5 unusual strategies for selling your home

Theo Thimou | February 8th, 2018

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Getting ready to list your home for sale soon? Taking a slightly unconventional approach to marketing can really pay off when you go to sell your home!

Think outside of the box when you list your home for sale

Offer free tacos to the buyer

A Houston-area realtor tried this strategy late last year to attract attention to one of her listings — and it worked!

Real estate agent Nicole Lopez of Intero Real Estate Services added this sign reading “$250 in free tacos with the purchase of this home” to the bottom of the sign when she marketed a 1,700-square foot home.

Lopez partnered with a local eatery for the food offer — the buyer could also opt to have $250 taken off the closing costs if they didn’t want the tacos.

So which one did the buyer take?

Well, we hear somebody in Cypress, Texas, is planning a taco party for the end of the month!

Try an oddball, yet premeditated, price

Want a better way to navigate the delicate dance of offer and counter-offer between seller and potential buyer? Try a very specific price that drills down to the dollar.

Five years of analysis of real estate sales in one Florida county compared list prices and actual sale prices of homes. Turns out specificity is the key to getting your asking price!

That could mean pricing a home at $294,500 as opposed to $300,000.

“Buyers were less likely to negotiate the price down as far when they encountered a precise asking price,” a report in the Scientific American notes.

The thinking here is that a highly specific price connotes a bargain to a potential buyer’s mind. Consider this: We know $19.99 is only one penny cheaper than $20 — but you’re more likely to shell out when you see the former price, not the latter!

Money expert Clark Howard really took this lesson to its logical conclusion during the depths of last decade’s housing recession.

At that time, he talked on his radio show about pricing your property down to the penny to get as close as possible to asking price — like a price that ended in $XXX,552.27, for example.

Live near an Aldi? Ask for a $7,000 premium

You won’t believe this, but a U.K. study finds that homes actually have greater appreciation when they are located near an Aldi!

Title transfer firm My Home Move found that Britons who lived in a neighborhood where an Aldi recently popped up enjoyed an average property value bump of 5,000 pounds (roughly $6,975) in as little as three months after the grocery store opened its doors!

No Aldi nearby? Don’t worry — these grocers boost your home’s value, too!

Recent research from RealtyTrac found that homes tend to have a greater appreciation when they are located close to a Trader Joe’s rather than by a Whole Foods.

Homeowners who live in the same zip code as a Trader Joe’s saw a 40% increase in home value over their initial purchase price, according to RealtyTrac.

Meanwhile, those living in the same zip as Trader Joe’s arch rival Whole Foods only saw a 34% increase, which the real estate pricing website says is on par with national averages.

Just something to think about when you’re pricing your home!

Bake some cookies

Smell is an incredibly powerful sense. The smartest home sellers will use it to their benefit.

Clark.com contributor Erin Vaughn has a great suggestion that you can try the next time you know about a showing in advance.

“Who isn’t drawn to a space that lingers with the smell of fresh cookies? Make a new batch before each showing so that delicious odor can waft around your kitchen as a natural room deodorizer. Plus, you can set out the tempting treats as a celebration for any potential buyers. Double win!”

This post was last modified on March 26, 2019 1:00 pm