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What's in the wording? - Impact on price and time to sell

A mortgage broker friend of mine just dropped by the office to share an article he had been sent. I thought it was worth sharing here on Active Rain.

A study done by the University of Windsor and CMHC examined some 20,000 listings to determine the effect of certain wording in listings and the impact on sale price and time to sell. What the study revealed will change how I write my listing descriptions. The data was from the Windsor area for homes listed and sold between 1997 and 2000.

Using the following words or phrases had these impacts:

Beautiful - added 12,500 to the selling price of a 250,000 home, about (5%).
Move-in condition - no impact on price but sold 12% faster.
Beautiful or gorgeous - sold 15% faster.
Landscaping - sold 20% faster.
Handyman special - cut sale time by half.
Must see or Vacant - had no impact on time for a sale.
Motivated or must sell - slowed sales by 30%.
Ranch - slowed sales by 10%.
Rental or Income producing - slowed sales by 60%.

The researches believe that the results are more or less universal but may vary by locale.

Posted by Jeff Shields, REALTOR® Qualicum Beach, BC on 10/03/2007 02:23 PM

Comments (12)

listings, wording, price, time to sell

This post has been included in British Columbia Information

12 Comments on What's in the wording? - Impact on price and time to sell

OCT

2007

Jeff, I find these studies fascinating and we do need to pay attention to them. I had heard about "motivated and must sell" but not about "move-in condition and beautiful". And here I was thinking that "beautiful" was a boring adjective. Thanks!

ines

OCT

2007

Rick and Ines: Thanks for stopping by. I'm a stats kind of guy and like sharing this info.

Jeff

OCT

2007

What an interesting post. Like Rick and Ines, I always worry that I use certain adjectives to often but I do get excited when I list a gorgeous house for sale. I wonder what effect the word "unique" has. Or "stunning." We have a fellow in our area who always uses the word "dandy" in almost all of his listing remarks. Always makes me chuckle a little but he's an endearing sort.

DEC

2007

Great stuff Jeff, I will definitely use this information...thanks!

DEC

2007

Wow, I am surprised by some of these..I am going to keep them in mind however! Thanks!

I was just trying to find a reference for this study online and can't find it in full however, I thought we should clarify that the study was actually done by an economic research prof at the University of Guelph. If anyone can find the full study, I'd love the link! Thanks.

Marg: I never did find the study on-line, it is titled "House Prices and Time-till-sale in Windsor". Paul Anglin, did the study while at the University of Windor although he is now in Guelph. He also did another study while at the University of Windor in 2004 on the "Selling Process" which discusses sellers behaviour when their homes don't sell on the first listing attempt.

Elaine: thanks for dropping by.

Vanessa: you are welcome.

very useful...some surprises too...

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JAN

2008

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very interesting information.... Thanks for sharing it.

NOV

Good stuff Jeff, thanks for the post...will have to keep this in mind as I often use motivated.

JUL

Hi Jeff...Great information...thanks for sharing these ad tips.

Cheers, Keep Blogging Google Lives AR content

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