These 9 Creative Ways to Sell a House Are So Outlandish They Just Might Work

1. Let potential buyers move in for the weekend

When Debbie Rose and her husband wanted to sell their Stamford, CT home a few years ago, they quickly grew tired of showing their place whenever potential buyers wanted to see it. So, when a coworker mentioned that she was interested in moving to Stamford, the couple offered up their home for a weekend getaway. Their guests loved the house and town so much that they made an offer on the home a few weeks later.

While it’s much easier if you actually know the people who are staying in your home, if you have a serious buyer who is waffling on their decision, an overnight stay might be just what they need to close the deal.

House swapping is a trend right now, with people using apps like Airbnb to rent out their homes. Look at Airbnb’s “responsible hosting” page for ideas on how to let virtual strangers stay in your home without running into any issues. It’s also a good idea to let your Realtor in on this idea, so that they can help facilitate their stay.

Think about the features of your home and community that you love the most. Then, highlight them. If your sunroom is a major selling point, make the room cozy for guests by putting out a bottle of wine and some snacks. Or, maybe your master bath is an oasis. Set out special bath oils or salts, along with a new bath pillow and a fluffy robe so that your “buyers” can get the full experience. Leave local magazines, take-out menus, or ads for nearby attractions by the front door so your buyers can meander around your town and imagine themselves living there.

2. Get in touch with your neighbors

Nikki Ryan, a top real estate agent who works with over 83% more single family homes than the average Reston agent, once had a buyer who wanted a home in a specific neighborhood. None were available, so she began calling all the neighbors to find out if anyone might be interested in selling. Sure enough, she discovered that one of the homes was sitting empty because the owner lived in Arizona. She sent him a letter with her business card asking if he would be willing to sell. He was, her buyer made an offer, and the deal was done.

“I tell my buyers all the time, ‘If you like a certain area, I will be happy to send letters on your behalf or call the area to see if I can find someone thinking of selling,’” says Ryan. “There are a lot of people who will sell if they don’t have to go through the work of getting the house ready to sell and show it.”

While it might seem fruitless to cozy up to your neighbors just as you’re planning on leaving the area, this is actually an excellent time to connect. Think about it: they obviously have a vested interest in who buys your house, and they may know people who want in on your block. Now’s the time to throw an “open house” for your neighbors. Put out some wine and cheese, announce that you’re moving, and ask them to spread the word.

What if you don’t know your neighbors? In this day and age, it’s easy to remedy this. You can go the old-school route and put an invitation in each mailbox or call them, as Ryan did. Or, enlist the one or two neighbors you do know to help get the message out there.

3. Make a game out of It

Who doesn’t love the chance to win a prize — especially if it’s a house?! A few years ago, an innkeeper in Maine named Janice Sage hosted an essay contest with a $125 entry fee. The prize: ownership of her inn.

Sage’s contest garnered more than 7,000 entries, netting her more than $906,000 — roughly the value of the inn — and inspired countless other sellers to host their own contests. Similarly, the owners of Bluebird Hill Farm, an organic farm near Raleigh, NC, hosted an essay contest for couples with organic farming experience. A $300 entry fee, a 200-word essay, and farming experience could have won you the farm, valued at $450,000.

While this may seem like a fun and easy way to sell your home, it’s not without its share of headaches. Disgruntled participants in Sage’s contest filed complaints with the Maine attorney general’s office, which led to an inquiry (no improprieties were found), and there is a chance that you’ll need to refund the entries if you don’t get enough of them.

4. Use Facebook to offer up a reward to people

The popularity of social media makes it extremely easy to share information with lots of people relatively quickly. Use this to your advantage.

Post your real estate listing on Facebook and let your friends know that you’re offering a monetary reward for any “share” that results in the sale of your home. This can be as simple as a Visa gift card, though you should make it for an amount large enough — at least $200 — to pique people’s interests. A “hashtag challenge” is another successful and viral marketing campaign to consider, in which participants share content using a specific hashtag related to selling or buying houses.

If you’d like to try this, you’ll need to set the privacy settings for your post to “Public.” You can change this setting in the drop-down menu under your name before hitting “Post.” Changing the post to Public will allow everyone on or off Facebook to see your post, whether they are friends with you on the app or not.

If your kids or grandkids are on Facebook, ask them to share your post with their network as well. You could even run a few cheap Facebook Ads to spread the word to thousands of people in your area. You never know what might trigger the post and make it go viral.

5. Throw in a freebie

When Gene Caballero, co-founder of GreenPal, a site that matches customers with lawn care services, wanted to sell his suburban home in Murfreesboro, TN to move to the city, he knew he wouldn’t need his car anymore.

So, he parked his two-year-old Nissan Maxima on his lawn with a sign that said, “Car comes with house!” Needless to say, he sold his home within three days. “It was a unique idea that lured people to my house, and I was able to make more money selling my car as a bundle,” he says.

Transferring his car to its new owner was a simple process for Caballero, who wrote the trade-in value as the purchase price on the title and signed it over.

If you don’t have a car to give away, think about other items that could sweeten the deal. Maybe you have a treadmill or home gym in your basement that a buyer has expressed interest in, or patio furniture that might be more of a pain to move than it’s worth.

6. Give buyers a virtual tour of your house

Create a virtual open house or a 3D floor plan that allows buyers from all over the country (or world) to see your home in real time. Or, live stream a day in the life at your house so potential buyers can see what it’s like to live in your abode. After all, according to the National Association of Realtors, 100% of homebuyers used the Internet to search for homes in 2023, and 52% found the home they ended up purchasing on the Internet.

Here’s how to get a virtual tour set up:

Your Realtor may already have a preferred site for creating and sharing virtual open houses (and may even offer to do yours), but if not, visit sites like PhotoUp, SharperAgent.com, or Imagemaker360.com, which can all help you create a virtual tour.

Need tips on how to create a virtual open house, take all the photos yourself, and get the word out about it? Forbes has crafted a guide on how to create a virtual tour for a real estate listing in six steps.

Be sure to upload your virtual open house on YouTube and provide links on all of your social media pages. (Get your family members to do the same.)

How to host your own live stream on Facebook:

First, you’ll need to activate Facebook Live in your account. In the same box where you’d post a status update, click the “Live video” icon, which looks like a video camera with an eye. This will prompt you to give access to your camera and microphone on your device. Before you begin live streaming, you’ll have the option to make your video public to “Only Me” so that you can practice a bit. Write a caption for your video — “This can all be yours! A day in the life at our house” or something along those lines — then click the “Go Live” button. For excellent examples of how to create a live stream of your home, check out John and Melissa Steele’s Facebook page.

Don’t just stop at Facebook. You can also post your video to YouTube, Streamup or Livestream.

7. Sell your house fast at an auction

Home auctions aren’t just for foreclosed properties or those seized by the bank or the police. Not anymore, anyway. These days, a home auction can be an effective way to sell your house fast. And if it’s particularly desirable, a bidding war can ensue, which can mean big bucks for you.

As with anything that seems too good to be true, it’s important to know exactly what you’re getting into when you go this route.

First, check out the National Auctioneers Association to find an experienced auctioneer in your area who specializes in home auctions. Then, find out when their next home auction is in your area and go to it to get a feel for the process.

Pam Rose, owner of Pamela Rose Auction Company in Whitehouse, OH says that sellers should ask a potential auctioneer the following questions:

Q: How many homes have you sold through auctions?
A: You’ll want to go with an auctioneer who has more experience than less.

Q: What’s your marketing plan for each auction you host?
A: You’re counting on your auctioneer for a clear strategy for how they plan to advertise your property.

Q: What are your credentials for running the auction in the first place?
A: Most states require auctioneers to have a real estate license at the very least. You should also ask if they’ve completed a training program to become certified.

You’ll also want to ask for references. Talking to an auctioneer’s past customers is an excellent way to confirm their credibility.

Once you get the auction set up, get people in the seats, and put your house up on the auction block, you need to make sure the house goes for the highest possible price. The risk with a housing auction is that you can lose money on the sale if you’re not careful.

To play it safe, you could host a “Reserve Auction,” which allows you to set a price (10%-15% below market value is a good barometer) that must be met before your home sells. Only you and the auctioneer will know what this price is. Be sure to ask what the no-sale fee is, or the fee you’ll owe the auctioneer if your home doesn’t sell.

8. Finesse the financing and move the home sale along

If you’ve found a serious buyer but they’re having trouble securing a mortgage or are quibbling about the closing costs, there are ways to appease them and make the sale. For example, you could offer them a rent-to-own deal, where they agree to rent your home for an agreed-upon amount of time (usually one to three years) with the option to buy once the lease expires.

To assuage some of the buyer’s burden, Ilona Bray, J.D., a legal editor at Nolo.com, suggests offering to pay for one of these items:

Title Insurance/Title Search Fees

Title insurance fees will usually run you about 0.5% to 1% of the purchase price.

Inspection Fees

Offer to pay for the home inspection, which typically costs between $296 and $423.

Homeowner’s Insurance

Buyers need to pay for a year’s worth of home insurance upfront. You could offer to cover this, though the cost may vary. According to MarketWatch, the average annual cost of homeowners insurance in the U.S. is $2,728, equating to $227 per month.

Home Warranties

Offer to obtain a warranty on certain appliances or mechanical systems in the house. According to Angi, the average cost of a home warranty is approximately $1,049, with annual payments ranging from $222 to $1,877 depending on your home’s specific details.

Mortgage Payments

If it’s feasible to do so, you could offer to pay the buyer’s first mortgage payment. Or if they can’t put 20% down and are incurring PMI, you could offer to deflect that amount, usually several hundred dollars.

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9. Set the scene in your open house

Maybe you have a period piece of property, like a Victorian or Edwardian home, which would benefit from a little scene setting. Or, perhaps your mod apartment looks like a set from Mad Men. Heighten the interest in your property by hosting an open house and dressing in period costumes. Invite attendees to have tea in your garden or attend a 60s-era cocktail party (complete with martinis).

It’s hard not to despair when conventional selling practices aren’t getting you the results you want. There are other creative ways to sell a house to explore! As long as the risk is low (i.e., you aren’t going to lose money on the sale), there’s no harm in trying alternative ideas to close the deal. You may even have a good time and make money in the process. That’s what we call a win-win.

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