How Far Should You Go to Sell Your House?

How Far Should You Go to Sell Your House?It’s a tough old property market out there at the moment. Sellers routinely struggle to get back the investment they put into their property if they’re in a slow area and buyers just can’t keep up with the price rises in the hotter areas.No-one wins, it seems, and then you have to pay the piper, or rather the estate agent. Then there’s the solicitor, the Stamp Duty (ouch) and finally your removal company…That’s if you’re lucky enough to sell, of course. Some parts of the country see properties languishing for months and it seems nothing will shift them. This state of affairs isn’t helped by the same old estate agent patter – houses boasting this, flats benefitting from the other, you get the drift.Think outside the boxYes, selling’s a stressful and expensive business, not to mention tedious. So why not help things along with a bit of extreme property marketing? It’ll certainly generate a lot of interest, get you some viewings and lighten up the proceedings no end. Let’s have a look at some of the quirkier marketing gimmicks out there.Virtual sellingThis does actually involve real bricks and mortar, as well as real money, and it’s catching on quite fast. The idea is that you provide potential buyers with virtual reality headsets and give them a tour. Harrods has already pioneered this technique to sell luxury homes to millionaires, and we can only hope that the trickle-down effect works in property. The best bit is that you can enhance the good bits of your home and downplay the bad bits.Everybody out!A bit of a gamble, but if you’re in a property hotbed it’ll probably pay off. Move out to a rental for a month or two, put all your belongings into storage and turn your place into a show home. Hire new furniture from a house staging company, go away for a few weeks and come back to a tasty offer. That’s the plan, anyway…Plane sillyOr is it? If you have a flat roof, get up there and paint a huge For Sale sign on it, with a contact number. If you’re near an airport flight path, or a flying school, or an overpass (you get the picture), then you could drum up quite a bit of aerial interest.Raffle off your gaffYes, really! You’ll probably need the advice of a solicitor here, but it may well be possible. Sell raffle tickets for £20.00 each (more if you’re in or anywhere near London) and you should get people flocking to buy them. You just need at least 10,000 punters. Easy. Offer a sweetenerThis means leaving something behind besides your contact details and keys. It could be a car, the contents of your toolshed, your livestock or maybe something more luxurious like a year’s membership to your local gym. Think about something you could offer that makes you stand out from the competition.