Real estate ads with dated designs, cheesy copy, and awkward headshots are common — and generally ineffective. To stand out in your market, give your ads a makeover with beautiful designs, catchy taglines, and eye-catching images. We compiled 37 inspiring examples of real estate advertising by top-producing agents and brokerages from around the country.
Check out these 37 examples of great real estate ads:
1. Tristan and Associates
Ventura County Realtor Tristan Ahumada advertised his website on Facebook. The result was an enviable 4% conversion rate that landed him 360 leads in the first month. Of course, developing and maintaining successful Facebook campaigns takes some work. Check out Hibu, a digital marketing solution that helps you create, manage, and monitor social media campaigns and target people in your area on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Click here to talk to a representative today.
2. Tom Waring
Full disclosure — we created this Facebook ad for Fit Small Business’ founder David Waring’s father, Tom Waring. If you ever need property in the gorgeous Lake Gaston area, call him. He has more than 20 years of experience and expert level local knowledge.
3. Keller Williams Realty Palo Alto
Home valuation ads like this one from Keller Williams Palo Alto are what makes Facebook advertising shine for real estate agents. Finally, a way to get seller leads without cold calling.
If you want to offer home evaluations to capture seller leads, check out BoldLeads, which offers a home evaluation landing page for your website that you can link to from your Facebook posts. BoldLeads also captures prospects’ social media profile information so that you’ll still get a partial lead if they only enter an address.
4. Signature Sotheby’s ‘Carpe Diel’
Creative Agency: Strada Creative
Featuring an envy-inducing and daydream-worthy shot of a private dock and speedboat on the Gulf of Mexico, this ad from Signature Sotheby’s will stop any page-turner in their tracks. Not only is it a pretty picture, but it’s also clever too. The tagline “Carpe Diel” loosely translates to “seize the deal” — a play on “seize the day.”
Great deals and multimillion-dollar waterfront properties might not seem to go together at first, but competition for the most coveted luxury real estate is fierce. Just remember that the kind of people who compete for these properties have billions, not millions, at their disposal.
5. Baird & Warner: Easier Campaign
Creative Agency: Jacobs Agency
Chicago brokerage Baird & Warner has always had engaging real estate advertisements. Its “Easier” campaign, produced in collaboration with Jacobs Agency, is no exception. It hits the nail on the head for both potential buyers and sellers who are looking to hire someone to help demystify the confusing and complicated process of buying or selling a home.
Here’s Baird & Warner’s vice president for marketing and communications, Peter Papakyriacou, on the campaign and why it works:
“Our collaboration with Jacobs Agency has resulted in breakthrough creative that brings home our historical point of difference. Very simply, we make buying and selling homes easier. Easier for our customers. Easier for our agents. We’ve worked hard to give our agents the right tools to simplify the process, resulting in more time for both parties to enjoy their lives and less time stressing.”
The ad campaign brought to life the message of real estate being “easier” with engaging images, simple copy, and Baird & Warner’s black and yellow logo colors. From showing how easy it is to solve an all-yellow Rubik’s Cube to finding a giant needle in a haystack, the campaign communicates how Baird & Warner takes a process that is often thought of as challenging and makes it much easier.
6. Hawai’i Life: Summit Magazine Ad
Hawai’i luxury brokerage Hawai’i Life has an amazing brand and, as you might imagine, amazing ads to go along with it. Many of Kawai’i Life’s clients are purchasing luxury vacation homes, making lifestyle branding crucial to turning client dreams into reality. Fresh and clean design combined with simple, direct copy, and photography that highlight Hawai’i’s natural beauty go a long way in defining the lifestyle people aspire to in Hawai’i.
7. Sotheby’s International Realty: ‘Houseguest’ featuring Kevin Red Star
How do you create a real estate ad for a luxury home with a jaw-dropping view? The creative team for Sotheby’s International decided to show that the view wasn’t just inspiring for the lucky new owners but artists as well. After all, if an internationally famous artist like Kevin Red Star was inspired to create beautiful art from the view, that might make gazing at the same view over morning coffee even more awe-inspiring.
8. Ebby Halliday Campaign
Like Baird & Warner, Texas real estate powerhouse brokerage Ebby Halliday focuses on every real estate agent’s core competency: helping people navigate the often-complex process of buying or selling a home.
9. Heather Altman on Instagram
Instagram and real estate are all about perfectly curated spaces. Take a page out of Heather Altman’s book and highlight your beautifully designed listings to get your Instagram audience excited about real estate. Fill your feed with gorgeous interior design and architecture to grow your audience and draw attention to your listings.
10. Douglas Elliman: ‘Ask Elliman’ & ‘It’s Time for Elliman’
Creative Agency: Alfred Assin/Mr. Grey Design
Since we already chose “It’s Time for Elliman” as our favorite real estate slogan, it should come as no surprise to regular readers that we’d feature it here as well. Once again, Douglas Elliman manages to distill the reason why everyone from billionaires to first-time homeowners seek out real estate professionals: market knowledge, and expert advice.
As you can see from these examples, the design, taglines, and copy for Elliman’s campaign work amazingly well for print, digital, and even New York City buses. Even if you’re selling homes that are 1/10th the price of their average listing, you can learn a lot from Elliman’s campaign.
11. Nourmand & Associates ‘Fools Gold’ in the Los Angeles Times & ‘2.0’ in Los Angeles Weekly
Creative Agency: Chengxi Tian, Michael Nourmand
While most real estate agents don’t associate “advertorials” — the special advertising sections in magazines that mimic articles — with real estate, Nourmand & Associates thinks outside the box. From skewering the “Fool’s Gold” of trusting dishonest Los Angeles real estate agents to highlighting the brokerage’s storied past, these creative ads help keep Nourmand & Associates in the upper echelons of the cutthroat Los Angeles real estate market.
12. Compass: ‘Guiding You Home’
Like Douglas Elliman’s excellent ad campaigns, we’ve always loved Compass’s branding and advertising. Since Compass bills itself as more of a disruptive tech company rather than a traditional brokerage, its sleek branding and cutting-edge design help them stand out in a sea of boring real estate ads.
Key takeaways here are the minimal design and layout, gorgeous photography, and simple, direct copy that once again boils down the core idea of the value real estate agents offer buyers and sellers. There’s a high-end lifestyle element here as well that fits its brand and client base like a glove.
13. Corcoran: ‘Live Who You Are’ Campaign
Photos via Adweek.
Shot by lauded celebrity photographer and art world luminary Annie Leibowitz, Corcoran’s “Live Who You Are” ads help underscore that great real estate agents aren’t just helping you through a complicated transaction, they’re helping you find a place to create memories for your family. Key takeaways here include the idea that your audience will respond well to highlighting them as individuals rather than dollar signs.
14. Razza Razon on Instagram
This Instagram post by razzarazonrealestate uses entertaining news to capture the attention of her audience. Razza uses the caption to share the news with her followers and pairs it with a simple image to attract more user engagement. Bright and easy-to-read text plus interesting content will go a long way to grow attention for your social media accounts and listings.
15. Sereno Group: 1% For Good ‘We’re Here for Good’
So far, we’ve looked at real estate ads that highlight the core strengths of real estate agents and how important lifestyle and individuality are to your potential clients. Both are great ways to draw your audience in and build positive associations with your brand. Showing off your charitable side is another great way to remind your audience that you’re in the game for more than just the return on investment (ROI).
This ad from Sereno Group highlights their charitable contributions to a local conservation agency — something both Sereno and their potential clients strongly support.
16. Halstead Property: Print Ads
Creative Agency: Pool NYC
Like Corcoran, luxury brokerage Halstead Property chose to emphasize the individuality of their potential clients in their ads. This example focuses on an entrepreneur who doesn’t want to be treated like a dollar sign by her real estate agent — something anyone who has dealt with pushy luxury salespeople can empathize with.
17. Coldwell Banker Schmidt: ‘This is Where Awesomeness Happens’
Michigan Realtors Coldwell Banker Schmidt went straight to the core of why most people want new homes. They want a place where their families can grow and prosper. Perfect for its Midwestern market, these laid-back and often heartwarming ads featuring real family photos are easy for pretty much anyone to identify with. This is what great advertising is all about.
While these ads may not look as sleek or “creative” as many of the others on our list, that’s beside the point. Great advertising is not meant to impress snooty Brooklyn graphic designers. Instead, it’s meant to make the phone ring. If there’s one thing you take away from this article when designing your own ads, let it be this:
18. Linda May Properties: ‘Telling the Story’
Combining elements from several of the ads here, Beverly Hills Realtor Linda May went with classic ad copy and design elements to craft these lovely ads highlighting her property marketing skills. The elegant and timeless layout, great headshot, and concise tagline all help highlight her skills in marketing eight-digit trophy properties in Beverly Hills.
19. Berkshire Hathaway Blake ‘Happily Ever After’
Here’s a great campaign from a Berkshire Hathaway franchisee, this time from Blake, REALTORS. Once again, the focus is not on the transaction but the memories and peace of mind that you’ll help your clients create by helping them find a home.
20. Ryan Serhant on Instagram
In this Instagram post, agent Ryan Serhant uses the platform to promote a new book while highlighting his specialty — luxury real estate and the lifestyle that goes with it. Advertise your agency or listings on Instagram by promoting your favorite business book, restaurant, or other product and tagging them to grow your audience. To make it stand out even more, draw an eye-catching comparison like Ryan does with the color of the book and the stove.
21. Pam Golding Properties: ‘The Best Seat’
Now, let’s switch gears a bit and see what we can learn from the top real estate agent in New Zealand, Pam Golding. Once again, instead of focusing on the market or the deal, Pam chose to focus on something far more important to her potential clients — finding a home. The tagline, “Discover the Place that Makes You Happiest” sums up that aspirational message perfectly.
22. StreetEasy: Find Your Formula
Creative Agency: Philip Cheaney
Since they’re not marketing individual properties directly but, like Zillow, aggregating listings, New York City-based StreetEasy can have a little bit of fun at the expense of typical New York City apartments. While these aren’t aimed at the top of the market, they’re clever enough to get noticed by all New Yorkers, even those with indoor swimming pools and chauffeured Bentleys.
23. Ivester Jackson: ‘Unveil’
Christie’s Ivester Jackson Distinctive Properties chose an elegant and bespoke spiral staircase to highlight how unique and beautiful their listings are. This works for the potential seller at all levels of the market. Owners of ultra-high-end properties are reassured their homes will be marketed well, and mid-level homeowners will be impressed by the caliber of listings Ivester Jackson has represented in the past.
24. Windermere Real Estate: ‘Your Story is Our Story’
Like Coldwell Banker, Windermere went with a heartwarming and personal take on advertising its services to families young and old. By incorporating images of a family at every stage of life, the ad appeals to a wide variety of potential homebuyer leads.
25. Greystar: 250 North 10th Street
For an amenity-laden new luxury development in Williamsburg in Brooklyn, New York, luxury developer Greystar went with an irreverent and sleek branding campaign that mirrors the ever-changing neighborhood. This fun street art-style logo with a parachute exemplifies the development’s great branding and advertising.
26. Grandfather Homes
This beautiful post from Grandfather Homes in Charlotte, North Carolina, makes the most of local weather. The Instagram post highlights one of the builder’s custom homes while sharing important information about its business hours during a snowstorm. What’s more, the post uses ample hashtags to target potential buyers looking at local neighborhoods as well as more general Instagram users.
27. 10 Rittenhouse Square
Creative Agency: Kellyco Marketing Inc.
For the record-breaking Philadelphia luxury development 10 Rittenhouse Square, agency Kellyco wisely decided to highlight the lifestyle that living in a new luxury development offers prospective buyers. The Kellyco ad also ties in 10 Rittenhouse Square’s branding theme by incorporating the development’s logo into the image.
28. The Kalahari, Harlem
Creative Agency: Kellyco Marketing Inc.
For The Kalahari in Harlem in Manhattan, Kellyco went with a hip, young design that echoes the development itself. In addition, the ad features simple yet appealing taglines and a wealth of valuable information without detracting from the eye-catching photos and minimalist color scheme.
29. Realtor.com New York City Campaign
Realtor.com paired this simple, bold design with cool taglines and copy to make these ads hit home in the competitive New York market. This ad is also an example of how you can create a basic advertisement format and add variety by releasing several taglines at once or releasing them in time.
30. Park + Garden
Creative Agency: New World Group Creative Agency
For the jaw-dropping new Park + Garden luxury development in Jersey City, New World Group Creative Agency went with a tongue-in-cheek and memorable tagline — “Green is the new black.” The ad also features a sharp layout that shows off the cutting-edge design of the building itself and beautiful views of the skyline.
31. Howard Hanna: ‘Home Happens Here’
This Howard Hanna ad features a simple message using a great tagline and photography that shows a happy kid moving into her new bedroom. Real estate ads that include images of people at home help buyers imagine themselves in a new home. As a bonus, this ad uses Howard Hanna’s brand colors as a pop of color against an otherwise black and white image.
32. Douglas Elliman on Instagram
This ad takes advantage of a local event to highlight a Douglas Elliman listing and target a specific audience. Specifically, Douglas Elliman made the most of Art Basel Miami by sharing images of their local luxury properties and using the hashtag #EllimanArtBasel to promote their listings. The Douglas Elliman Instagram account also tagged the location of the properties to increase engagement from local followers.
Bonus: 5 Inspiring Video Real Estate Ads
If you want to learn real estate advertising from the best, there’s no better teacher than the big real estate brokerages and portals like Zillow and Trulia. After all, they’re selling exactly what you are, only with bottomless pockets and some of the most talented creatives in the country. One of the primary features of these successful ads is that they use emotion and humor to appeal to a target audience.
33. Nakedapartments.com: Roller Cat
34. Trulia: Your Moment of Trulia (Like Your Moment of Truth)
35. Zillow Family Search TV Ad
Zillow “Family Search” from Scott Hidinger on Vimeo
36. Apartments.com: Staircase to Your Place
37. The Pam Golding Properties TV Commercial
3 Tools for Optimizing Your Real Estate Ads
To make the most of your real estate advertisements, use tools like Canva to create eye-catching images and engaging copy. In addition, real estate agents can take advantage of platforms like Fiverr to hire freelancers to assist with advertising campaigns. Then, make sure your advertisements are reaching the right audience with a service like Hibu.
Consider these tools for optimizing your real estate ads:
- Canva: Canva is an online graphic design platform that provides agents templates for creating brochures, flyers, and other forms of print and online advertising; check out Canva if you want to design attractive ad copy without expensive editing software
- Hibu: Hibu is a local digital marketing tool that lets you check your online business listings, create Facebook advertising campaigns, draft search engine optimization-friendly web content, and more; visit Hibu if you want an all-in-one real estate marketing and advertising provider
- Fiverr: Fiverr lets real estate agents hire freelancers to perform a variety of tasks, including ad creation, video editing, and more. Try Fiverr if you want to develop a new real estate advertising campaign but don’t have the time or graphic design skills to finish the project
The Bottom Line – Real Estate Advertising
The days of tacky, unattractive real estate ads are over, and sleek, minimalist designs and beautiful images are in. Attract attention to your listings by incorporating your branding, using catchy copy, and drawing people in with beautiful photos. Take direction from the brokers and design agencies above for your real estate lead generation to maximize the impact of your advertising campaigns.
