Secrets to sell a home in a tough market

These are tough times for home sellers. Unless you are in a red hot neighborhood, home sales are slow, and not expected to pick up their pace anytime soon.

So how do you sell a home in a bad market? By being creative.

Auctions sell homes fast

Maggie Beckmeyer is an auctioneer who runs Auctions by Maggie in Cheviot, Ohio. She may look like Pippi Longstocking, or a cast member from Little House on the Prairie, but looks can be deceiving.

That's because in this tough market, she's one of the best home sellers around. We caught up with her as she was auctioning off a $200,000 home in Cincinnati's Anderson Township.

"I believe everyone should try an auction first. I believe that. It is not a foreclosure. It is not a short sale. It is not a last resort," said Beckmeyer.

The Wall Street Journal, in a recent story on "Desperate Times, Desperate Measures", agreed that auctions are one of the hottest ways to sell a property right now.

"If we can show the market that a homeowner is willing to consider what people think it's worth, I think a lot of times a seller can get more than they want," added Beckmeyer.

But if a crowd of bidders outside your garage leaves you queasy, you may want to consider some other creative selling techniques.

Silent auction

Realtor Jim Basquette of Huff Realty -- tired of waiting months for offers -- recently tried a more discrete form of auction, for a home in Cincinnati's Delhi Township.

He set up a "round robin", similar in some ways to a silent auction, in that bidders don't have to face other bidders or make a decision in a split second.

Friends thought he was crazy.

"Well about half of them thought I was nuts, the other half thought I was a marketing genius," said Basquette.

He says after an open house at the $750,000 home, he set the starting bid at just $400,000. The bids started coming in, and the house sold in days for around $725,000.

He feels the auction actually helped it sell for much more than it would otherwise.

"I think typically if you take a house and are just marking it down in price, there's no urgency for anybody, they wait and think maybe it's going to be dropped in price a little more. But this way there was a lot of urgency," Basquette said.

Basquette says it's all about creating urgency, so that buyers feel they'll miss out if they fail to bid. With a "priced reduced" sign out front, people think it's either an undesirable or overpriced home.

So he is now hoping to sell more homes through round robin auctions.

Pricing is everything

The Wall Street Journal says if you are afraid of the auction process, the most important thing is to price your home competitively, often below similar homes.

That's what homeowner Jack Sandman did this past summer to get interest in his home in Cincinnati's Mt. Washington neighborhood.

Realtor Jerry Garrison of Keller Williams advised Sandman to price the house below what he thought was a fair price, saying "comps" from two or three years ago are now worthless.

"It was a significant drop. We dropped from $700,000 to $550,000," said Garrison.

Set the stage

Finally, th e Wall Street Journal suggests throwing a house sale party, a wine tasting, taco party, whatever you can think of, to get potential buyers in the door to see the home "in action" and imagine themselves living there, throwing the next party.

And many realtors now bring in professional "stagers" who will remove outdated, worn out couches and window treatments, and loan you furniture for a Pottery Barn or similar look.

These days, it's all about being creative.

Ask how the realtor makes a sale

So when interviewing a realtor, don't go by his or her record from five years ago. Ask how they are doing now, in this slow market.

If they are creative, and makes sales, then consider signing up, so you don't waste your money.

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