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Location: Stuck on the East Coast, hoping to head West
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I read them. Like others stated, I look for things like room descriptions (i.e. finished basement) and specifics about the age of things like the roof or furnace (i.e. roof replaced in 2013 ). I also pay attention when the description says "needs TLC". I don't pay much attention to other descriptors.
Regarding overuse of words, exclamation points, etc.....just doesn't bother me. I want an agent to be competent at facilitating the sale, I'm more forgiving of grammatical errors or overuse of certain phrases.
I wish descriptions would include things that are not mentioned in the list of rooms.
School district, walk-in pantry, updated kitchen, hardwood floors... these are more important to me than a list of the rooms or phrases like "fabulous upscale home in desirable neighborhood!"
Another gripe with realtors on this one, lol. The grammar is often terrible, the wrong words capitalized, and sometimes the description stops in the middle of a sentence. The description should tell what the photos do not, as in a newspaper photo. What is the point of a caption telling exactly what is apparent in the photo? The description is well used for stating what is walkable, if anything, and what the nearby amenities are.
When I sold my own home we created a blog for it, showing not only great pictures of the house but the surrounding streets, the walkup mountain close by, the fields and streams, bike path, and locally famous small meat market in town. We created interesting commentary around that. People are not just buying a property, they are buying what is around it. It's important not to employ hyberbole, however. Greatest, best, sweetest, fantastic, etc.
That said, it's a turnoff to do an online drive-by and find out the property is on the corner of a highway or across the street from an air strip or near a military base. Those things should be disclosed up front in the listing, to save both the looker who might object and the agent from wasting time, and the seller from having to clean the place before the showing. It is NOT easy for the seller to have to clean the place top to bottom with every single showing. The listing agent sure doesn't do that (and shouldn't have to).
That said, it's a turnoff to do an online drive-by and find out the property is on the corner of a highway or across the street from an air strip or near a military base. Those things should be disclosed up front in the listing, to save both the looker who might object and the agent from wasting time
That's why Google Earth is so handy. It's helped me avoid many potential drive-bys.
That said, it's a turnoff to do an online drive-by and find out the property is on the corner of a highway or across the street from an air strip or near a military base. Those things should be disclosed up front in the listing, to save both the looker who might object and the agent from wasting time, and the seller from having to clean the place before the showing. It is NOT easy for the seller to have to clean the place top to bottom with every single showing. The listing agent sure doesn't do that (and shouldn't have to).
All you need is the street address to Google-walk all the streets nearby, to get a street view, to see an aerial view with labels of what stores are nearby, etc.
It's also helpful to get a walkability score, unless you don't mind driving long distances for everything.
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