Writing a property listing description that describes a life

Aug 27
3 min read

Updated: Aug 29

Introduction

Most property descriptions are an inventory. Three bedrooms, gas central heating, double glazing throughout, conveniently located for local amenities.

Every competing listing says the same thing in the same order, which means the description does almost no work. The buyer has already seen the photographs and the price; the words should be answering what those cannot.

1. Writing a property listing description starts with what makes this one different

Before writing anything, decide the single thing that distinguishes this property.

The garden, the light, the layout, the location on a quiet street, the fact it has been extended sensibly. That becomes the first line. Everything a buyer could have worked out from the photographs belongs further down.

2. Describe who it suits

A property is bought by someone imagining their life in it.

A first-time buyer, a family needing a third bedroom, someone working from home who needs a study, a downsizer who wants no stairs. Naming the likely occupant helps the right buyer recognise themselves and helps the wrong one self-select out, which reduces wasted viewings.

3. Be specific, because specifics are what get remembered

"Spacious lounge" is a claim. "A living room long enough for a three-piece suite and a dining table" is a picture.

Specificity also protects you: a measurable statement can be substantiated, whereas a vague superlative is either meaningless or, if the buyer disagrees on arrival, actively damaging.

4. Cut the estate agency filler

Deceptively spacious, must be viewed to be appreciated, a wealth of character, benefits from.

None of these carry information and all of them signal that the description was assembled rather than written. Removing them typically shortens a description by a third and improves it.

5. Front-load the first two lines

Portals truncate. On a phone, the buyer often sees only the opening.

Put the distinguishing feature and the type of buyer in the first two lines, and let the room-by-room detail follow. Descriptions that open with a paragraph about the town waste the only part many buyers read.

6. Be accurate, because property descriptions are regulated

Misdescription rules apply, and buyers do notice.

Do not describe a study as a bedroom, an area as something it is not, or a lease as longer than it is. Beyond the legal exposure, an inaccuracy discovered at the viewing loses that buyer and produces exactly the reputation an agent cannot afford locally.

7. Address the obvious question rather than hiding it

Every property has something a buyer will wonder about: a main road, a small kitchen, no parking, work needed.

Concealing it means the viewing does the revealing, wasting everyone's time and generating resentment. Naming it plainly attracts buyers for whom it is not a problem — which is the only group who will ever buy it.

8. Include the practical facts buyers filter on

Tenure, lease length and service charge where relevant, council tax band, parking, heating, garden orientation, approximate room sizes.

These are the details buyers use to shortlist, and omitting them produces enquiries that ask basic questions or, more often, no enquiry at all because they moved on to a listing that answered them.

9. Read it aloud before publishing

The fastest quality check available.

If it sounds like nobody would say any of it in conversation, rewrite it. And check it against the photographs — a description praising a bright kitchen next to a photograph of a dark one undermines both, and that mismatch is surprisingly common.

Conclusion

Lead with what makes this property different rather than opening with an inventory every competitor also has.

Describe who the home suits so the right buyer recognises themselves, replace vague superlatives with specifics, cut the standard filler phrases, front-load the first two lines because portals truncate, keep everything accurate given misdescription rules, name the obvious drawback rather than letting the viewing reveal it, include the practical facts buyers filter on, and read it aloud against the photographs before publishing.