7 Tips for Creating an Effective Real Estate Listing

The real estate market has a record number of apartment and house sales and rental offers, so right now a prominent sales listing plays a key role in finding interested buyers. Urmas Uibomäe, CEO of the Kinnisvara24 portal, gives 7 tips on how to create a listing that generates great interest and trust.

For a buyer or tenant, the most important information is the location, size, condition and price level of the property. However, simply listing these facts is not enough to capture the attention of interested parties among thousands of listings. In order for your property to be viewed at all, you need to create an engaging promotional text and a listing with quality and clear pictures.

The opening photo of the listing is the most important

A first impression is often crucial in shaping an opinion, both about a person and about a property. Therefore, finding an eye-catching opening image for a real estate listing is extremely important. Based on this, a person decides whether to read the listing at all. For example, there is no point in choosing a photo of an ordinary apartment building as the opening image. There should be the most attractive picture of your property instead. If the listing has been up on the portal for a long time, it would be worth considering changing the opening photo.

Thoughtfully planned and quality photo gallery

Of course, just one opening image is not enough. The listing should have plenty of different photos so that an interested person gets a good overview of the property on offer. Think in advance about what photos you need.

It's boring to look at photos of an empty apartment or house. From a furnished room, viewers also get a better sense of the size of the living space. However, it would be wise to get rid of excessive furniture before the sales or rental process, as people want to see their future home as spacious. This should also be taken into account when photographing.

Before photographing, tidy up the living space and clean up scattered clothes, jars, bottles, dishwashing liquids, refrigerator magnets and small items. Put a cover on the bed, close the toilet seat, put fresh flowers in a vase and fruit on a plate.

When it comes to photos, the most important thing is the right light. If you take a picture against the light, only the light source will be visible and the rest of the room will be in darkness. When photographing with a mobile phone, don't use the flash. Photograph during the day with natural light, so the apartment looks sunny, colors are cleaner and shadows are more natural. The photo should capture as large a part of the room as possible. If necessary, take photos through a doorway and use a wide-angle lens on your camera.

Clear and short advertising slogan

The advertising slogan is another thing that is displayed in the preview of the listing on the real estate portal alongside the opening image. It's like a news headline, and whether the reader clicks on it depends on how it's worded. Therefore, it must be short, punchy and tell what is the trump card of the property being offered. For example, "Sunny apartment!", "New price!", "Best apartment in this area!" etc.

Interest-generating description

The main text describing the property must create a desire in the reader to come and see it. Start the description with 2-3 main selling points. But present them in such a way that the person is interested in reading further and becoming more familiar with the listing. For example, if you want to sell a family apartment, list nearby educational institutions and kindergartens. It's also important to highlight information about public transportation and parking options. On the other hand, for a 2-room apartment in the city center, you should highlight nearby sports clubs, restaurants or other leisure options.

The description should provide a good overview of the apartment or house, but you shouldn't write text that's too long, as no one wants to read a large block of text to the end. Real estate is a commodity like any other, and a sales listing must be attractive. Highlight the best qualities of the property and make them so appetizing that everyone wants to click the inquiry button. At the same time, there's no point in so-called "overselling" the property. Stay honest and that way, truly interested people will come to view your property.

Set a realistic price for your property

Your listing may be brilliantly constructed, but if the selling or rental price of your property is too high, it will sit unsold. Therefore, it's worth checking real estate portals to see what prices competing offers have. For example, in Kinnisvara24's mobile version, you can search for homes near you with just one button click.

Share your listing on social media

Someone who may not have thought about purchasing new real estate or replacing an old rental apartment might stumble upon a listing shared on social media. In other words, through social media you have the opportunity to find new interested parties. When sharing a listing on social media, finding a prominent opening photo is key to attracting attention.

Use additional options when selling

By using the additional and promotional options of real estate portals, you can get more attention for your listing. Kinnisvara24 extended the possible listing period to 90 days in response to user wishes. The longer the period you choose, the greater your price advantage will be.

Now all that's left for you is to show your property to interested parties. Don't forget to prepare it properly!