How Do You Write a YouTube Ad to Get Real Estate Listings in 2025?
Noah Haupt writes a listing-focused YouTube ad from scratch using a downsizing example in Chicago. He explains how to define the audience, write the hook, position a free guide, add relevant proof, and make the next step explicit without treating sample claims as verified client results.
By Noah Haupt, founder of Peak Presence
What does this video cover?
- —Defining an ideal customer profile before writing
- —Calling out local homeowners who want to downsize
- —Using relatable problems to introduce a ten-step guide
- —Placing an early call to action and showing the resource
- —Building proof around a relevant downsizing story
- —Demonstrating the landing page and closing with truthful urgency
What should you define before writing the listing ad?
Haupt starts with the ideal customer profile, followed by the hook, body or value, and close. His example is a homeowner who wants to downsize in Chicago. The planning notes include an older typical clientele, a median home price around $500,000, and a preference for working with downsizers.
He explicitly distinguishes audience understanding from platform targeting. He says real estate advertisers cannot simply target the age, income, and demographic profile being discussed. The profile is a creative planning exercise that can influence language, clothing, presentation, and filming location, not an instruction to use restricted targeting.
The benefit of those notes is focus. A script for someone moving to a smaller home should address a different situation from a generic seller ad. Haupt encourages getting specific enough that the intended viewer can recognize their own needs in the message.
How does the downsizing hook identify an interested seller?
The example opens by asking whether the viewer is looking to downsize a home in Chicago, then offers ten ways to get the best price when selling. Haupt wants the hook to do two jobs: earn attention and call out the people the ad is actually for. Uninterested viewers do not need to keep watching.
The body follows with recognizable problems: a home that feels too large, upkeep that has become difficult, and trouble navigating stairs. It then transitions toward a smaller home that better fits the viewer's lifestyle. These are elements of the sample script, not assumptions about every downsizer.
Haupt places a soft call to action about 30% into the video rather than waiting until the end. The resource is a free downsizing fast-track guide organized into ten simple steps. It is positioned as a way to understand a smoother process and the sale's financial outcome, rather than as an agent brochure.
What makes the guide offer more specific than generic seller advice?
The guide also addresses extra belongings and how the homeowner might make money from them. Haupt identifies this as a useful differentiator because downsizing is not just a property transaction: the seller also has to decide what to do with things that will not fit in the next home. He mentions an estate sale as a possible practical service in this context.
His positioning emphasizes something the viewer may not have heard other agents discuss. The objective is to be different in a way that matters, not merely claim to be the best. The promise should connect to the full desired outcome: selling the current home, finding a suitable smaller one, and handling the possessions.
Whenever the guide is mentioned, Haupt recommends showing an image of it on screen. A visible resource makes the offer more tangible before the viewer submits information. The guide itself still needs to be genuinely valuable; presentation is not a substitute for substance.
How should the script use numbers and client stories responsibly?
During the live writing exercise, Haupt inserts example numbers: downsizing in 25 days on average, a typical sale $15,000 over asking, and an introduction referring to 47 local homeowners. These are sample script claims constructed during the lesson, not established performance data for the reader or independently verified client results.
He also drafts an illustrative story about Jeff, whose house is too large and who does not know where to begin. The sample describes selling in six days for $8,000 over asking and signing on a new home afterward. Its copywriting purpose is to mirror the intended viewer's problem and show a complete transition, not simply announce a sales statistic.
Haupt warns not to make claims that cannot be backed up. For an agent adapting the framework, the relevant lesson is to use truthful proof from comparable clients. Words such as typically or on average do not make an unsupported number valid; the evidence must actually support the claim.
How does the close turn interest into a clear next action?
The close reconnects the story and the guide: if the viewer wants to understand the process, the resource is the next step. It repeats the main outcomes and addresses the belongings issue again, then qualifies the viewer by asking whether they are serious about downsizing in the local market but unsure where to begin.
Haupt gives explicit instructions: click the video, go to the next page, enter a name and number, and get immediate access to the free guide. He recommends B-roll showing the actual landing page and someone filling out the form. That preview helps the destination feel familiar rather than like an unexpected new offer.
He finishes with urgency, using the changing local market as the rationale in the sample. He also warns not to fake scarcity. An agent should not imply that access is genuinely limited unless that is true. The durable structure is a relevant reason to act, a visible resource, and a simple next step, not an invented deadline.
What else should you know about this video?
What framework does Haupt use to write a YouTube ad for listings?
Noah Haupt starts by defining the ideal customer profile, then writes the hook, body or value, and close. His demonstration builds a Chicago downsizing ad around a free ten-step guide, relevant seller problems, credible proof, and an explicit opt-in instruction.
Does describing an older downsizing client mean targeting ads by age?
No. Noah Haupt uses an older downsizing client as a creative planning example and explicitly distinguishes that profile from platform targeting. He says real estate advertisers cannot simply target the age, income, and demographic characteristics discussed in the exercise.
What lead magnet does Haupt use in the downsizing ad?
Noah Haupt's sample ad offers a free ten-step downsizing fast-track guide. The offer addresses selling the current property, moving toward a smaller home, and handling extra belongings, including the possibility of making money from those possessions.
Are the Jeff story and downsizing numbers verified client results?
The Jeff story and figures such as 25 days, $15,000 over asking, and 47 homeowners appear as sample claims during Noah Haupt's live script-writing exercise. They should not be presented as verified client results. Haupt warns agents not to use claims they cannot support.
Why show the landing page inside a listing ad?
Noah Haupt recommends showing the actual landing page and a form-entry demonstration inside the ad so viewers recognize the destination after clicking. His sample close then tells them to enter their name and number for immediate access to the free guide.
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