How do you write a good property listing?

You want a listing that gets clicked and brings in enquiries. The difference between a listing that gets lost in the crowd and one that makes people pick up the phone lies in the interplay between the information you have to include and the vivid description that makes the home come across as somewhere people would love to live.

At a minimum, the listing must include:

• Location, price, size, number of rooms and a description of the home, plus contact details so that anyone interested knows who to contact.

• Type of home (owner-occupied flat, cooperative flat, terraced house or other), floor area and the plot size in square metres.

• Year of construction, floor plan and desired sale price, rent and utility costs. These facts build trust.

The key information should be presented simply and without jargon, so it’s easy to take in. Mentioning renovations and the energy label makes the advert more credible.

The article also covers the legal requirements for the energy label, the copy and the headline, the photos, and how AI can help you get it all in.

The energy label in your property advert: legal requirements and how to show it

The energy label must always be visible when you advertise in commercial media in connection with a sale, letting or transfer. This also applies if you sell or let privately, and when the advert is online.

• The scale runs from A to G, and there are three A classes: A2010, A2015 and A2020. State the rating from the energy labelling report, e.g. “The building has energy label A2020”.

• The label is valid for 10 years for single-family houses, owner-occupied flats and terraced houses, and energy labels from before 1 January 2008 must be converted when you advertise.

• Homes under 60 m², including detached single-family houses, are exempt. The same goes for holiday homes and listed buildings. Lettings of more than 4 weeks, however, do require a label.

In the advert itself, show the label with the rating given in the report, ideally as an icon that clearly shows the energy label.

Property advert copy that stirs emotions and drives sales

Start with everyday life around the home. Say how far it is to schools, supermarkets, public transport and nature, so readers can picture themselves living there. Mention the favourite café on the corner or the charming playground in the neighbourhood, too. Those are the kinds of details that make a property advert feel like a place, not just an address.

Avoid vague words like “fantastic” and “perfect”. They’re too general and have lost their impact. Instead, paint concrete, vivid pictures, for example: “Authentic 1900s townhouse, where every brick tells a story and the original wooden floors whisper of the elegance of days gone by.”

Write the layout as a guided tour of the home, and give each room descriptive adjectives. Take readers from the bright entrance hall, on through the living room and kitchen, and all the way out into the garden. That way, the sales copy becomes something people follow, not a dry list of square metres.

Let the technical data take a back seat and convey the soul and potential of the home instead. Describe the architecture, the history and the modern amenities, and give readers the feeling of coming home before they’ve even stepped into the hallway.

Headline and photos: how to get those first clicks

The headline and the first photo decide whether anyone clicks on your advert. The rest of the copy only gets a chance once those two have done their job, so spend a few extra minutes here.

The headline of your property advert should be sharp and informative and hit the mark in just a few words. Four things matter most:

• Highlight the 2-3 most attractive things about the home right there in the headline. Examples: “Spacious student flat close to the university and city centre” or “Bright terraced house with a large garden and shared playground”.

• Choose the photo that presents the home best as the main image. Use good, bright photos in a logical order, both inside and outside. That increases clicks and enquiries.

• Use the tick boxes for all amenities and furnishings, including the ones you mention in the advert text, so the advert shows up in the right searches and is sent on to house hunters with matching criteria.

• Keep the layout simple, with clean lines and a professional look. Keep updating the price, photos and content as you see how many views the advert gets.

What AI should mention, and what you should check yourself

AI can prepare the draft of your advert, but the responsibility for getting everything right lies with you. That’s why it’s worth knowing what the tool should deliver and what you need to keep an eye on yourself when you use the technology to write a property advert.

However much AI writes, the key facts must always be included:

• The type of home, so readers know whether it’s an owner-occupied flat, a cooperative flat (andelsbolig) or a terraced house.

• The living area in square metres.

• The price and the financial details, such as rent and utility costs.

• The number of rooms.

• The location, in other words where the home is.

• The energy label, which must appear in the advert.

AI can also pull details out of photos and floor plans that rarely appear in the structured data. That might be natural light, choice of materials, indoor-outdoor flow and the character of the rooms. This kind of information is hard to put a number on, but it’s often what makes a reader picture the home.

You don’t need to write long, technically polished prompts. You can use plain, everyday language, for example “describe a 3-room flat in Frederiksberg, highlight the balcony and the closeness to the metro”. AI should be able to switch tone from formal to emotional and still write correct Danish. An AI-generated sample advert for a “3-room flat on Åkæret in Vejle, ready to move into” mentions district heating and energy label A2010, among other things, so the hard facts don’t get lost in the lively text.

Even if the draft looks good, a person must always fact-check and approve it before it’s published. AI can prepare, but responsibility for accuracy lies with the seller or estate agent. That way, you catch errors in the price, floor area or energy label before the advert reaches house hunters.

Getting started with your property advert

A strong advert for a home for sale doesn’t write itself. It’s built on legal requirements, precise facts and copy that presents the property as a home. It’s the interplay between the three that decides whether anyone responds.

Brikk follows the same principle. When an advert is easy to decode and emotionally engaging, it gets more qualified enquiries. That’s why it’s worth keeping the whole advert consistent, from the headline and photo to the closing call to action, so readers are in no doubt about what the next step is.

You don’t have to write everything at once. Take it in this order:

1. Start with the facts and energy data, so the mandatory information is in place.

2. Then add the vivid description that gives the home its soul.

3. Finally, let an extra pair of eyes read through the text before you publish.

When you’re ready, you can get started on your property advert with Brikk.