Hooks for Property Reels: How to Write the First Line So Homeowners in Your Area Keep Watching

What makes a good hook for a property reel?

Put your suburb in the first line and the owners who live there know the reel is for them. Do that for a few months and one of them messages you about their house.

"If you're selling in Durbanville this year, look at this before you price your house" tells an owner there that the next few seconds are about them. Swap in your own suburb.

Then say it fast and say it to the lens. Put the same words on screen for anyone watching with the sound off.

Who should your first line be talking to?

Pick buyers or sellers before you write a word. One opening line can't speak to both.

Buyer reels are easy to make. You walk through a listing and talk. But mandates come from homeowners. A homeowner keeps watching when the reel is about what their own house is worth or what's selling near them.

So write at least half your hooks for people who own a home in your area and might sell in the next year or two. In every seller reel, answer one small piece of what their house might fetch or who's buying near them.

Which hooks can you use this week?

Swap in your own suburb and street names. Keep each one to a line you can say in one breath.

Write a few versions of your line and read them out loud. Use the one you'd say to a neighbour at the shops.

If you keep getting stuck at this step, the DV Media Classroom is where we show agents how to write these lines for their own area and film the reel that goes with them.

How do you say the hook on camera?

The line only works if it's the first thing people hear.

• Start talking on the first frame. Your first word is the first word of the hook.
• Look at the lens for the hook, then turn the phone to the thing you're talking about. An owner who sees your face on the first line of every reel starts to recognise you.
• Point the camera at what the hook promised. If you said "the thing buyers ask about first", the next shot is that thing, like the damp corner in the back bedroom.
• Put the hook on screen as text, word for word. Someone in a queue or at work can still follow it on mute.
• Film facing a window. You'll do fewer retakes when you can see your own face properly on playback.

If you're cutting the listing footage into reels as well, shooting for Reels vs Property24 covers how the framing changes for a vertical screen.

Where do property reel hooks go wrong?

The promise is too big. "This will change how you sell your house" followed by a tip about painting the front door. The viewer skips your next one.

The hook doesn't match the video. You open on what's selling in your suburb and then spend twenty seconds on one kitchen. Whatever you said in the first line, show it next.

It could be any agent anywhere. "Thinking of selling?" fits every agent in the country. Put the suburb in. An owner there sees their own area and watches. After a few months of that, yours is a name they know when they think about selling.

It sounds written. If you wouldn't say it at a braai, rewrite it until you would.

If you're still working out what to film on which day, start with a weekly posting plan you can keep, then write a hook for each post on it.

Pick one seller line from the table and film it today. Once it's posted, join the DV Media Classroom. That's where you'll learn to write the next hook and the one after it, so you keep putting out reels that owners in your area watch.

Common questions

How long should a hook on a property reel be?

One sentence you can say in one breath. If you need a second breath, cut words. Name the area and what the viewer gets, then stop and show it.

Does talking to camera help sellers in your area remember you?

Talk to the camera when the reel is for homeowners in your area. A seller who's heard you talk about their suburb a few times has a reason to remember your name when they're ready to list. Music under a walkthrough is fine for a buyer reel.

What if I hate being on camera?

Say only the hook to camera, then cut to footage of the house with your words as text on screen. That's a few seconds of your face per reel, and owners in your area still learn who you are. It gets easier the more you do it.

How do I know which hooks are working?

Look at which reels brought a message from someone who owns a home in your area. Check the first line of each one. Reuse those openings with a new street or a new house, and stop using the ones that never bring a message.

Can I copy hooks other agents use?

You can borrow the shape of a hook. Fill it with your own street names. A local seller is listening for someone who knows their area, and a copied line from an agent in another city won't sound like that.

Related posts