Expert: Leslie - 1/26/2005

Question
My husband and I are trying to sale our own house. I need to write a letter to interested people about the selling cost,etc. I don't know where to begin. Do you have any suggestions?

Answer
Patricia,

My apologies for not responding sooner. We had a couple emergencies this week that kept me from my computer.

The realtors have distilled the important information about a house in the standard MLS listing. Using a model like the fact sheet for getting the information about your house is not only helpful to the buyer, but saves many pages of text. I would look to the MLS listing as a model for an information sheet about your house.

You may add a cover letter with your fact sheet about your house. Like any sales letter, you will want it to feature the best selling points first. You will also want to make it generic enough, so you don't have to adjust it for every new, interested buyer.

Make a list of the best features of your place. Is it location? The view? Cost? Maybe you have an additional room that other places like yours would not have. You will want to write some simple sentences that explain these best features. Put the best features at the top of the letter.

Example:

Dear interested buyer,

We are delighted to offer a description of our [blank blank] home at [blank blank location]. You will find on the fact sheet attached to this letter that we have [blank blank feature] and [another blank blank feature].

You will find our [blank blank feature] especially [choose one: beautiful, convenient, cost efficient]. Name another feature.

Please see the attached fact sheet for more information. If you have any questions, you can contact us at [add your contact information here.]

End Example

That should get your creative juices flowing. Keep the letter simple, since no one will want to read more that what they find important.

Leslie