If you haven't heard by now, I'm trying to sell my house. Luckily, I'm not underwater and I can afford to wait this out (and my heart goes out to those who are in dire situations right now). For us - we're just ready to move on with our lives in our new city.
Besides the fact that I brilliantly timed my move to coincide with the worst housing market since the Depression, we've done everything by-the-book. Nice house, established, sought-after neighborhood in a booming town, great school district, no fatal flaws. We've renovated, painted, and fixed. If we could pick our house up and move it to Austin, we would. Lookers have called our house "nice", "great", and even "awesome". But the sad fact is: nobody is buying houses right now.
As I've wracked my brain to figure this out, it occurred to me that I am the proud owner of a marketing blog. Surely I, or my intrepid readers (all 3 of you), can figure this out. This is simply a marketing problem, right?
So, what creative marketing ideas can you come up with to sell my house? Post your comments on this blog or reply to me on Facebook or Twitter. Let's get those creative juices flowing!
Here's a few early ideas to prime the pump:
- hold an essay contest to win my house, where I charge $100 per entry (problem with this is that it has only worked a couple of times... usually, it's hard to get 5,000 people to enter, so you end-up having to return everybody's money. Will it work in Raleigh?)
- discover a Virgin Mary image on a crawlspace wall (the Virgin Mary grilled cheese sold on eBay for $28k, so I'm bullish on this idea)
- give away a Prius with my house (going "green" is still the new marketing hotness)
- claim I can see Russia from my house
Your turn!
(And if you really want to help, here's the link to my house listing that you can send to anyone who you think might be interested. I'm in the mood to make a deal!)
Discover oil or gold in your backyard? Or at least have the permits that say you can drill in a McCain administration?
Posted by: Nikesh Parekh | October 03, 2008 at 11:48 AM
I will package up and trade you my unsellable condo on Lake Travis for yours in NC-- basically if we move the paper around allot we can get away with it for years before it crashes, and then we can have the government bail us out. We can ask for MM$ packages on our exit as well.
Deal?
Posted by: Ted | October 03, 2008 at 04:19 PM
- dump a load of shells and sand in the front lawn reminding buyers that after a few more years of global warming... beachfront!
- fill garden fountain with oil and offer to transfer drilling rights
Posted by: Fred | October 03, 2008 at 10:31 PM
Hey Todd. Wow, what a nice house. I know Extron is building a large facility. Maybe they have a realtor who is lining up people for a move to Raleigh?
Posted by: Shawn | October 06, 2008 at 08:33 AM
I'm thinking you need to bond with your prospective buyers. Go the extra mile by faking seizures or perhaps a coronary. This is popularized in the book "Choke". If you have a well trained pets, they can participate in the process also. After the crises has passed, simply remind your guests the only decent thing to do is go ahead and purchase the home, maybe above the asking price. Done and done.
Posted by: Mark | October 08, 2008 at 06:16 PM
If you are looking for a quick house sale then I suggest you should give a thought to the options available for you online. Broking service providers may help you to get the best deals for your home.
Posted by: Lisa Monroe | July 27, 2011 at 12:31 AM