A listing description that does not read like every other one
Buyers read the first two lines and decide whether to continue. What works is the concrete: what you see from the window, what the heating bill is, which stop you get off at. Adjectives do not work. The rule: if a sentence could sit unchanged in someone else’s listing, delete it.
Why template descriptions fail
"Cosy apartment in a communicative area, close to all amenities, suitable for living or investment."
That sentence exists in thousands of listings. It describes nothing and the buyer skips it without reading. Worse: it signals that nobody bothered with the property, and if nobody bothered with the text, probably nobody bothered with the rest.
There is one test. If the sentence could be dropped into someone else’s listing without a single change, it carries no information.
The first two lines
Most portals show the beginning of the description. That is where the strongest thing goes, and it is not "cosy".
What works is concrete claims: "Top floor with a view of Vitosha, panoramic window in the living room." "Flat on a quiet cul-de-sac two minutes from Mladost 1 metro station." "Three-bedroom of 74 m² with a separate study — rare for this block."
Each of those sentences can only be true of one property. That is exactly why it works.
What buyers want and rarely find
- Running costs. What the January heating bill is, what the building fee is. Nobody writes it, everybody asks.
- Aspect and light. "South-east, sun in the living room until midday" is worth more than "bright".
- Transport by name. Not "communicative area", but "bus 84 stop 200 metres away".
- What stays. Kitchen, air conditioning, boiler. Saves ten questions on the phone.
- Condition without varnish. "Needs refreshing" beats silence — it filters out people who would not have bought anyway.
- Neighbours and building. Flats per floor, lift, insulation.
What to drop
Adjectives without a measure: cosy, spacious, compact, functional. Each means something different to everyone and at best is noise.
The draft does not have to be written from scratch: an AI description assembles copy from the attributes in seconds and comes out ready in any language. The editing stays yours, though — precisely because of the specifics above, which the model has no way of knowing.
Capitals and exclamation marks. "URGENT!!! BARGAIN!!!" does not create urgency, it creates suspicion.
Listing every nearby district so the advert turns up in more searches. Buyers recognise the trick and resent it, and portals treat it as spam.
And "price on request" in place of a price. A listing without a price is skipped by most people while still in the results list.
Frequently asked questions
How long should a description be?
Between 120 and 250 words for a flat. Shorter looks unfinished, longer does not get read. What matters is that the first two lines carry the most specific thing you have.
Is AI fine for writing descriptions?
Fine for the draft, and it saves real time. Always read it before publishing — generated text sometimes adds amenities that do not exist, and the liability is yours.
The same description on every portal?
The body can be the same, but the opening sentences are worth varying. Some portals also cap the length and reject phone numbers in the text.
The OptiEstate teamWe build the software Bulgarian agencies use every day. We write about what we see there.
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