Freshening an Old Listing, and Other Tips for Worried Sellers

· Stage your house. Staging is the art of taking what you have and either moving it around or packing it away to show off each room's best feature. You're creating a scene (like a theatrical production) where you are showing the buyer what you want him or her to see about your house. The results can be dramatic.

I filmed a rather blah townhouse in Chicago for a staging video this past winter. The agent was not excited about the project, and the homeowners didn't know what to do. With an investment of about $650, plus furniture rental, the stager transformed the house. When the agent came back, she was stunned. She immediately put up new photos on the Web and held an open house. The property had five offers that day. The homeowners accepted a good offer two days later.

· Reevaluate your price. Even if your house is staged perfectly, you won't be able to compete if six similar houses on the block are priced 20 or 30 percent below your list price. Banks have begun to cut their prices to get thousands of foreclosed homes off their books. While you may believe your home is worth more (and at one time I'm sure you were right), you may have to cut your price to sell soon. If you don't feel like competing on price, consider taking your property off the market until next year.

· Make better use of the Internet. More than 85 percent of buyers start their search for a home on the Web. Although the property is listed in the local multiple listing service and your agent may have uploaded that information to national real estate portals like Trulia.com and Realtor.com, there are plenty of online opportunities for you to market your home.

Consider creating a Web site for your house, using its physical address as the URL. Upload as many gorgeous photos of the property as possible, and perhaps even a video of yourself describing why you have loved living there. You can upload the video to YouTube, which will allow you to e-mail it to everyone you know.

This is called viral marketing. If you send this to everyone you know, someone might know someone who is interested in your neighborhood. As my mother, a longtime agent, likes to say, "It only takes one buyer." With the Internet, you're marketing to the world.

· Offer something extra. Want to generate some heat in your multiple listing service entry? Offer to buy down the buyer's mortgage. Offer a bonus to the agent who brings the successful buyer to your door. Raise the commission you're paying, and give the buyer's agent a bigger share (rather than an equal share). Forget about giving away cars, your old outdoor furniture or a trip to Disneyland. Today, currency is king, and it's better if you use your money in a productive way.

If you and your agent are already doing these things and you still haven't sold, then you may just have to postpone your plans to move until the market in your neighborhood turns around. But I wouldn't give it up without a good fight.

* * *

Q We have a house with a synthetic stucco exterior. We have it inspected annually, and we maintain it well.

Yet we know the stigma surrounding synthetic stucco homes. We were told that it would probably cost $140,000 to replace the synthetic stucco with hardcoat stucco.

Are there other sidings that would be less expensive? I don't know whether our neighborhood allows vinyl or whether it would look good.