Ann Brenoff
Sun
Words matter. Wars have started over them. Civilizations have collapsed because of them And
it would appear chat. the speed with which a house sells might be determined by them.
As listings grow old on the vine in areas that are flush with inventory, and frustrated sellers grapple for the slightest
edge, the findings of several academics might otter some guidance.
For example, a Canadian professor, as part of a broader study
on real estate sales patterns, found that homes where the seller was “motivated” actually took 15 per cent longer to sell, while houses listed as ”handyman specials” flew off
the market in half the average time.
It surprised even me, said researcher Paul Anglin, who teaches real estate and housing trends at the University of Guelph. The study dissected the wording of more than 20,000 Canadian home listings from 1997 to 2000.
What surprised him most was
how the buying public put style over substance. Words that denoted “curb appeal” or general attractiveness helped a property sell faster than those that spoke of “value” and “price.”
Homes described as “beautiful” moved 15 per cent faster and for five per cent more in price than the benchmark.”Good-value”
enthusiastically as a dinner-time telemarketing call. Homes with listings using the words “must see” had a statistically insignificant impact on the number of days they rook to sell.
Listings where the word “landscaping” was heralded sold 20-per-cent faster, and homes in “move-in condition” took 12-percent less time to sell than the benchmark, although the study showed “move-in condition” had an insignificant impact on the sales price.
Owners use listing language to
convey how serious they are about selling. Some words work better than others. Anglin’s study found. Listings in which the seller said he or she was “moving” sold for one-per-cent less in pride compared to eight-per-cent less when the seller was “motivated.”
Real estate listings, not unlike personal ads, are crafted to minimize blemishes and maximize perceived selling points. So if “enjoys moonlight walks on the beach and cooking together” means “I’m unemployed and am looking for someone who won’t always expect to eat out,“ then “needs TLC” might mean “this house will have you on a first-name basis with the clerks at the local hardware store.”
Anglin‘s study isn’t alone in efforts to determine what language moves the market.
Last year, the impact of listing language was covered in a National Bureau of Economic Research study that looked at whether real estate agents selling their own homes hold out for a
higher price. (They do; the study found they take longer to sell but fetch a higher price.)
Descriptions of houses that indicated an obvious problem – such as “foreclosure,” “as-is” and “handyman special”– drew substantially lower sales prices.
Words that suggested desirable attributes – “granite,” “maple,”
“gourmet” – translated into a higher sale price, the study
found.
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One problem discovered was that -superficially positive” words that, in effect, damn with faint praise – such as “clean” or quier” – had zero or even a negative correlation with prices.
Those findings echo those made in a 2000 paper called Real Estate Agent Remarks: Help or Hvpe? researched by University of Texas finance and real estate professor Ronald Rutherford.
Rutherford found, among other things, that buyers read betweon the lines. If you can’t find anything better to say than “new paint,” perhaps it’s best to say nothing at all.
Positive and factually verifiable comments such as “golf” or “lake” drew increased sales prices; other presumably positive comments regarding new paint or new carpet brought lower ones. “what you Say needs to be extravagant,” Rutherford said, “or the signal that is received by buyers is that it’s not worth talking about.”
But what do sellers know?
“New paint“ appeared on 15 per cent of the listings and was the most commonly listed continent.
Rutherford said sellers would be best served by a listing with just the facts. “In today’s market,” he said, “if it’s a good deal, you need to coney it with factually verifiable language.”
