Everyone makes typos. Even the best writers get caught out. But when real estate agents are entrusted to sell properties worth millions of dollars, there really is no excuse for not paying attention to the smallest detail.
Especially with the range of technologies out there that can help. Some blunders you simply can’t ignore.
The ones that cause clients to doubt an agent’s professionalism, and reflect poorly on the agency they represent. These typos are very awkward because they are so very public.
One place where these awkward misprints are usually found is in a property’s public listing description.
Any experienced agent will tell you that the property writeup is a critical part of the listing process. An engaging description will not only set you apart from other agents and their marketing. It will serve to hook prospective leads and set you up with that all-important client relationship.
We’ve assembled a list of the most common slip-ups found in real estate write-ups.
Cut To Bloopers
1. SEPERATE …
Don’t be the reason to build a wall between you and your client – it should be ‘separate’
2. ACCOMODATION …
It’s a mouthful alright – it should be ‘accommodation’
3. FORMALLY…
Remember who said it first – it should be ‘formerly‘
4. PRINCIPLE…
Principles are for theoretical physicists. For foremost features – it should be ‘principal‘
5. DUEL …
Let’s hope there are no fights to settle – it should be ‘dual’
6. SORT AFTER …
If you want to remain in demand, don’t make this mistake – it should be ‘sought-after’
7. STAINLESS STEAL …
Best to not get in trouble with the law – it should be ‘steel’
8. INDEPENDANT …
Sloppy errors will have you singled out – it should be ‘independent’
9. EXTENTION …
Is this really the ‘extent’ of your spelling skills? – it should be ‘extension’
10. VOLTED …
You could be in for a shock if you get this one wrong – when it should be ‘vaulted’
Saving Face
Whilst we’re all human and make mistakes, clients are within their rights to expect their agent to cross every ‘t’ and dot every ‘i’ when transacting their home.
Sometimes the typos or grammos go unnoticed but many of them do not.
Although they may appear trivial, research has shown they can have a real impact on your credibility as a professional agent. There are plenty of other agents a client can choose from so why give them an excuse to shop around.
Grammar Rules in Real Estate
Real-estate agents better take out that red pen. An article in The Wall Street Journal quoted that:
“It’s not just English teachers who notice misspellings in luxury-home listings; typos and missing commas can slow sales and drag down prices.
An analysis of listings priced at $1 million and up shows that “perfect” listings—written in full sentences without spelling or grammatical errors—sell three days faster and are 10% more likely to sell for more than their list price.”
Sanette Tanaka
Reporter, The Wall Street Journal
Write better, read better, sell faster
And for the estate agents reading this, there are some great efficiency tools to help you. Intelligently automated writing assistants like overwrite.ai mean agents no longer have to worry about silly typos or bad grammar. The agent enters the key property particulars using the intuitive, user-friendly platform, and the property description is created in seconds.
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