There’s nothing more frustrating than having an incredible land real estate property and watching it just sit on the market. To figure out the secret to creating a listing that will get attention, we looked at the listings of successful ALCs to figure out what made those listings stand out from the crowd.

1. Put The Important Stuff First

In the age of social media, people’s attention spans are shorter than ever. Many listings only get a few seconds to make an impression. Make sure to put the most important information at the very front of your listing so that it catches the buyer’s eye.

2. Have A Checklist

Recently, a broker we knew contacted us because he’d found the perfect property. It had the acreage, price range, and structures he’d been looking for.

There was only one problem.

The listing didn’t include the location or any contact information.

Even the most experienced brokers can sometimes forget to add important information to their listings. Having a checklist can prevent these slips from happening. As a general rule, be sure to include:

• Land type
• Acreage
• Price
• Property features/type
• Water availability and utilities
• Location
• Contact information

 3. Get Social

There are lots of great and free tools to monitor which of your social media channels gets the most engagement. Each social media platform has a different target audience and finding out where your buyers are can be a huge time saver. Instead of spreading yourself thin, figure out which platforms work the best for you and focus your energy on that. Be careful though, you should only be doing about 20% selling on social and 80% providing educational, informative, and entertaining content, or you’ll scare aware your audience and there will be no one left to see those listings.

4. The Perfect Length

Similar to our first point, people don’t have a long attention span. If a description goes on and on (and on and on and… you get the point), people might lose interest. On the flip side, you don’t want a description to be so short that you cut out vital information.

There is no one “perfect length”, but looking at successful listings on The Land Connections, we found anywhere between eight to fifteen sentences was a length where you could fit in all the necessary information without going on too much. This listing from Bob Regester, ALC is a great example.

Slash J Slash Ranch at Lake Granby

Grand County| 920 Acres| $9,900,000| Granby CO

Slash J Slash at Lake Granby Huge Price Reduction Was $10,900,000 Now $9,900,000.
This exceptionally beautiful and rare 920-acre historic ranch is located in the resort community of Grand Lake. If you have been searching for the quintessential family legacy ranch, "Slash J Slash" ticks all the boxes. Multiple living quarters for friends and family located at the headquarters. Currently equipped for an equestrian and cattle operations with numerous outbuildings and a hay barn. There are several building sites hidden in the aspen and pine groves that offer spectacular snow-cap and lake views. Senior water rights are included with the ranch and add significant value for development potential. Elk, Moose, deer and antelope call this spread home.

This listing gives you all the information you need about the property: the price, the acreage, water rights, local wildlife, location, and more. This listing also comes with a property map and plenty of photos of the land.

Here’s another great example from Bart Miller, ALC. While it is shorter, the listing still contains all the information you need.

Golden West Equestrian Center

Jefferson County| 5 Acres| $1,995,000| Golden CO

The 4.88 acres of Golden West Equestrian Center is a profitable & well-established boarding, riding & training center. The facility maintains approximately 90 percent plus occupancy. The center boasts a 90 x 160 indoor arena, a 160 x 220 outdoor arena and a barn that contains 25 indoor stalls (16 with runs). In addition, there are 52 outdoor pens with shelters, two round pens (50 and 60), numerous turnouts, hydroponic fodder system, clubhouse and trailer parking. There is also an on-site veterinary clinic. An added bonus is a 164-acre open space park, available for riding, just across the road from the center.

5. Great Photos

You already know that great listing photos are a must. While many people focus on the quality of the photos, they sometimes forget to include pictures of things buyers would want to see. Here are some photo ideas to keep in mind for your next listing:

• Pictures of structures of the land
• Long distance shots
• Pictures of water sources on the property
• Video or drone tours of the property
• 360 virtual tours
• Pictures of unique aspects of the land (vineyards, bee boxes, etc.)

There’s no one perfect way to do a listing. Some people like to bullet point the factors of their property while others like a more structured layout. No matter how you like to create your unique listings, we hope this article can help make your listings more appealing.

if you want even more tips on how to create a winning listing, check out this post by our partners at Lands of America on maximizing your listings.

For more posts that help land experts take their career to the next level, check The Voices of Land Blog.

About the Author: Laura Barker is a freelance writer based out of California for the REALTORS® Land Institute. She has been with RLI since October 2017.