01One ad, one job
An agent has two jobs in advertising, and they need different ads. One is to find sellers, who bring the listings. The other is to find buyers for a specific home. An ad that tries to do both ends up as a face and a phone number. For sellers, offer one concrete thing, such as a valuation of a flat in a named district, and say what happens next. For buyers, advertise one real home: price, area, rooms, floor, and one honest sentence about what is not perfect. Our general post on marketing for agents explains why sellers matter most, so this one stays with the ads.
- Seller ad: one offer, such as a valuation in a named district, and what happens next
- Buyer ad: one real home with price, area, rooms, floor and one honest flaw
- Do not mix sellers and buyers in the same ad
- Name the district or the street, so the people who click are people you can serve
02The creative: real footage and plain numbers
A buyer is checking whether the photos tell the truth, so use footage of the actual home, filmed on a phone: the street, the entrance, the light in the main room, thirty seconds, with the agent speaking. Put the price and the key facts in the text, not only in the picture, so nobody has to click to find them. Avoid claims you cannot document, such as 'sold in a week' or 'the best agent in the city'. We have no data on which format wins for agents and we will not make one up. Run two versions of the same home and compare your own enquiries.
- Real footage of the real home, 30 seconds, the agent speaking
- Price and key facts in the text, not only in the image
- No claims you cannot document: sold in a week, best agent in the city
- Two versions of the same home, then compare your own enquiries
03Where the click lands, and how fast you answer
An ad is only the first step. The click has to land on something that does one thing. For a home, that is a page with the photos, the facts and one clear way to ask for a viewing. For a valuation, it is a short form: address, name, phone. Then your speed decides the rest, because a person who clicks may be comparing several homes and agents at once. We have no figure for how much speed is worth, so submit your own form on a Sunday evening and time the reply. Keep a count of enquiries, viewings and signed listings in your own sheet, and judge the ads by those, not by clicks.
- A page per listing: photos, facts, one clear way to ask for a viewing
- A short valuation form: address, name, phone
- Submit your own form on a Sunday evening and time the reply
- Count enquiries, viewings and signed listings, not clicks
04Housing ads are a special ad category on Meta in some regions
Meta's advertising standards say that an advertiser in the United States, or one targeting the United States, Canada or certain parts of Europe, that runs financial products and services, housing or employment ads must self-identify as a Special Ad Category, as it becomes available, and run them with approved targeting options. The page does not say which parts of Europe. We have not confirmed whether it applies to a Romanian account or to targeting inside Romania, and we do not list the targeting options that change, because we could not read them in a Meta source. Check your own Ads Manager when you set up the campaign, and read Meta's help page on choosing a Special Ad Category before you spend.
- Meta's ad standards: housing ads must self-identify as a Special Ad Category where the rule applies
- It names advertisers in or targeting the US, Canada and certain parts of Europe, and does not say which parts
- Check Ads Manager for your account and read Meta's help page on Special Ad Categories
- Other rules on advertising property in your country are yours to check
05Where PROOF48 is the wrong choice for an agent
Meta ad management sits in GROWTH, at 1,497 EUR a month plus ad spend billed separately, and we do not sell it on its own. GROWTH includes 10 new ad creatives a month, audience research, retargeting, conversion tracking with Pixel, CAPI and GA4, a weekly dashboard and a monthly strategy call, plus everything in BROADCAST. That is too much for an agent promoting one listing this month, who can test a small campaign alone. The creatives are built from photos you supply, and property photography is not in any monthly plan. The 12 AI videos in BROADCAST use an AI avatar, which cannot show a home. We promise no number of enquiries or signed listings.
- Ad management is in GROWTH only: 1,497 EUR a month plus ad spend
- One listing this month: a small campaign you run yourself is enough
- Creatives are built from photos you supply; AI avatar videos cannot show a home
- No promise of enquiries or signed listings
Not an agency: the page an ad has to land on
None of our eight written-up builds is a real estate agency, and we have not marketed one. Santorini Hotel in Eforie Nord is the nearest: a business built around a property, with a public site of rooms, a gallery and contact details, plus a booking enquiry flow. That is the landing logic for a listing too: a gallery and one clear way to ask. We do not publish the hotel's occupancy or booking figures.
See the build: Santorini HotelQuestions, answered
How much should I spend on Facebook ads as an agent?
We give no figure. It depends on your market, your fee on a signed listing and what a viewing is worth to you. Start small on one listing, count enquiries and viewings, and raise the spend only when the count justifies it.
Do I need to select a Special Ad Category for property ads?
Meta's ad standards require it for housing ads from advertisers in or targeting the US, Canada or certain parts of Europe, and do not name the parts of Europe. Check your own Ads Manager for how it applies to your account.
Should I advertise listings or my own services?
Both, in separate ads: one valuation offer for sellers, one real home for buyers. Mixing them in one ad leaves each message weaker.
Can PROOF48 run my Facebook ads?
Only inside GROWTH, 1,497 EUR a month plus ad spend, which manages Meta and Google ads together. We do not sell ad management on its own, and we promise no enquiries or signed listings.
Where PROOF48 fits
Facebook ads work for an agent when each ad has one job, either a seller offer or one real home, the footage is real, the click lands on a page with one clear way to ask, and you answer fast and count viewings, not clicks. Housing is a special ad category on Meta in some regions, so check your account. PROOF48's GROWTH plan manages Meta ads at 1,497 EUR a month plus ad spend.
Cosmin Tiu · Founder, PROOF48
Cosmin has worked in online marketing and software development since 2018, and has built with AI every day since January 2023. He still writes code from scratch daily, in Python, React, Rust and C#. PROOF48 ships business websites in 48 hours and invoices afterwards, so every opinion on this blog was paid for in real builds, not in theory.