Critique my Re.com.au ad...

[Rob Williams]

Yes:
1. Put the suburb in - preferrably the street address too. Or at least something like "only 3kms to the city centre". Toowoomba is a big place it could be out at Drayton or Harlaxton.
2. "Simply a great investment" - get rid of it. It has a 4.75% gross rental yield - which there is nothing "great" about. Its less than average really.
3. The one and only solitary "feature" is A/C. That's nothing to rave about. Can't you add some others?
4. Don't say the kitchen is "neat". This is RE speak for "we got the tenants to clean for 2 days before we took the pictures". It is the same as saying the kitchen is "serviceable". RE speak for it has hot & cold running water.
5. The advert has no "pull". There is no call to action. It sounds like an advert you'd write when it is late on a Friday afternoon after a long week and you just have to put "something" in the window.

If the REA can't do better copy than this, find another who can.

Gee, don't hold back. Tell us how you really feel
Either add more "features" or get rid of it altogether.
I agree with your other points.
It needs some copywriting skills applied to it.

 

[Propertunity]

Gee, don't hold back. Tell us how you really feel
It needs some copywriting skills applied to it.

LOL - yeah I know it is easier to "criticise" than to "create".....but he did ask for a critique

 

[Peter Parker]

It needs some copywriting skills applied to it.

Agreed. And what's a gable apart from an angled roof? And it rhymes with stable where horses live. So I'd fix the title.

Main selling points of the place (in RE speak) appear to be:

* Handy location, just minutes from everything Toowoomba CBD has to offer
* Generous block, room to relax or for kids to play OR possibility of subdivision STCA - your choice
* Backyard with big-size garage and shed but also room to add own touch
* Character, period-style cottage

 

[HandyAndy888]

Thanks for the honesty...it's what I was thinking too...

This just proves what I have been thinking all along...the place definitely isn't selling itself, AND, I doubt that the agent is either. I don't expect 279K for it, I want offers, I told the agent this, and yet, he does not include it in the ad.

 

[wylie]

Agreed. And what's a gable apart from an angled roof? And it rhymes with stable where horses live. So I'd fix the title.

I would, respectfully of course, disagree about the word gable. I know you were not sure about the "little windows" but someone looking for a Queenslander knows what a "gabled queenslander" is and people want "gables" as they generally denote a more substantial house than a "cottage" that often denotes a thin front verandah or bullnose verandah, a very different look and style of house.

For a lot of buyers of queenslander style homes, the more "gables" the grander the house, so for me, I would leave it in.

 

[RumpledElf]

For a lot of buyers of queenslander style homes, the more "gables" the grander the house, so for me, I would leave it in.

I have a cottage and a ... uh ... big square thing. No gables in sight

I've never seen a house described with gables unless it was in a new catalogue and you are choosing your roof style, so this is all news to me. Learn something new every day!

 

[ianvestor]

What's a gable apart from an angled roof?

I know you're not asking that question verbally, but here it is anyway...

 

[wobbycarly]

Or one of these?

 

[urban cowboy]

Handy a few things stick out to me immediately...

caveat - I am going to sound like an agent here....oooooh wait, I am one!

firstly there is no copy - there is nothing there to entice buyers, to make them want to know more, to make them want to inspect or ring the agent. The copy is terrible, it should contain at a bare minimum, info about aspect features, views (if any), local services etc. it should be in the format of feature -> benefit. and should have several good features.

secondly the piccies don't actually show anything, they are nice an bright (nice change to most), but are all taken at hip height and dont give a good shot of the rooms - they are pics of furniture for the most part. It often works well to have a pic of the local feature (school/shop/park) so that people can get a general feel for the locale if the address isn't there.

I will stick my neck out and say don't put the address in. whilst as an investor I love it, there is a reason to leave it out. Your goal is to entice people to contact the agent, nothing else. you then need to hope like hell that the agent knows what s/he is doing and works the buyer towards offer and sale.

the pics have also been over photoshopped a bit. no grass is that green and the back grass could be shorter/tidier.

You need more pics as well - the whole purpose of the ad is to get people to fall in love with it enough to want to call the agent and get more info or have an inspection - there is not enough there as yet.

hope this helps some, give me a yell if I can help futher and expand on the above...

cheers
UC

 

[Alabex]

I agree with a lot of what has already been said namely
a) Add an address or at the very least street & Suburb
b) More interesting copy
c) THe photos made me a little nauseous... is your agent short? why are all the photos taken on the floor. Were they professional photos? or just retouched ones the agent took?
d) Floorplan, floorplan, floorplan... and a site plan if possible!

But this might just be me as a RE Agent, but the first thing i did was hit the show visits counter... it says 1000! To me that means 1000 people have looked at this add... (give or take a few from this forum) and decided either not to inspect or have inspected and dismissed it. As a buyer i would think well if 1000 other people dont want it why should i.

Have your agent removed it completely from the site and re-launch it. preferably on a monday before 12pm. (traditionally one of the highest hit times on realestate websites is lunchtime on a monday... everyone has looked at places over the weekend and property is still on their mind on monday at lunch when they start the next weeks search)

This will do a couple of things... reset the counter and re-email it out on peoples alerts. Update the photos, floorplan and copy before the relaunch so it presents as a new property

Have the agent advertise inspection times... either by appointment or when open houses are scheduled.

 

[urban cowboy]

Have your agent removed it completely from the site and re-launch it. preferably on a monday before 12pm. (traditionally one of the highest hit times on realestate websites is lunchtime on a monday... everyone has looked at places over the weekend and property is still on their mind on monday at lunch when they start the next weeks search)

you can't anymore - breaches the terms of use. there must be (i think) 60 days between pulling it down and relaunching by the same agent. They are checking now too - have heard of a couple of agents being told off and threatened to have their access pulled etc.

from : http://www.realestate.com.au/cgi-bin/rsearch?a=v&t=ao-wel&id=1383&cat=ao:Terms and Conditions&ag=&cu

Refreshing listings
4.1.10. Removing and then re-listing the same property in order for the listing to appear as a new listing. This also applies where a property is removed from and then placed back on the market with a new authority to the same agent if the property has been off the market (and off the Site) for less than 60 days.

yet another agent can throw it up same day...go figure...helps if you have two agency names!! hehe

 

[Alabex]

thats interesting urban cowboy.. i had heard of it previously, but asked our rep at RE.com and she didn't seem to think it was an issues... particularly if we were making changes to the ad. thanks for the heads up...

apologies for the potentially illegal advice!