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!