Listing of the Day - Chicago IL

In an effort to improve the impact of the marketing of listings, I randomly choose current listings around the country in a variety of price ranges and comment on their effectiveness. No current clients of mine are used, nor do I know any sellers or buyers or have any additional information about the property.


8156 S. Luella Ave. 3 + 2 $275,000

http://homes.searchchicago.suntimes.com/properties/search/detail.php?qBackToSearch=qTerms%3Dsell%26qSearchTab%3Dsell%26qAction%3Dsearch%26qRegion%3DChicago%252C%2BSouth%260%26qMinPrice%3D200%252C000%26qMaxPrice%3D300%252C000%26qBedrooms%3D2-%26qBathrooms%3D1-%26propertyType%255B0%255D%3DHouses%26pagesize%3D20%26view%3Ddetailed%26qtotal%3D42%26qSortBy%3DPrice%26qSortDirection%3DDESC&qAdid=mls-07480039&propertyNumber=8


A classic example of a property that could be marketed much better than it is in this advertisement.

In this instance, the choice of the primary photo is not a good one. Just because it is the only exterior photo in the spread should not make it an automatic choice. The big tree takes away from the exterior view while the wide shot serves to diminish the big size of this home, as touted within the description. In addition, the first line of the description copy indicates "Double Corner Lot", even though one cannot tell that due to the angle of this photo.

Ideally, the exterior photo should have been taken from a closer angle without the tree in the way and showing the scope of the corner lot. Furthermore, at least 2 of the interior photos in this spread would have better served to have been the primary photo and demonstrate the size and luxury of this home. For that matter, it appears that the leaves are falling off the trees, meaning this photo could well have been taken last fall (or earlier), and this ad appears at the end of March. Not exactly a "fresh" looking property based on the one exterior photo.

Most of the interior photos are the strongest selling points for this home, showing the size and lavish potential.

Not only is the description copy far too brief, but it fails to prioritize the selling points. Starting with "5 Minutes To Lake" is not an important consideration for the majority of potential buyers considering this community. Especially with a custom built home on a "double corner lot" located in Chicago. Listing an approximately 2,600 square foot home within a large city for under $300,000 is a significant headline, yet there is such little emphasis on this fact.

The picky potential buyer will also notice that the "Details" under the photo show "3 bedroom 2 bath" before the brief description copy shows "3 br, 1.5 ba", and that is a negative to, in effect, 'take away' 1/2 of a bath from a potential buyer.

In addition, the onslaught of abbreviations makes it appear that the advertiser was more concerned about saving money on the ad than presenting the selling points of the home. Even with my experience, I had to stop and think of what a "custom designed wbfp" is. I'm sure that will be another potential selling point that will go untouched by any potential buyers who stick around beyond the primary photo.

Yes, what might have been. A primary photo of one of the wide interior shots and a description about the large size and custom features for under $300,000 would make a huge difference for this seller, who should be very disappointed in the agent's efforts.

GRADE: C+


Note: This commentary is uncompensated and for marketing purposes only and is no reflection on the featured property. Its accuracy is not guaranteed. Neither Dave Kohl nor First In Promotions shall be held responsible for any representations.

At this time, I have openings for more realty agent/office clients to critique current and brand new listings on an hourly basis. No current or past client listings are featured on this blog.Random listings are chosen around the country.

Your comments are most welcome!

Listing of the Day - Evansville IN

In an effort to improve the impact of the marketing of listings, I randomly choose current listings around the country in a variety of price ranges and comment on their effectiveness. No current clients of mine are used, nor do I know any sellers or buyers or have any additional information about the property.



734 Greengate Ct. Evansville IN 4 + 3 1/2 $249,900


http://realestate.courierpress.com/for-sale/listing/344-172834/Evansville-IN-USA/2-beds/1-baths/SINGLE-FAMILY-type/150000-250000-price/364-167557--344-172834--7821-172313--7821-170382--307-171616--24-5501655--7821-172750--323-170106--323-168044--1993-171681-ls/218-t


This advertisement is a mixed bag of good and bad. The primary exterior photo is a positve, showing off a well landscaped larger home with a unique entrance way that should attract potential buyers to click in for more.

However, as much as I like multiple interior photos within an advertisement, the use of photos of empty rooms takes away more than it adds. The left column clearly states that this is a newly listed property (showing as 6 days at press time). Showing us that the home is empty when this home does not appear to be new construction (and it doesn't appear to be, but that is a guess) is a negative. It raises questions. If this is new construction or just rehabbed to be sold, there is no indication. If the seller has just moved out, it seems odd that the photos and the actual listing would have been so recently done.

With other choices in this area and same price range, a percentage of potential buyers won't stick around past the photo spread to find out.

On to the description. It starts with a line of "Realtor fluff". The "You'll be proud to give out this address...." line is laughable. In this day and age, people are not into "giving out" an address. At least not a family that would seriously consider a 4-bedroom neighborhood home. For an investor it could be a different story, but use of this line to start narrows the focus toward investors only. That is not fair to the seller to narrow down the possibilities with the first sentence.

Some of the description copy does a good job at hitting interior selling points, such as the "full bath and a whirlpool bath", "walk-in closet", "large kitchen has a nook area", and how "one of the garages has been converted to an office". Yet, we don't see anything of the supposed 2 large garages on this property in any of the photos, not even the primary exterior shot. Same with the "beautiful fenced back yard".

Furthermore, the lack of any details whatsoever about the neighborhood, schools (and this is a 4-bedroom home), or the community, fails to support the first line about "You'll be proud....". We are not given one reason why a buyer would be proud of that address, whether that copy works or not.

The creator of this advertisement failed to coordinate between the photo spread, the description copy, and the adjacent information. If the listing agent had someone create this ad, he should have made certain it flowed a lot better before letting it go public. The seller has reason for concern, especially about people so easily able to find out the home is empty. Potential buyers are not given any reasons to possibly pursue this property until well after they have been shown reasons not to. If presented right, this property could be justified at over a quarter-million dollars. Presented the way it is now, it doesn't come close.

GRADE: C


Note: This commentary is uncompensated and for marketing purposes only and is no reflection on the featured property. Its accuracy is not guaranteed. Neither Dave Kohl nor First In Promotions shall be held responsible for any representations.

At this time, I have openings for more realty agent/office clients to critique current and brand new listings on an hourly basis. No current or past client listings are featured on this blog.Random listings are chosen around the country.

Your comments are most welcome!

Listing of the Day - New Haven CT

In an effort to improve the impact of the marketing of listings, I randomly choose current listings around the country in a variety of price ranges and comment on their effectiveness. No current clients of mine are used, nor do I know any sellers or buyers or have any additional information about the property.

Fountain St., New Haven CT $216,900 3 + 2

http://homes.localhomesinct.com/sales/detail/203-N297656

Listing advertisements such as this one are the reason I first got involved with the advertising and marketing of properties more than 20 years ago. The people have a right to know.

This home was built in 1937. This advertisement comes off as if it was designed when the house was brand new. There is no address given. I even checked on the company web site and didn't find one there either. The map feature shows the arrow on Fountain Street, but that isn't confirmed. Thus, no one could possibly drive by this property.

There is no description copy either. No selling points. Not even fluff copy. Other than being told 3 bedrooms and 2 baths and the square footage, we get only one other "fact". As of press time, this so-called advertisement shows "Monthly tax: $4,961". Say what? If I read that right the owner of this property pays $59,532 per year in taxes alone. No wonder the address is a secret.

All of this "information" comes after the primary photo, which I couldn't even identify when I first clicked on the ad to review it. Turns out it is a photo looking down on top of a fireplace. Unless this is the only fireplace in a house within miles, this is hardly a big deal. In more than 20 years of looking at property ads, I have never seen a single fireplace given such priority.

Out of 8 photos in the photo spread (the only redeeming part of this "ad"), only 3 have any merit toward a potential buyer. One of the exterior shots shows 2 cars in the driveway. Besides being a security concern, it reminds us that we don't know if the garage appearing in one of the photos is for this property or not. If it is only single lane parking for 2 cars, it means that a home owner with more than 1 car has to be concerned with the order of the cars being parked and struggle getting in and out on a daily basis.

Two photos show the back yard. Normally that would be fine, except that the lawn is in poor shape. Even if due to the season, these photos do not show the property in a good light. One of the living room photos reveals a poor quality table covered with a cheap looking table cloth. Not flattering for a home asking more than $200,000.

After all this, there is no agent name listed (which is almost understanable given the presentation), and the "Contact Information" link goes to the office web site and not a specific name or anything further about this property.

How a seller would allow this as a representation of their property is beyond me. How an agent from a name brand real estate office can, in 2010, put an advertisement online with no selling points and a possible serious financial error (not sure what to think about the "tax" line) is even further beyond me. The only way this agent would get a commission is to sell others a list of anyone who would actually inquire about this home based on this advertisement.

That there are a couple of decent photos raises the grade from F- to a straight F.

GRADE: F




Note: This commentary is uncompensated and for marketing purposes only and is no reflection on the featured property. Its accuracy is not guaranteed. Neither Dave Kohl nor First In Promotions shall be held responsible for any representations.

At this time, I have openings for more realty agent/office clients to critique current and brand new listings on an hourly basis. No current or past client listings are featured on this blog.Random listings are chosen around the country.

Your comments are most welcome!

Listing of the Day - West Chester PA

In an effort to improve the impact of the marketing of listings, I randomly choose current listings around the country in a variety of price ranges and comment on their effectiveness. No current clients of mine are used, nor do I know any sellers or buyers or have any additional information about the property.



330 St. James Rd., West Chester PA 3 + 1 $297,500


http://dailylocal.localre247.com/homes/listing/223-5476160/West-Chester-PA-USA/2-beds/1-baths/SINGLE-FAMILY-HOME-type/200000-300000-price/261-2492505--223-5476160--261-5623524--326-5669536--261-5604939--261-5488494--261-5580547--223-5478740--261-5558314--261-5597694-ls/13-t/Price_Sales,1-ns


Overall this advertisement is well done. The photo spread is prominent and includes numerous interior shots to give the potential buyer a fast but thorough overview. More importantly, it gives reason to continue along to the description, which gets right into the selling points without fluff copy. All of this combines to lend credibility to the agent, who clearly worked on presenting this advertisement.

If I was a potential buyer looking at this property, I would be satisfied with this advertisement, probably enough to want to follow up. If I was the seller, I would be pleased with how the home is presented and feel as though the key selling facts are included.

Yet, I see the need for some touching up that would take this ad up another notch.

The primary exterior photo does not do all that it can and should to present this home. This photo needs to be re-shot from a side angle over the left (from our current view) and extending the shot out to the right. Even though this shot gives a good perspective on the house, my feeling is that a potential buyer over the age of 50 would not go any further.

From this angle, we do not see a sidewalk or walkway leading toward the front steps. We do not see the garage or its proximity. But we do see a huge front lawn. These are concerns for many middle-aged and seniors who prefer a single level home but are more concerned about easy access. This house may have easy access, but it doesn't show on this photo. Granted, a young family needing a 3-bedroom home is probably enticed by the big and roomy front lawn, but in this market properties need to be well presented to all age groups.

While the description copy hits upon selling point after selling point (which is a big plus), a few simple changes would take this from a good advertisement to a great one.

One of those changes, however, is to fix the typo which appears as this is being written. The term "double oven" shows as "double overn". Yes, mistakes happen, but for the agent to take the time he did to formulate this advertisement, a few minutes to check and double-check upon publication would have saved him the embarassment. (I have had several agents and consumers tell me it is a red flag when another agent leaves any type of error in a listing, especially one in the $300,000 range.)

The other part to fix is the last part of the copy, which reads "outside entrance to attached 1 car garage". The idea of having the last few words be a selling point instead of the "must see!" type of fluff is excellent. However, this choice of words sends potential buyers out on a lesser note, right at the point where he/she is deciding whether or not to contact the agent and pursue this listing.

I'm confused. Is there a SEPARATE outside entrance? Is there ONLY an outside entrance? I don't know that I could go from inside the house right into the garage or if I would need to go outside, which partially defeats the purpose of an "attached" garage.

Since there is a 1-car garage for a 3-bedroom home, there are 2 better ways to handle presenting this. If, for example, there is a driveway with room for more parking (and we don't know based on what we see here), this would be a better way to go. Better choices to present this would be "parking for 3 cars" or "attached garage".

Overall, this advertisement is a few minor changes away from excellence.

GRADE: B


Note: This commentary is uncompensated and for marketing purposes only and is no reflection on the featured property. Its accuracy is not guaranteed. Neither Dave Kohl nor First In Promotions shall be held responsible for any representations.

At this time, I have openings for more realty agent/office clients to critique current and brand new listings on an hourly basis. No current or past client listings are featured on this blog.Random listings are chosen around the country.

Your comments are most welcome!

Listing of the Day - Anchorage AK

In an effort to improve the impact of the marketing of listings, I randomly choose current listings around the country in a variety of price ranges and comment on their effectiveness. No current clients of mine are used, nor do I know any sellers or buyers or have any additional information about the property.



3051 Brookview Dr. Anchorage AK $250,000 3 + 3


http://www.homefinder.com/AK/Anchorage/60203813d_3051_Brookview_Dr


The expression "one picture is worth 1,000 words" was obviously not in the mind of whoever decided to use the only photo for this property advertisement. What a horrible injustice to the seller!

When the only photo is of what could be the front door area of a home with a snow covered bench in front, there is no reason for a potential buyer to want to look any further. If there is nothing more positive to show, it can't be good.

Yet, the description of this home is reasonably well written. Frankly, this ad would be better off without that photo at all. We read on and on about how much of the home has been remodeled and how much "new" there is. How can there not be photos?

In addition, we are not told anything about the community other than the nearby schools.

Those amenities which are included in the description, such as marble fireplace, master bedroom with attached bath, and granite counters, make this home seem appealing. There is only a minimal amount of "Realtor fluff" in the copy, and that is at the very end with "Top-of-the-line remodel".

This listing agent would argue with me that when a potential buyer clicks on the "Click here for listing details" link it brings them to an extended group of interior photos which do highlight the remodeled parts of the home.

However, this home is one of several in this area and price range. Potential buyers have a choice and can easily click to the next listing. The first thing they see is that photo, and the early description about a remodeled home. Neither will entice a potential buyer to click to the next link before clicking out to look at the next listing.

Unlike many other listing ads I see and review, this one is among the easiest to fix quickly by putting up one of the other interior photos. Until or unless that happens, this will remain a struggle.

GRADE: C-



Note: This commentary is uncompensated and for marketing purposes only and is no reflection on the featured property. Its accuracy is not guaranteed. Neither Dave Kohl nor First In Promotions shall be held responsible for any representations.

At this time, I have openings for more realty agent/office clients to critique current and brand new listings on an hourly basis. No current or past client listings are featured on this blog.Random listings are chosen around the country.

Your comments are most welcome!

Listing of the Day - Knoxville TN

In an effort to improve the impact of the marketing of listings, I randomly choose current listings around the country in a variety of price ranges and comment on their effectiveness. No current clients of mine are used, nor do I know any sellers or buyers or have any additional information about the property.



844 Tanner Lane Knoxville TN $249,900 3 + 2 1/2

http://realestate.homemarketnow.com/for-sale/listing/7714-702574/Knoxville-TN-USA/2-beds/1-baths/SINGLE-FAMILY-type/150000-250000-price/7647-693905--7714-684396--7714-684460--7714-703151--7714-702574--7714-701563--7714-701075--7714-700916--8029-700692--7714-700136-ls/915-t

This listing agent spent more time on this ad than many other agents do, yet there is room for improvement - with the advertisement. The primary exterior photo is a very good photo for presenting the size and scope of the house and clearly shows the 2-car (or more) attached garage and the attractive landscaping. However, there is a very noticeable shadow covering the front lawn. Even though the house itself is in sunshine, there is no clear explanation for the shadow on this photo, leaving us to speculate.

It could be another home or building close by, thus limiting the amount of sunshine onto this property. My hunch is that it was a big cloud rolling in and the photographer was in a hurry to snap this photo while the house was still in sunshine. Sorry, but either way this doesn't cut it with me. The photographer didn't have to be in that big of a hurry, since he or she is helping to get a quarter-million dollar property sold. He or she could have taken the exterior photo from a different angle and not had that huge shadow be such a negative to an otherwise attractive property.

On a positive note, the use of extensive interior photos, including showing everything including the kitchen sink (literally) with most rooms from different angles is excellent. We can clearly see that this home is well taken care of based on the layout and the coordination of the furniture and appliances.

The description does what it is supposed to do, which is to begin with strong selling points right away. In this case the focus is on the community, and the copy sets the scene quite well. The best terms are "Landcapted yard - fenced and fully private w/large patio", and "filled with natural light". Terms like this which describe a definitive positive image in a few words are key in advertising an upscale property.

However, there is too much "Realtor fluff" instead of what are additional selling points. The use of "stunning showplace!" doesn't help a large family which isn't looking to entertain in this 3-bedroom home. The "Look no further - this is it!" at the end is a complete waste of space.

Instead, the facts found below in the description are left out of the places they would have had much more impact. For example, we are not told anywhere on the page (or I couldn't find it - and I was specifically looking) anything about the size of the attached garage. Facts such as this home being just over 5 years old are among those which would "sell" a lot better than "This is it!". Once a potential buyer loses interest, he/she/they are not going to continue reading below to see if there are additional selling points.

What starts out as a description with punch slowly deteriorates into Realtor fluff, and there were more sales points that should have been used.

A few changes to the description and the seller and agent would have a winner.

GRADE: B-


Note: This commentary is uncompensated and for marketing purposes only and is no reflection on the featured property. Its accuracy is not guaranteed. Neither Dave Kohl nor First In Promotions shall be held responsible for any representations.

At this time, I have openings for more realty agent/office clients to critique current and brand new listings on an hourly basis. No current or past client listings are featured on this blog.Random listings are chosen around the country.

Your comments are most welcome!

Listing of the Day - Midland TX

In an effort to improve the impact of the marketing of listings, I randomly choose current listings around the country in a variety of price ranges and comment on their effectiveness. No current clients of mine are used, nor do I know any sellers or buyers or have any additional information about the property.


3115 W. Louisiana Ave, Midland TX 3 + 3 $154,900


http://www.homeswesttexas.com/property.php?id=80986


Could this agent be any more careless about this listing? Two of the photos in the photo spread are sideways. As much as I like interior photos in a property ad, this one lacks even one exterior shot. Makes me think it must look like a dump from the outside.

Yet, the agent has topped that. There is one item under "Amenities" on the left column. That is "Auto Garage Opener". We find this out before we are told there is a garage. Right under "Not Listed" shown for "Window Treatments".

There is no paragraph description at all. The photos show this house is empty. There is nothing about the community. We can see that this home is now 60 years old.

This is not the only home available in this area and price range. If the agent puts this little effort into getting the home sold, how is it ever going to happen?

An embarassment to the industry.

GRADE: F




Note: This commentary is uncompensated and for marketing purposes only and is no reflection on the featured property. Its accuracy is not guaranteed. Neither Dave Kohl nor First In Promotions shall be held responsible for any representations.

At this time, I have openings for more realty agent/office clients to critique current and brand new listings on an hourly basis. No current or past client listings are featured on this blog.Random listings are chosen around the country.

Your comments are most welcome!