The key to an effective For Sale By Owner (FSBO) property listing ad is to tell the homebuyers enough to get them interested, but not give them all of the information. The objective is to leave potential buyers intrigued enough to seek out more information about the property or—even better—make them want to see the house. Some of the basic information to get them interested is pretty straightforward: price, location, and details like the number of bedrooms and bathrooms.

1. Price

One mistake some sellers make when writing their ad is that they don’t put the asking price. Instead, they might put “call for price.” That’s a big mistake. When you write your ad, a good rule of thumb is to be straight forward and to the point. Listing the price on the first page of the ad helps draw serious buyers to your advertisement. Also, when people are searching for homes online, they usually search within a specific price range.

2. Location

The location of the home should also be one of the first things mentioned. The first rule in real estate is location, location, location. When homebuyers are searching online, they are not only searching by price, but by location as well. You should include details such as well-known streets or intersections nearby, if it’s in a desirable zip code, if it’s in a historical district, and maybe a neighborhood nickname. The objective here is to get buyers to physically come see the property.

3. Details

In the next section of your advertisement, you want to describe all the details about the house and property. You want to let them know things like the number of bedrooms, bathrooms, and square footage. Then you want to include certain features about the interior of the home that are considered desirable. For example; fireplace, crown molding, renovated kitchen or bathroom, etc. After this you should describe other property features, like whether there’s a garage, a privacy fence, a patio or deck, a grill, landscaping, or anything else that would be beneficial.

The perfect ad should give potential buyers the information they need to decide whether they want to see the property or get more information. The best ads are the ones that are short and to the point and tell the buyer what they want to hear. Remember that many times, prospective buyers will end up purchasing a property that’s quite different from what they had in mind.


At Title Junction we care about helping you stay informed throughout your real estate transaction. Have questions? Give us a call at 239.415.6574.

In case you missed it, check out our last Title Junction post: Real Estate Title Insurance: Do I Need It?

Instant Title Quote
Launch App ...or Contact Us for a Custom Quote