Listing of the Day - Advertising Critique - Huntington WV

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.


5183 West Pea Ridge Rd., Huntington WV, $194,000 4 + 3

http://hdhomes.trulia.com/property/1048600908-5183-W-Pea-Ridge-Rd-Huntington-WV-25705

The seller of this house should be extremely disappointed with this agent. For that matter so should other agents. No wonder this property has been on the market for more than 6 months. It must be a one-year listing and the seller is stuck.

I actually chose this one to review because the online advertisement through the Herald-Dispatch (the area's leading newspaper) listing indicated there are 28 photos. My expectations were for a motivated seller and an advertisement overloaded with information, descriptions, and photos to die for.

Not here. After a couple of exterior photos make the house look very appealing, the interior photos show us that the house is practically empty. Some are taken from poor angles. Rooms without furniture do not allow a potential buyer to envision what their furniture might look like, or get an idea of the scope and depth of a room. In addition, a couple of the photos have items left laying around. It reflects that the photographer wouldn't take 30 seconds to move a few items over for the sake of a photo. Not acceptable if I was the seller. Or the manager of that agent.

Yet, it gets worse.

The description copy, which is supposed to provide selling point after selling point, reads "Large updated home, main bedroom suite, lots of amenities". And nothing else. We don't even know what is "updated".

What we do know is that it has been on the market for a long time, is empty and countless people could have been inside to know security secrets. Nothing about the community, whether or not there is a garage or parking, or any reasons for a potential buyer to want more information.

At least six months ago somebody whipped through with a camera and took a ton of photos, and they are probably all on the spread without reviewing each. Then one sentence was typed in for the ad copy. And so it sits.

I think it will sit there until this listing expires through this agent and the seller wises up.

What hurts even more is that with using a few of the existing pictures (and taking out the bad ones) and adding even a mid-level description, this home could easily be attractive to potential buyers.

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!