When you’re in business, there are times when you have to write, and you have to do it now. Unfortunately, that time crunch is often what triggers real estate writers’ block.
If you don’t enjoy writing, you can use my letter sets for prospecting and you can hire me or another writer to create your agent bio and other web pages.
But when you need to send an email to a client, compose a property description for MLS, or answer an inquiry, there often isn’t time to ask for help.
Even if you love to write, real estate writers block can attack…
Some days words come almost effortlessly. But then there are those other days – the ones where you sit there looking at a blank screen or sheet of paper and can’t decide how to start. Then you look at the clock. Knowing that you’re running out of time makes your real estate writers block even worse.
Here’s the simple cure for real estate writers block…
Step one: Stop worrying about how to start and just start anywhere.
Starting in the middle works; so does starting at the end.
Step two: Just write. Don’t edit as you go along.
Don’t try to make your sentences perfect and don’t try to pare it down. Just let the words tumble out where you can look at them. You can delete some of it later.
Step three: Re-arrange, edit, and refine
Oh how I love “cut and paste” for the ability to move sentences and paragraphs around at will. If you’re old enough to remember using a typewriter instead of a computer, I’m sure you love it too.
Once you have all those words out where you can see them, you will very likely see the best place to begin. Then you can move that thought to the top of the page.
And that is important. You don’t want to make the journalistic mistake of “burying the lede.” If you’re not familiar with that term, to bury the lede means to begin a story with details of secondary importance to the reader. (Or, in some cases, no importance.)
Your introductory paragraph is especially important in an era when many people skim through messages rather than taking time to read them carefully. It will determine whether they keep reading or move on.
Step four: Proofread.
Part of editing and refining is re-arranging sentences and parts of sentences. That makes it easy to omit an important word or repeat something that makes the sentence silly. I think of the phone messages that say something like “Joe is currently not able to take your call at this time.” You might find both an “and” and a “too,” or write something like “…you will very likely the best place to begin.” The sentence makes no sense with a word left out.
If grammar or spelling are a challenge for you, ask someone else to read what you wrote. Have them look for grammar and spelling errors and for places that don’t make sense.
Real estate writers’ block is no fun…
So don’t put up with it. Just follow steps one and two and it will almost always cure itself. Then use steps three and four to make your writing shine!