Of everything in a listing package, the feature sheet is the piece most likely to be used. A buyer's agent glances at the photographs, skims the brochure and reads the feature sheet. It gets folded into a folder, photographed on a phone, attached to an email to a client and consulted again at the offer stage.

It is also, in many offices, the least designed piece in the set: a dense page of small type pulled from the MLS and printed. That is a missed opportunity, and an easy one to correct.

What the sheet is for

A feature sheet answers a buyer's agent's practical questions without making them search. How many bedrooms and baths? How large is the house and the lot? What are the taxes? What has been updated? What is included in the sale? What is the next step?

It is not a sales page. The brochure persuades. The sheet confirms. A sheet that tries to do both ends up doing neither well.

What goes on it

Group the content so a reader's eye can find things without reading everything. Condominium sheets carry extra items, covered in marketing a condominium.

The header

  • The property address and the lead image, small.
  • The list price as it appears in the MLS, or left to the live listing if your office prefers to avoid printed prices that go stale. Follow your brokerage's practice.
  • Your name and contact details, with the brokerage identification clearly present. Illinois requires the sponsoring broker's name on advertising. See our guide to the advertising rules for the practical size questions.

The core facts

A compact block, laid out as a table or a two-column list:

  • Bedrooms and bathrooms (full and half).
  • Interior square footage, with the source stated if there is any doubt: seller, appraisal, plans.
  • Lot dimensions or acreage.
  • Year built and architectural style.
  • Parking: garage spaces, drive, street.
  • Taxes as published, with the tax year.
  • Association information for condominiums and townhomes: what the assessment covers, in general terms, and where to find the governing documents.

The systems and updates

This is the section buyers' agents often look for first and most listings leave thin.

  • Heating and cooling, with type and approximate age if confirmed.
  • Roof, windows, electrical, plumbing: what has been replaced and when, according to the seller.
  • Notable renovations, with dates where known.
  • Anything that has been inspected, with the report date if the seller is willing to share.

Inclusions and exclusions

State what stays and what goes. Appliances, window treatments, light fixtures, built-ins, outdoor furniture. Any item the seller wishes to exclude should be named, to avoid disputes later.

Showing information

How to book, any access instructions that are appropriate to print, and whether a broker open or private preview is scheduled. Check your brokerage's rules before printing details of off-market previews.

The identification block

Brokerage name, office location and your licensed name, set consistently with every other piece in the launch. If your brokerage requires the Equal Housing Opportunity statement or logo on the piece, include it.

Layout: easy to scan

The test of a feature sheet is how quickly someone finds a single fact. Several habits help. The images on the sheet should follow how to sequence listing photos.

  • One page, front only where possible. A second side is acceptable for floor plans.
  • Consistent labels in consistent places. If taxes are bottom-left on one listing and top-right on the next, readers must hunt every time. A fixed template across your listings builds familiarity.
  • A clear hierarchy. Address large, core facts medium, details small, but never smaller than ten points in print.
  • Generous white space. Dense is not the same as thorough.
  • Few images. A lead image and, if space allows, a floor plan. The photographs belong in the brochure.
  • A plain table for the facts. Not a decorative layout. Clarity wins.

A clean sheet reads as a sign of an organized listing agent. That impression carries over to how the buyer's agent treats the offer process.

Accuracy is the whole point

A single wrong figure damages the trust the sheet exists to create. Habits that prevent it:

  1. Source every number. Square footage from the seller's plan, the appraisal or the MLS, never from a guess. If sources differ, say which one the figure is from, or leave the figure off.
  2. Date the updates. "New roof" is useless. "Roof replaced, per seller" with a year is useful.
  3. State what you do not know. "Square footage to be verified by buyer" is acceptable. A confident wrong number is not.
  4. Re-check after any change. A price improvement, a change in inclusions or a new tax bill means the sheet should be revised. Pull the old version from circulation. We cover price changes in price improvement announcements.
  5. Get the seller to sign off. Especially on inclusions and updates.

Keeping the sheet fair

Feature sheets are factual by nature, which makes fair housing problems rare, but they do creep in. Avoid describing the neighborhood by its residents, avoid saying a home is suited to a certain kind of household, and avoid any claim about schools or safety. A feature sheet should read like a specification. See Fair Housing-safe listing copy.

How the sheet fits the set

The feature sheet is one piece among several. A good arrangement:

  • The brochure tells the story.
  • The feature sheet gives the facts.
  • The broker open materials combine both, with details appropriate for agents.
  • The flyer is a lighter version for open houses and public handouts.

Use the same lead image, the same type and the same arrangement of name and brokerage on all of them. A buyer's agent who receives the sheet and the brochure should feel they are looking at one thing seen from two angles.

Print and digital

Most feature sheets now travel as PDFs. Design for both:

  • Set the page at a standard size so it prints cleanly.
  • Make the PDF text selectable so facts can be copied.
  • Keep the file small enough to send by email.
  • Name it clearly: address and date, so an agent can find it among forty others.

A printed copy on good stock, left at the showing, remains worth the effort. It is the one piece that gets annotated in pen during a walk-through.

A short checklist

  • Address, lead image, price (if used), contact and brokerage identification.
  • Core facts in a table, each sourced.
  • Systems and updates, each dated.
  • Inclusions and exclusions named.
  • Showing information current.
  • Equal Housing Opportunity statement or logo, if your brokerage requires it.
  • No buyer-directed or neighborhood-describing language.
  • Seller reviewed.

The quiet payoff

Nobody compliments a feature sheet. They simply use it, and notice when it is missing. An agent who sends a clear, accurate, consistently designed sheet with every listing becomes known as easy to work with, which is the reputation that brings offers.

Our listing flyers work includes the feature sheet as a standard companion, set on the same template as the rest of the launch so it is ready on day one.