D Shaw
đŚ đđ¨ Real estate vibes: the marketâs not dead, your footâs just off the gas.
VIDEO OF THE WEEK
Sigh. I used to have more hair back then. At least I have less stomach now.
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