Product Description

The most complete volume of real estate classified ads ever written! Cover to cover, this is easy-to-use reference is jam-packed with 2,001 winning ads for just about any listing you'll ever have. From condos to mansions and everything in between.

What's more, each chapter is broken down by location, size, terms, style and special features. Includes a complete listing of dozens of useful "ad tips' and a list of hundreds of words and phrases to help you describe even the most difficult properties in just the right way. The new 3rd edition has been fully updated to meet HUD's Part 109-Fair Housing Advertising Guidelines.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #318232 in Books
• Published on: 1995-11
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 320 pages

From the Back Cover
This book is perhaps the most complete volume of real estate classified ads ever written! Cover to cover, this is easy-to-use reference is jam-packed with 2,001 classified ads for just about any listing you'll ever have.

Organized for quick reference, inside you'll find separate chapters on:

Low-Price, Mid-Range and Prestige Homes

Farms, Ranches and Horse Properties

Condominiums and Town Homes

Mobile Homes

Vacation Homes and Time-Shares

Investment Properties

And then for added ease, each chapter is further broken down into sub-sections such as Location, Size, Terms, Style, and Special Features. In addition, you get a complete listing of over 400 useful words and phrases for describing difficult properties in just the right way.

Plus, the all new 3rd Edition has been completely updated with and includes the FHA Real Estate Advertising Guidelines (Section 109). Any real estate professional who's faced with rewriting the same old worn-out classified ads will find 2,001 Winning Ads For Real Estate an invaluable reference source.

About the Author
Steve Kennedy is a California real estate broker and trainer. A member of the Real Estate Educators Association, he is the author of eight other books on real estate including How To Farm Successfully By Phone and How To Farm Successfully By Mail. A former ad agency copywriter and creative director, he has directed telemarketing, direct mail and print advertising campaigns for real estate firms and other small businesses nationwide.

Mr. Kennedy's writing credits include Real Estate Today, Adweek, Los Angeles Herald Examiner and Direct Marketing. He has an M.B.A. in Marketing from California State University, Los Angeles, and a B.A. in Business Economics from the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Deborah Johnson, Ph.D. is a free-lance journalist and writer in Southern California. Her extensive list of television writing credits includes HBO's "Comic Relief", the critically acclaimed "Celebrate America," and the "National Easter Seal Telethon." She has also written hundreds of direct-mail appeals and print ads.

Her journalism credits include Woman's World, California Living, Fund Raising Management, Los Angeles Herald Examiner and Los Angeles Daily News. Co-author of How To Farm Successfully By Phone and How To Farm Successfully By Mail, and the winner of two ECHO awards from the Direct Marketing Association, Dr. Johnson has taught at Stanford, Santa Clara and Chapman Universities. She received her Ph.D. from Stanford University.

Excerpted from 2,001 Winning Ads for Real Estate by Steve Kennedy and Deborah Johnson. Copyright © 1995. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved
Introduction This book is for every real estate agent who wants to maximize the effectiveness of his or her classified ads. It's a simple, easy-to-use guide with 2,001 ads you can easily adapt for your own use. We've tried to give you an assortment of ads -- long and short, funny and serious -- so you can pick whatever best fits your needs.

For easy reference, we've divided the properties according to:

Price (Low Priced, Mid-Range and Prestige Homes) Farms, Ranch and Horse Properties Condominiums and Townhomes Mobile Homes Vacation Homes Investment Properties

To start, just look up the kind of property you want to advertise. Once you've found the section describing the particular property you're selling, think about the angle you want to play up in your ad. What appeals to buyers is usually one of the following:

Location

Size

Price/Terms

Style

Special Features

Condition

Unique Appeals

Therefore, you'll find each property section handily broken down by the above features. Simply turn to the feature you've selected, then help yourself to the scores of suggestions at your fingertips. You might want to sell one feature the first week, and then try another the second.

In this 3rd edition, we have tried to incorporate the Fair Housing Administration's Real Estate Advertising Guidelines. Although every effort has been made to delete any word or phrases that are in the grey area of these guidelines, we cannot make a guarantee. Following is an excerpt from the article What's in an ad? Words you can use by Walt Albro in the February 13th, 1995 issue of the Realtor News, National Association of Realtors.

"The Federal Fair Housing Act prohibits advertisements that state a preference or discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status or national origin.

Overtly discriminatory ad phrases such as "whites only," "adults preferred" and "singles preferred" were clearly understood to be violations, say NAR analysts.

Realtors became concerned, however, when phrases commonly used to describe architectural features or amenities were prohibited by certain newspapers as possible fair housing violations.

HUD's clarifications, Caldwell* says, will end a lot of the uncertainty among real estate ad writers. "It's a good step in the right direction," he adds.

HUD gave the following guidelines concerning what words were acceptable in real estate advertising:

Handicap

Acceptable:

Great view Fourth-floor walk-up Walk-in closets Jogging trails Walk to bus stop Wheelchair ramp Also acceptable are phrases describing conduct: Non-smoking and sober

Religion

Advertisements that use the legal name of an entity that contains a religious reference -- Rose Lawn Catholic Home, for example -- or those which contain a religious symbol, such as a cross, standing alone, may indicate a religious preference. However, if such an advertisement contains a disclaimer, such as the statement, "This home does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, handicap or familial status," it will not be a violation.

Acceptable:

The use of secularized terms or symbols relating to religious holidays such as:

Santa Claus
Easter Bunny
St Valentine's Day images

Phrases such as:

Merry Christmas and Happy Easter

Race, color, national origin

Acceptable:

Master bedroom
Rare find
Desirable neighborhood

Sex

Acceptable:

Mother-in-law suite
Bachelor apartment

Familial status

Acceptable:
Ads describing the property, services and facilities or neighborhoods.

Examples:

Two bedroom
Cozy
Family room
No bicycles allowed
Quiet streets

*Robert W. Caldwell of Altamonte Springs, Florida 1994 Chairman of the NAR Equal Opportunity Committee

A copy of the complete guide can be found in Appendix B of the book itself.

Now, back to the contents of the book. You'll see some similarities in the ads. For example, the fact that they all have headlines. It's a well-known advertising fact that headlines draw readers -- approximately 50 to 75% more readers than ads without them. But headlines do cost more. If your budget is big enough, use them them whenever possible. Otherwise you may be able to incorporate them into an ad's copy. Similarly, it's also a well-known advertising fact that the longer you can make your ads, the better they'll sell. But unfortunately the reality is that we can't always afford long ads. Sometimes, though, we can't afford not to run them.

The best headlines offer readers a promise or a personal benefit they'll receive if they decide to buy. For example, "Live at the Top of the World." Second-best headlines are news-oriented, using phrases like "Just Listed" or "New On Market." Yet all too many agents fall back on cutesy headlines, trying to provoke a reader's curiosity. However, cutesy seldom works. Would you call about a property with a headline that started, "Z-Z-Z-Z-Z"? What sells a reader is substance. So make sure your headline always has something to say.

That holds true, too, for the body of the copy. Don't run on with just a list of features. Every house is meant to be a home; sell it that way. Make it sound like a place where someone would like to live. Not because of all the great features it has, but because of the way someone would feel if they lived there.

Use a lot of adjectives to get your point across. We'll help you out at the end of the book where you'll find a list of "Selling Words" to help you describe different properties. Remember, adjectives warm up your ad, give it personality and adding excitement.

It's also important that you end your ad with what advertising pros refer to as a "call to action." It isn't enough to give your price and your phone number, you also need to toss in a final twist of enticement. There are lots of ways to do it, as you'll see in the pages that follow.

Some Realtors debate over how much to include in an ad. Should they put in the address of a home? Should they quote the price? Studies have shown that you may lose up to 50% of your prospective buyers if you don't include the price in your ad. So you'll find prices in all of our ads. However, the prices used in this book reflect the current market value in the Southern California area where a mid-priced home usually carries a stiff price of over $160,000. What buys a three bedroom suburban ranch in Los Angeles may buy a mansion where you live. Remember, don't take the price quotes literally, they're only for reference.

One thing you'll notice that we've elected not to include in our ads are specific interest rates or down payment amounts. This doesn't mean that we're recommending that you not include them in your ads. However, if you do, you should be aware that the law stipulates that if you choose to mention these amounts in your ad, you must also disclose the exact down payment amount necessary, the number and amount of monthly payments and the APR (Annual Percentage Rate).

Because it's important to keep track of the results from your ads, we've opted for putting your office phone number into the ad and not your full address. This makes it easy to keep tabs on how your ads are doing. If they're not working, try changing your approach. But don't give up if the results aren't stupendous immediately. Remember that advertising is the backbone of sales in this country. After relying on a real estate agent, more home buyers turn to classified ads than anything else. When you get a call from a classified ad, you can be pretty sure the prospective buyer is serious. That's the kind of home he or she is looking for. If that particular one doesn't strike his or her fancy, chances are you know of similar homes for sale. Use your classified ads as lead-getters.

Now that we have become familiar with some of the finer points of ad writing we're ready to get to the main purpose of this book -- classified ads that can help to make you money.

Customer Reviews

2001 Winning Ads for Real Estate
My boss is a Real Estate agent and uses this book all the time to help write the ads for her listings. She has used it so much that it was coming apart so I purchased a new one for her for Christmas. It will be well used again in the coming years!

My review
The book has a ton of ads but some of them are a bit dated. If you take a line from a couple, it will usually get the creative juices flowing.

Super easy reference that gets used alot in my office!
I work on a team with 2 other realtors and each week when we get together to go over our advertising we're always looking for a "unique" or "powerful" ad. This book has hundreds of great ideas and fully written ads. The best part is that you can piece together parts from different ads to get the ideal one for the property you're advertising.

I would have given it five stars, but some of the categories of property types they give ads for I never see, let alone list, and some of the ones I do list are not included (for example Planned Unit Developments).

Overall a super reference and well worth the investment.