Diction Drives Sales

Recent research from Zillow concludes that a home's listing word choice may greatly impact its sales price. Indeed, using the wrong words may a price discount between 30 to 50 percent.

Matt Kreamer, data public relations manager for the real estate site, says that while the relationship between words and sales prices is more chicken-and-egg than causal, "an agent can take some of this information when considering the best things to highlight.” The Los Angeles Times reports that the best word choice can be especially useful for buyers doing virtual walk-throughs, or looking to purchase sight-unseen.

“Unique” and other “price-threatening messages” convey the idea that homes “tend to need work, or some kind of rehab,” according to the book’s co-authors. On the other hand, the words “beautiful” and “captivating” can boost sales by 2.3 percent and 6.5 percent, respectively ... Advances in text-mining software have made word analysis of millions of listings comparatively easy. To be more specific in its study of 100 listing terms from 2016-2017 listings, Zillow compared similar listings within certain variables such as the year homes were built and sold, as well as property size and other factors.

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