If you've spent five minutes on realestate.com.au, you'll have noticed something: nearly every listing reads the same. "Discerning buyers." "An entertainer's dream." "Tightly held by current owners." Lots of words. Almost none of them tell you anything.
The good news: writing a listing that actually sells is easier than the agents make it look. There's a structure, and once you've got it, you can write the whole thing in about 40 minutes.
Why most listings sound the same
Agents write hundreds of listings a year. Buyers read dozens at a time. The result is a kind of average prose: warm enough to seem aspirational, vague enough not to commit to anything. It feels safe to write, and to read, but it doesn't actually move buyers to act.
When we sold our own home, we set ourselves a rule: every line in the listing should give the buyer one piece of useful information. That's it. That's the rule.
"Every line should give the buyer one piece of useful information. If a sentence doesn't pass that test, cut it."
The 6-part structure
Every Propa listing follows the same skeleton. We've written hundreds of these now and the order matters; reordering breaks the way buyers read.
- One-line hook. What makes a buyer scroll past everything else and stop on yours.
- Three things that make this home different. Not "everything." Just three. Make them specific.
- A walk-through paragraph. Front door, key spaces, backyard. In the order someone would actually move through the home.
- The practicalities. Land size, beds, baths, year built, recent works, what stays.
- The neighbourhood, in 3 sentences. What's a 5-minute walk away. What's a 15-minute drive away.
- The honest caveat. Anything imperfect. The 70s bathroom that needs a reno, the kitchen lay-out that suits one cook and not two. Owning the imperfections kills 90% of buyer suspicion.
Quick test
Once you've drafted it, ask yourself: could a buyer read just my listing (no photos, no map) and have a clear picture of the home? If the answer is no, you're missing something. Usually point 5 or point 6.
Writing the hook
The hook is one sentence. Usually 8 to 14 words. It does one job: it gives the buyer a reason to keep reading.
Good hooks lead with the most specific, most concrete thing about the home. "North-facing four bedroom with a pool, walk to Mackay Beach." That's a hook. It tells the buyer: orientation, beds, pool, location. Four facts in fourteen words.
Bad hooks lead with adjectives. "Stunning family home in a sought-after location." That's eight words saying nothing.
Skip the writing block.
Propa Premier includes a guided description builder: answer a few questions about your home and your ideal buyer, and it drafts the listing for you to edit and approve. You can also send your draft to a Propa marketer for review. The words are always yours. $899, listed until sold.
The three differentiators
After the hook, three sentences. One per differentiator. The trick is picking the three that matter.
Don't pick three "amenities" (pool, garage, kitchen). Pick three things that a buyer in your suburb couldn't easily find at the same price elsewhere. That might be: position on a quiet street, north-facing aspect, walk-to-school location. Or: the only home in the area with side access for a caravan. Or: the most recently renovated kitchen on this side of the suburb.
Specificity is the move. If a competing listing could also claim it, it's not a differentiator. Pick something else.
Practical details, in plain English
This is where most agent-written listings drown in jargon. Sellers see the words "ducted reverse cycle climate control" and assume that's how it has to sound. It doesn't. "Ducted air-con through the whole house" works fine.
Translation table for the worst offenders:
- "Generous accommodation" → "five bedrooms"
- "Entertainer's kitchen" → "kitchen with island bench and gas cooktop"
- "Sun-drenched living spaces" → "north-facing lounge gets all-day sun"
- "Quality finishes" → "engineered stone benchtops, soft-close drawers"
- "Quiet locale" → "no through-traffic, walk to the bus stop in 4 minutes"
Heads up
If you advertise a feature ("solar 6.6kW", "council-approved studio"), you're representing it as true. If it turns out not to be, the buyer has grounds to walk. Be conservative. If you're not sure, leave it out and let your conveyancer mention it in the contract.
Phrases we ban
At Propa we maintain a small list of phrases that are auto-flagged when a seller drafts a listing. None of them are illegal; they're just so overused they've lost meaning. The list:
- "Discerning buyers" (every buyer thinks they're discerning)
- "Tightly held" (means nothing to anyone outside the industry)
- "An entertainer's dream" (every home with a deck claims this)
- "Bursting with potential" (usually code for "this needs work")
- "Must be sold" (signals desperation, not appeal)
See your potential savings.
Punch in your asking price and state. About 10 seconds.
The TL;DR template
If you remember nothing else, here's the skeleton on a postcard:
Hook (one line) · Three differentiators (one sentence each) · Walk-through (front door to backyard) · Practicalities (numbers and facts) · Neighbourhood (in three sentences) · Honest caveat (one paragraph).
That's it. Now go write yours. We promise it's easier than you think, and if you'd rather have someone else do it, that's why Propa Premier exists.