It’s hard to imagine that it was only half a decade ago when banks and financial institutions seemed to have a bottomless pit of cash to lend. That was really the problem: it was too easy to get a loan. Interest rates skyrocketed, and people had no idea how they were going to pay off their mortgages.
Suddenly thousands of people were thinking, “I need to sell my house fast!” With so much competition, it was a tough real estate market to be in. There have been signs of improvement; Home sales rose to 72,100 in July, double the January figures, according to the LSL/Acadametrics Home Price Index.
But it’s still a volatile real estate market, and in order to sell your home quickly, you need to think outside the box. Here are five unusual, almost desperate (some of them a little over the top) ways to sell a house.
1. Sell your house to a home buyer for cash.
As John Fingleton, executive director of the Office of Fair Trading, put it, “Encouraging new business models, online estate agents and private seller platforms could put useful competitive pressure on traditional models and create better value for buyers and sellers.”
2. Host a raffle.
This sales technique requires a lot of hard work. The average price of a house in the UK is £162,000, so assuming each raffle ticket sells for £25, you would need to sell 6,500 tickets to get that amount. You may have to sell in shops, restaurants, pubs, train stations and on the streets. As in any draw, the lucky winner takes the house.
However, ticket revenue often falls short of the asking price, especially at more expensive properties. What do you do with the profits then? You certainly don’t want a mob of angry protesters at your door. One way to resolve the dilemma is to give away a cash prize, whatever is left over from ticket sales after costs are deducted. However, be careful not to get arrested for violating gambling laws.
3. Beyond the classified ads, advertise in unexpected places.
It’s free. It has millions of viewers. And works. Well-known real estate agents, brokers, and even real estate firms have made their own videos and posted them on YouTube, the world’s most popular video-sharing website. With just a digital camera and simple editing software, you can create your own video (the catchier the better, of course) and post it to YouTube. You can then market it by posting the link on Craigslist and Facebook, and emailing it to your friends. It’s better than paying for space on the television network. But if you have the budget, you can even put up a billboard along a main road. It’s a great exhibit and, especially if you’re from a small town, it really doesn’t cost a fortune.
4. Auction with a twist.
Auctioning off houses is actually quite a common practice, but a post on an online community forum shared a story he had read in one of the free newspapers in London. The headline read: A £175,000 Garden Flat for just £70?
According to the publication, entry to the auction was £70, and the bidder is entitled to submit up to 200 bids, in whole cents starting at 1p. When enough people have signed up to cover the sales price and costs of sale, the seller will award the home to the “lowest single bid” bidder. It is “deemed to have an element of skill,” according to the document, therefore it is not a lottery and is not covered by gambling laws.
5. Attract attention with clever and unusual tricks.
A small runner in Florida once rented a latte cart and parked it in front of her open house. That simple trick tripled the amount of traffic to her open house, she had three offers and the house sold in nine days for $23,000 (£15,000) above asking price.
Some people are offering free beer and pizza for a year, while Rick Hill, owner of a £1.15 million home in Hockley, Essex, gave away a Lamborghini worth up to £150,000. Get over this, though: Ian Usher, of Darlington, put his entire life up for sale on eBay in Australia. It turns out his house, car, job and friends were worth £192,000, although the deal fell through.