When buyers are choosing from among several homes, there is one selling tool that is indispensable even in the electronic age -- the listing feature sheet. The feature sheet not only contains visuals of the home to jog the buyer's memory, it also lays out the special amenities of the home and gives the listing agent's contact information.

The feature sheet can give a point-by-point capsule of the home's best qualities in an easy to use form that can be folded, put in a binder, and laid out side-by-side with other sheets as the buyer makes their deliberations.

This important tool is mailed by the listing agent to farming prospects, put in tubes on top of the yard sign for drive-by buyers and agents, used for open houses, luncheons, and other special events, and it can be e-mailed and put on a website or into an electronic newsletter.

So, if the feature sheet is so important, how can you do the best job possible in producing one that will result in a sale?

Here are a few pointers that may help you:

• Pictures are worth a thousand words. Any house you list is worth documenting in pictures with a digital camera for instant download, with a roll of film, or by a professional photographer. So take pictures of the front, back, and any details of interest. Nooks, crannies, a unique floor or stairwells all provide details that can help tell the story of the home. Also include local neighborhood sites of interest like the park down the street, or the community clubhouse, jogging trail or golf course. Include a link to a virtual tour or a video commericial of the home on your feature sheet.

This may be blasphemy to some, but please leave out the yard sign. In a photo, a sign is only self-promoting and distracts from the house and grounds.

• Put captions on each picture. Dens, family rooms and gamerooms often look alike, so be sure to distinguish the room by name and mention its most attractive feature.

"State-of-the-art island kitchen with new granite counters, stainless appliances" says a lot.

Don't state the obvious. A swimming pool is a swimming pool, but it becomes much more alluring with a caption.

"Custom-designed heated diving pool with imported tile and computerized controls, installed Spring '04."

Each word is chosen to convey vital pieces of information -- the buyer knows without asking that the pool is one year old and not original to the home, that it is deep enough for diving (families with children may take appropriate precautions,) that it is easy to operate and maintain, and that it is a luxurious amenity. Isn't that much better than "Gorgeous Pool" or "Custom Pool"?

• Improve your writing. It is easy to make blunders while writing advertising text, but nothing is more trite than over-exclaiming. In an amateurish attempt to excite the buyer and other agents, the agent hypes instead of sells. "New! Charming! Won't last!" are exclamations which are especially overwrought, especially when captioning the photo of a poorly maintained home. Instead hit the buyer with desirable features at the first glance. Don't be afraid to bullet point a list of amenities if they won't fit in an opening paragraph.

The same "charming" house could be succinctly described as, "Affordable 3 bedroom bungalow near shopping and schools offers original tile baths, wood floors and 'shabby chic' interior decor." Without insulting the seller, you have conveyed the price, size, condition and convenience of the home, yet left room for the buyer to make their own judgments. You also just broadened your market to include singles, couples, first-time homebuyers, retirees, and small families.

• Expand your vocabulary. In Roget's 21st Century Thesaurus, there are no less than 58 words you can use instead of the word "home," 47 words in stead of "house," and 14 words instead of "fireplace." There are 50 words to replace "beautiful," but not one of them conveys any more information than that overworked word. Again, try to choose words that define rather than modify.

• Write for the buyer, not the agent. MLS information is for agents. Feature sheets are for buyers, so don't take information from your MLS listing and transpose it to your feature sheet. "Realtor-speak" can convey vital statistics concisely, but only if the buyer can understand them. Many buyers don't even know what a 3/2 is, so they can't be expected to understand real estate industry insider codes. Remember, they are using the sheets to compare homes and features, and Realtor codes don't accomplish that goal.

• Take your buyer to the Internet. Expand your service by including your web address in the text and a special note with an asterisk saying something like "For more detailed photos of interior views and neighborhood features, see this home at www.yourwebaddress.com/thishouse." Give the exact address of the listing and make sure you have a button that will click through to "view additional homes." Include other websites of local interest -- the Chamber of Commerce, local employers, public transportation, sports teams, the school system that serves the home, and special services such as day cares, senior care, and public transportation.

• Consider having your feature sheets done by a professional. If you don't have anyone on your broker's staff to do feature sheets, check with your local MLS to see if there are approved vendors who can help you. Another source is to hire a virtual assistant who can put the sheet together and email it to you for download, printing and distribution. A virtual assistant can also help you distribute the feature sheet to online prospects and former clients.

Remember the feature sheet is not the same thing as the listing information. This is for consumer consumption only.

As the consumer has become more sophisticated, the feature sheet has as well. Once buyers have access to more information, they never go back, so the wave of the future is providing more information if possible. The better you are able to do that through a feature sheet, the better you will become at marketing homes in general.

Published: July 5, 2005

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