Home sales need a 'sunny' side

Home, area, space, large and open all came in the top 10 list of words that will attract buyers to a house sale. Photo / Supplied.

A word to the wise - make them count when you're preparing to sell

It's more than just a pretty picture that lures a home buyer to a house - it's the words used to describe it too.

Estate agents are actively using key words to elicit a sale, and avoiding words known to put off would-be buyers.

Words such as family, comfort and safe are all known to get a positive response from buyers.

Ed Scanlan, who trains real estate agents on how best to market a property, said there was a list of 15 key words real estate agents were told got a positive response from people reading house listings, based on responses from Herald readers.

In that list words such as new, discover, guarantee, health, and bargain were all positive, and real estate agents were encouraged to use them.

Realestate.co.nz spokesman Paul McKenzie said he often saw advertisements which used the words family and sunshine to try to entice the buyer. "We did a survey of all our customers last year on what features they feel are the most important in properties, and sunny came up as the No1," he said.

For higher priced homes, words such as character, luxury, hideaway, and picturesque all featured heavily in advertisements, he said.

Australia's Real Estate Institute of Victoria this week surveyed 3.78 million words used in advertisements on realestateview.com.au in the past year to look for the top most used words for selling a house.

Featuring four times in the top 10 list were words associated with the size of the house or land.

Area, space, large, and open all came in the top 10 list.

Top spot went to home, followed by area, space/spacious, family, and heater/heating.
Real Estate Institute of Victoria spokesman Robert Larocca said there were also words real estate agents avoided. The term "motivated seller" hinted at problems with the home or the seller.

And cute and charming implied small rooms, he told News Ltd.
He also said the word basement was a little creepy and a better term would be "lower level".