‘Museum Area,’ ‘Wawa’ Among Popular Terms in Area Rental Listings

By Sally Deneen

Pennsylvanians love museums — and double-bowl vanity sinks. That's judging by an analysis of rental listings that finds landlords in the Keystone State are 94 times more likely to tout a "doublebowl vanity" when compared with the rest of the U.S. They're also 227 times more likely to tout their "museum area" locales.

Stores are used as selling points, too, with the phrase "Giant Eagle" 92 times more popular and "Wawa" 56 times likelier to be used in rental listings here than elsewhere in the country.

Meanwhile, "college callouts are quite a bit more likely to appear in rental listings than in for-sale listings. For example, in Pennsylvania, Drexel is 8 times as likely to be mentioned in a rental listing than in a for-sale listing," according to Zillow.

The real estate website analyzed the descriptions of homes found in 1.6 million rental listings to find out what is most important to renters and landlords in terms of local amenities, weather, home style and other factors.

"Since students are much more likely to be renters, landlords are sure to advertise when a property is close to campus," Zillow states. "In Pennsylvania, the colleges Drexel, Temple and Penn were surfaced as top phrases, along with main campus and Rittenhouse," as in nearby Rittenhouse Square.

Some other popular terms in rental listings trace to locally specific features, such as being convenient to the public-transit system "SEPTA" (a term that is 1,802 times more popular here than in other states, for obvious reasons).

Popular terms that could apply around the state include "integrated garage" (365 times more popular here compared with elsewhere), "plus utilities" (12 times likelier here) and "room sizes" (a term 22 times more popular here). Consider these ideas if you need to write a rental listing.