Marketing a house for sale is not easy and requires time and effort. While being online is surely the best way to advertise a house, sellers may look for creative ways to market their house to increase sale probability.
So, what are some of the creative ways to sell a house which are fast and easy? Or, how can you market your real estate listings so that they get sold easily? Let’s take a look at some of the creative yet doable ways to market a house for sale.
Basic Methods to Sell Your House Fast
1. Keep it Clean
There’s no better way to repel potential buyers than showing a dirty, cluttered house. If the owner doesn’t have time to personally clean or declutter, then hiring a cleaning company should be a top priority.
Houses that sell quickly (and for the most money) are fresh and clean spaces that make it easy for buyers to picture themselves living it. It’s still absolutely possible to sell an ugly house that’s furnished, but be sure to remove as much clutter as possible.
2. Set a Competitive Price
Obviously, homes that are listed for lower than their estimated value will be more appealing and, therefore, more likely to sell fast. If you’re trying to set the price of your own home, consult a real estate agent. You can also look at your local real estate market and check the prices of recently sold homes and similar properties in your neighborhood.
3. Paint the Walls
There are very few things that are as simple, affordable, and impactful as painting a home’s walls. If the homeowners have some extra time and motivation, painting a home’s interior is a highly effective way to increase their home’s value.
Buyers want a home that doesn’t need immediate work and a fresh coat of paint often makes them believe that the home is well taken care of.
4. Upgrade the Curb Appeal
Research shows that curb appeal creates a 7% increase in home sale prices. Any Realtor would probably suggest focusing on the curb appeal as one of the best ways to sell your house fast. As the first thing buyers see when seeing a home in person (and oftentimes online as well), a home’s exterior is what forms that all-important first-impression.
You could paint your front door a bright color, add large potted plants, or add wooden signs in your front porch. If you want to massively increase the curb appeal of a property without lifting a finger, consider getting the home’s exterior photos virtually staged. Whether it’s visualizing how much better a lawn will look with lush grass – or even going so far as visualizing what a pool would look like in an under-utilized space – virtually staged landscapes can go a very long way to excite, inspire and reassure buyers that the home’s yard can and will look good once properly cared for and/or designed.
5. Personally Connect with Neighbors
When you really need to sell a house fast, take advantage of the people who will be impacted the most by the eventual buyers – the neighbors! Reach out to them a few weeks before you list the house by knocking on their doors and/or putting a hand-written note in their mailbox. Make a personal connection and tell them that you’re selling your house and would love their help finding a great buyer. They’ll appreciate the opportunity to choose a neighbor and you’ll appreciate a high-quality referral.
6. Use Signs Around the Neighborhood
While you should place the biggest sign in the front yard of the home, why stop there? Possibly one of the simplest and most creative ways to sell a home is to add signs around the neighborhood and along nearby roads. Your ideal buyer could be someone who regularly drives only a few streets away, don’t miss the opportunity to grab their attention!
7. Host a Themed Open House
Take advantage of the classic open house strategy, but make it a million times more memorable and fun by adding a theme to it. When choosing a theme, keep in mind the ideal buyer of the home. For example, if you want to attract millennials, a popular TV show theme would be a great way to get your target audience interested and excited.
By doing something simple, like bringing an espresso machine or hanging a pinata in the backyard, you could multiply open house traffic and increase the home’s perceived value. Attendees will associate a good time with your home, which will form a stronger emotional connection with the prospective buyers. If your home is especially well-equipped to host social gatherings, this idea is especially effective. If your home is small or compartmentalized, this idea may be less effective.
8. Include a Freebie or Service
What’s the best way to raise a buyer’s eyebrows and increase their interest about a property? Offer them a gift! A moving company or cleaning service for a few months might cost you a few hundred dollars but it could contribute to an offer for thousands of dollars more.
According to the NAR (National Association of Realtors), the most appealing project or service for buyers is lawn care. It’s been shown to return 276% of the cost! An even more unique idea could be to offer online interior design.
9. Motivate Real Estate Agents with a Referral Bonus
If you want to spread the word about your property quickly, tell the people who are connected to the buyers near your location! Offer a referral bonus to any agent that finds the end buyer of your property.
10. Write a Unique Property Description
You should always keep property descriptions clear and focus on the benefits of the house but make yours stand out! Take this funny property description as an example:
“The property is walking distance from all of the downtown shops, restaurants and trendy workout joints (where you can “throw on your Lululemon and work it off,” of course). Since the school is within walking distance, you can just toss [your kids] over the fence in the backyard to get them there quicker, because you are running behind because getting a kid ready in a timely fashion is difficult.”
In fact, the humor in this property description got so much attention that it was featured on Yahoo! The agent was drowning in home offers, which is exactly what you need to help you get a home sold fast.
11. Post the House on Facebook Marketplace
Facebook Marketplace is similar to Craigslist but appeals to social media users. You can also share your Marketplace listing in various local groups or pay to boost the listing to the top of your local Marketplace.
12. Post the House in Facebook Groups
Facebook Groups are often underutilized by sellers and agents. There are groups for almost any real estate niche and there are often multiple neighborhood groups within towns. Looking for groups in your surrounding towns and neighborhoods can be a great place to post your listings for an expedited sale.
13. Create a Virtual Tour
Studies have shown that videos are shared over 2.5 more times than any other type of social content. Whether you use high-end technology like a drone to produce a video or simply use your smartphone to walk through the house, video will help you gain more engagement and more of a reach.
An even simpler way to leverage the power of video is by turning a collection of images of the home into a video by making a slideshow
14. Email Your Network
Draft a brief but personal email to send to your friends, family, and network about the great features of the property. You can even give this draft to the home seller to reach even more people.
15. Increase Social Sharing with a Giveaway
Post your listing online along with an incentive to share. By offering a gift card to a decor store or a home service, you’ll motivate homeowners and people with real estate interests to share and spread the word quickly.
16. Run Ads on Social Media
Social media ads are a highly effective method of getting your posts seen by the people in your area. Facebook Ads have a proven ROI, but Instagram, LinkedIn or PPC ads can target a different audience. We recommend using Facebook Ads.
Keep in mind, there is definitely a learning curve to running online ads, so don’t expect immediate results the first time you run ads to a listing.
