Selling a House? Try One of These Unconventional Methods

Image: For sale signs
Tom Caswell under Creative Commons

In the market to sell your home and wondering where all the buyers are?

Just threw your millionth open house, but so far no one’s biting?

Whether you’re looking for new ideas to sell your house or you just like to take the less-beaten path (a mentality we’re all for), you’ll appreciate this post on AOL Money that explores some of the stranger ways people have tried to sell their properties.

(Our personal favorite? Throwing in a Ferrari to entice people to buy a million-dollar mansion.)

It got us thinking of other ways you could market your home to potential buyers. Like…

Accept Payments in Bitcoin

Bitcoin is all the rage now; why not jump on the bandwagon and set yourself apart by offering to accept bids offered in Bitcoin? It removes the hassle of getting wire transfers or cashier’s checks from the bank and makes closing costs as easy as the click of a button.

Lure Buyers in With a Garage Sale

Nothing gets traffic to your home like a garage sale, and even if people come just for the discounted stuff, you never know who might have a friend or family member looking for a home. Keep plenty of flyers on hand to send home with bargain hunters.

Leverage the Holidays

It can be hard to sell a home in the colder months; the bulk of buyers, if they have any say in their moving dates, prefer to house hunt during the spring and summer. But you have an advantage in the fall and winter that summer sellers don’t: you can leverage the goodwill and fun spirit of the holidays to make your home stand out.

What do we mean? Hand out candy at open houses. Hold an open house with apple bobbing and other Halloween games to keep kids busy. Hire a Santa to pose for pictures with people. Get creative and think festive, and yours could be the open house everyone’s buzzing about.

Offer a Sweet Freebie

You may not have a Ferrari to offer up, but chances are your buyers aren’t in the million-dollar-mansion range anyway. Being the savvy saver you are, there are plenty of things you might already have that would entice a buyer.

Maybe they’d like a free vacation with the airline miles you earned from your credit cards? Amazon gift cards you earned by taking surveys?  A free bedroom set you sanded and refinished when your neighbor put it out at the curb?

Never underestimate the power of freebies. Get creative, and you could be the next “weird method” success story!

Your Turn: Have you seen any unique strategies used to sell a home? What would you try?

Kelly Gurnett is a freelance blogger, writer and editor who runs the blog Cordelia Calls It Quits, where she documents her attempts to rid her life of the things that don’t matter and focus more on the things that do. Follow her on Twitter @CordeliaCallsIt.