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Put it in print
Brochures and letters that work
by David Rathgeber A property brochure or handout is not a place to pinch pennies. An exceptional brochure impresses buyers and sellers alike as well as future buyers and sellers. Develop a standard format and use premium materials and as much color as you can afford. Please include the home’s price! But remember, the price and other data might change. It will be handy if you can produce your standard brochure in small quantities–as few as five or 10. So make friends with a good, full-service print shop. Alternatively, purchase a high-quality color printer.
The best brochure is probably four pages or less, but do not stray too far from local custom. Can your standard MLS information sheet be incorporated? Don’t try to list every insignificant sliver of information, as this will detract from the important part of your message. Concentrate on what is important to buyers in your market and do not dilute it with trivia. The object is to have the buyer finish reading the brochure before going to sleep. Besides, travel time to the airport or the grocery usually is not a major issue. When it is, the selling agent or the buyer can easily find the answer. Don’t make 999 busy buyers wade through this stuff because of the one out of 1,000 who cannot figure it out.
Yes, voluminous brochures can work almost as well on buyers (and even better on sellers), but remember the goal is to sell the home. Thick brochures for sellers, thin ones for buyers. Choose your audience carefully. And remember, a four-page "property" brochure in which three pages are devoted to hyping your talents and successes is sure to impress only one person. If your ego is this fragile, order a lower-cost brochure and start saving for a shrink.
An excellent vehicle to convey some important thoughts is a personal letter from your seller to the prospective buyer. The more personal, the better. It can be handwritten or typed, and it should be signed with your seller’s first name. It should be reproduced and included with the brochure available to visitors in the home.
For tips on preparing sellers for the market, see David Rathgeber’s article.
This article is excerpted from David Rathgeber’s Agent’s Guide to Real Estate, which is available in major bookstores and through Internet booksellers. Copyright© 2002, David Rathgeber. All rights reserved.
Photo © PhotoDisc.
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