You’re ready to sell your home and you’ve already got it in tip-top condition. Now, you’ve just got to attract some interested buyers, right?

Your feature sheet can help. Feature sheets are usually just a single piece of paper that prospective buyers can take from a box outside your home or grab off a counter after an open house. Your feature sheets usually contain the most winsome facts about your property — or everything that you believe is a good selling point — along with a few photos and the price.

Why bother with a feature sheet when pretty much everyone has access to the internet and your listing right from their cellphones? Even in these digital times, a feature sheet gives potential buyers something physical to hang onto — and that can be an indispensable way to jog their memories later when they’re comparing and deciding among multiple listings. Since that can translate into a sale, let’s get started. Here’s what to include:

Pictures Really Are Worth a Thousand Words

You want to grab (and keep) a potential buyer’s attention with a few choice photos of your property. Wait until your home is de-cluttered and staged for the sale and make sure that your yard is immaculate before you grab some crisp, clean photos both outside and in.

Remember: You aren’t trying to put photos of every room in your home on the listing. Instead, you want to create an image that will nudge a potential buyer’s memory of your place, so look for a lovely angle that will give you a great photo of the property’s exterior. You can probably skip most of the indoor shots unless you have a room or two that should be highlighted — like that fabulous game room you built in the basement or the brand new kitchen with all the stainless steel appliances.

Use a Headline and Captions to Raise the Bar

The headline of your feature sheet is a single phrase that should basically describe your home in its most winning way. For example, you might say something like “Turn-of-the-century Victorian in a charming historical area” to highlight your home’s vintage style or “Bright and airy ranch in Fountain Square” to showcase your neighborhood and your home’s modern look.

Any interior shots you choose to include should also have captions with details that help buyers focus on the room’s unique selling points. For example, you can include captions like:

• “Totally remodeled kitchen with state-of-the-art appliances and granite countertops”
• “Custom designed five-person hot tub inside private enclosure”
• “Media room with all the bells and whistles required for modern entertainment”

A good caption helps buyers recall what they’re seeing and remember why they were attracted to a home in the first place.

List Your Home’s Best Qualities

What makes you the happiest about your home? What would you love to tell potential buyers? This is your chance to brag about your home’s features, so make the most of it. Start with a short paragraph that describes what it’s like to live in your home so that potential buyers really get a feel for what their lives could be like if they relocate there. Some examples include:

• “Spend your mornings relaxing in a cozy breakfast nook that overlooks a secluded yard”
• “Kick back with your entire family in this comfortable, sound-proofed media room”
• “Spend weekends with friends around the brick fire pit on this amazing tile patio”

After a little blurb that “brings the buyer home” (so to speak), include a bullet list that gives information about as many selling points as you can think to offer. It’s also smart to include the years certain updates were made, whenever applicable. For example, you might list “New roof installed with 30-year shingles (2019)” as one item and “Stainless-steel Bosch slide-in kitchen appliances, including smart fridge, stove and dishwasher (2018)” so that buyers know what they’re getting for their money. 

Don’t forget to include any important neighborhood amenities that might make a difference to buyers. Do you live in a gated community? Are the area’s schools fantastic? Is the local shopping and dining a hedonist’s dream? Is this a lively, artsy community, a quiet place with a lot of retirees or are there a lot of young families on your block? Make sure that you include those details in your bullet list — just in case buyers aren’t aware of everything that makes your home and location special.

Take the Buyer Online and Encourage Action

Finally, think about what else you’d like the buyer to do once they have your feature sheet in their hands. If you want them to reach out to a specific Realtor, phone number or website, make sure that you provide all those details at the bottom of your sheet. Since many possible buyers will pick up feature sheets when they’re just rolling around neighborhoods and starting their search, it’s important to make it easy for them to find more information.

The key to remember with any feature sheet is that you want to create it with the buyer firmly in mind. Put yourself in their shoes and ask yourself, “What would make me excited about this home?” when you’re choosing what details to include. If you’re unsure what details to put on your feature sheet, call one on our local WAAR members to help.

Jacob Sanders, WAAR President