How Long Should a Real Estate Listing Description Be?
Aim for about 150 to 250 words, but check your MLS character limit first. Many boards cap public remarks somewhere between 1,000 and 2,000 characters, and a 500-character cap is only about 80 words. Use the room you have, lead with the home’s single best feature in the first 50 words, and cut filler that just repeats the data fields.
Know your MLS limit before you write
Character limits vary a lot by board, so the real answer depends on where you list. A few examples:
| MLS | Public remarks limit |
|---|---|
| MRED (Chicagoland) | 1,000 characters |
| NWMLS (Washington) | 1,000 characters |
| ACTRIS (Austin) | 1,024 characters |
| CRMLS | 1,500 characters |
| HAR (Houston) | 2,000 characters |
Source: ListingKit on MLS description character limits.
Roughly speaking, 1,000 characters is about 150 to 170 words, and 2,000 characters is around 320 words. Write to your board’s ceiling rather than a generic word count.
Use the space, but earn every line
A tight 150 to 250 words is the sweet spot for most listings. Zillow’s guidance recommends taking advantage of the full space available, and Zillow Talk research reported that homes with longer descriptions tended to sell for more (source: Zillow sellers guide). That is Zillow’s finding, not a guarantee for any single home, so treat length as one lever among many.
Where the words should go
The first 50 to 100 words carry the most weight, because that is what buyers read before they decide to keep scrolling. Lead with the standout feature, the thing this house has that the one down the street does not. Then cut anything a buyer already sees in the structured fields: bed and bath counts, square footage, and showing instructions do not need to be repeated in prose.
What to leave out
Drop the generic adjectives that appear on every listing, like spacious, bright, and move-in ready. They take up your limited characters and tell a buyer nothing. Give at least one detail specific to this property that a buyer cannot read anywhere else.
Frequently asked questions
Is a longer description always better? No. Longer helps only when the extra words add real, specific detail. Padding with adjectives wastes your character limit.
What goes in the first line? The home’s best single feature. Skip the generic greeting and lead with what makes this property stand out.
Should I repeat the beds, baths, and square footage in the text? No. Those live in the MLS data fields already. Use your description for what the fields cannot show.
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