RE-acular Vernacular: adjectives in real estate listings

REALTORS® have a tough job in trying to accurately & positively portray their listings, while also trying to set them apart from the pack (especially with a high-level of inventory), and I imagine it’s probably hard at times to find the right word (I can sympathize). With that said, I thought it might be interesting to see what adjectives are commonly (and not so commonly) used.

I did a quick survey of  adjectives on active listings in RMLSweb; the survey was of words that appear in the “comments” (private or public) fields in RMLSweb.

The winner was “great” at 34%, followed by “beautiful” at just over 20%. However, I should note that I do have some suspicion that the term “great room” may have affected the outcome. 

Here are the Top 20 results:

Those are the top 20, but I also spent a lot of time in the old Synonym Finder book by J.I. Rodale that we have sitting around the office. I checked out 65 words total in this highly UNscientific study (I had to stop somewhere!) Here’s the full list.

I probably missed some other common ones, but one can only spend so much time… let me know if you noticed any omissions!

Looking for Unique Language for Your Listing?

If you’re looking to be unique in your listing language, here are some words that I didn’t see in any listings:

Bewitching
Prodigious
Winsome
Wondrous
Tip-top
A Number 1 (ala Frank Sinatra)
Bang-up

Also, if you want to reach out to the younger generation, check out the Online Slang Dictionary – some very good stuff there.

This is what it looked like when I tried:

“This crib is totally fresh. It is in a bomb diggity location just outside of Portland. The kitchen is totally bonkers, with choice granite countertops & bumping hardwoods.”

DISCLAIMER: I don’t actually recommend that you use any of the aforementioned adjectives in your listings… However, if you want to, more power to you.