Creatively Selling Your House

Not a week goes by these days without notices of lowered prices on houses for sale.

It’s not surprising. Fear stalks the land, people are unemployed, and savings are disappearing. The third wave of coronavirus has started, and a tsunami of foreclosures and evictions may be coming soon.

I’ve seen industry predictions that you’ll get a better selling price today than for the next couple of years. So with interest rates expected to remain near historically low levels, how can a seller get noticed?

Regardless of whether you’re working with a realtor, there are creative ways to attract the few buyers out there. Consider borrowing ideas from different industries to market your home. Call it research, plagiarism, or strategic creativity, but there’s no need to re-invent the wheel here.

Because while retailers seek an ongoing customer relationship, someone selling their house is looking for a one-time buyer. This suggests a sales promotion, focused on boosting short-term sales, may make sense as a way to grab attention.

Handled correctly, sales promotions can positively impact any business deal. Even realtors can benefit from sales promotions, repeating them from one client to another and reaching mostly different audiences with each effort.

For example, consider these homeowner sales promotions done a few years back:

• RAFFLE: At $10,000 per ticket, only a few dozen participants are needed to reach your desired sales price.

• ESSAY: Charging $1,000 for a “Why I want your house” essay matches the right buyer and seller.

• BOGO: One realtor sold one house and gave a second one away as part of the deal.  

Sales promotions in real estate are rarely used these days. Though they’re VERY effective in other industries, such promotional strategies are ignored in real estate. 

The result: every seller looks the same as everyone else.

The homeowner has one objective: selling that house. Focusing only on that, investing some time and resources may make the difference.

Sure, you’ll still have to post in the multiple listing services, do open houses, and all the rest. Those are baseline marketing efforts…the cost of entry into the game.

But if you’re seeking to help make the sale happen a little faster, look to major retailers for ideas and promote yourself…and your home. Without it, you’re probably missing a trick.

With that said, I wish you a week of profitable marketing.

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Get creative marketing strategies at www.askmrmarketing.com.