Plain-language listing copy: words to cut and what to say instead

Read ten descriptions on any board and the same handful of phrases come back. The home “boasts” a kitchen, the street is “nestled” somewhere, and the backyard is an “oasis”. None of it tells a buyer anything they can use, and the real selling points, a new roof or a walkout, get lost between the adjectives. Here is how to find the empty words in your own copy and what to write in their place.

Why stock phrases cost you

A buyer scrolling a results page reads the first line or two. If those lines are praise that fits every house, the buyer learns nothing and moves on. A phrase also gets worn out by repetition: when every listing is “stunning”, the word stops meaning anything, and the one agent who writes “1,850 square feet, new furnace in 2023” stands out.

There is a second cost. Praise is an opinion, and a buyer who arrives expecting a “sanctuary” and finds a tired bathroom feels misled before the showing starts. A fact is only ever right or wrong.

Words to cut, and what to say instead

The pattern in every row is the same. The weak version tells the buyer how to feel, and the stronger one gives the buyer something to check.

Cut the claims you could not prove

Some phrases are worse than empty, because they assert something you would struggle to back up: “best value in the area”, “won’t last”, “priced to sell”, “guaranteed”, “one of the best streets”. Your seller may like hearing them, and a buyer reads them as pressure. Replace them with the fact behind the feeling.

• •Instead of “priced to sell”, say what is new, or leave price out of the remarks and let the price field do its job.
• •Instead of “one of the best streets”, say what is on it: sidewalks, mature trees, a school at the end of the block, whatever is true.
• •Instead of “won’t last”, give the showing and offer dates, which are a real deadline.

Keep the description about the property. Wording that describes who should live in the home belongs in a separate check, and the guide to MLS descriptions that sell and stay compliant covers it.

Write the way you would say it

Plain does not mean flat. A confident agent talking to a buyer in the driveway uses short sentences and ordinary verbs.

• •Use verbs like has, fits, includes and opens to. Skip “boasts”, “features” and “offers” when “has” does the job.
• •Open with one headline sentence: the type of home and its biggest draw, with the part of the city if that helps.
• •Give the numbers in one run: bedrooms, bathrooms, square footage, lot size, parking.
• •Put the updates in one sentence with the year after each: “Updates include a new roof (2021), furnace (2023) and windows (2020).”
• •Say what a feature makes possible in a few words, only where it is true: “room for a table for ten”.
• •Close with something a buyer can act on, such as the open house time or the showing instructions.

Do not fill the gaps with what most homes have

When you are short on facts, the temptation is to write what is usually true: bright kitchen, hardwood floors, “upstairs” bedrooms, a lake view from the family room. If the listing record does not say it, leave it out. A buyer who finds laminate under “hardwood” stops trusting every other line. Write only what you have confirmed, and name a material only if you know it.

The same goes for the neighbourhood. Name a park, school or transit stop only if you know it is there, and give a distance only if you have checked it.

A before and after

Before: “Welcome to this stunning, sun-filled home nestled in a sought-after neighbourhood. The gourmet kitchen boasts quartz counters and flows to a backyard oasis. A must see!”

After: “Renovated 3-bedroom bungalow on a low-traffic street, a block from the park. The kitchen has quartz counters and opens to a fenced yard with a deck and an in-ground pool. Parking for three. Updates include a new roof (2021), furnace (2023) and windows (2020). Open house Saturday, 2 to 4.”

The second version is shorter, and every sentence gives a buyer something to act on. Check the facts against the listing before you publish, because the plainer the wording, the more a mistake shows.

A five-minute edit for any description

• •Underline every adjective. Keep the ones that state a fact (renovated, finished, fenced) and cut the ones that state an opinion.
• •Ask of each sentence whether it could sit in the listing of any house on the street. If it could, cut it or add the detail that makes it this house.
• •Check that every number and year matches the listing record.
• •Read it aloud. Any sentence you would not say to a buyer in person, rewrite.

Frequently asked questions

How Listing Launchpad handles plain-language copy

Listing Launchpad writes the public remarks and the three agent-only remarks from the details you already entered for the listing, so the copy starts from facts and not from a blank page.

• •The stock phrases: the generator writes from the listing’s own fields and is told to avoid the phrases buyers skim past, and a detail that is not on the listing does not appear in the copy.
• •The claims you could not prove: a compliance panel under every piece flags unsupported claims such as “#1” and “won’t last”, and wording that describes a buyer instead of the home, each with a one-click fix.
• •The board’s length limit: a live counter holds public remarks to 2,000 characters, so the text is not cut when the board saves it.
• •The last edit: the draft is yours to change in place, and Regenerate takes a note in your own words when you want a different angle.

It is included on every plan, within the monthly AI copy generations (50 on Free). The free listing description generator writes public remarks from a few facts with no account.