Can't Sell Your Home? Try My Desperate Measure

published 30 September 2006

Why did you start the blog? My house had been on the market for several months. I had priced it high for the San Antonio area, but I didn't want to back down. In a slowing market you have to be clever.

Why were you selling? I had no intention of moving. But my daughter saw a house for sale a mile away and asked me to look at it. When I saw the house, I said, "Wow. This is cool," and made an offer.

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Row 0 - Cell 0	Get the Most from Your Home Sale
Row 1 - Cell 0	Sell Your Home Yourself
Row 2 - Cell 0	Put Your Real Estate Agent to the Test

So you put your house on the market? Yes. I didn't think I could get two mortgages. But my bank offered a bridge loan and a mortgage for the new house. The new house already had another offer, but I put in a backup offer. Then my agent called to say, "It's yours" -- the other buyers had backed out.

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At what point did you start the blog? About six months after the house went on the market. I had had some interested buyers, but the deals fell through. People from out of town were looking, so I thought, My buyer is going to be from out of town and maybe he won't be as price-sensitive. I bet that if I start a blog and promote it nationally, I'll succeed.

Isn't a blog a lot of work? I spent two and a half months building content and figuring out what kind of personality the blog should have.

What kind of personality did it have? I used a mixture of humor and used-car sales tactics. Like, "Hey! Buy my house and get a free chicken dinner from Bill Miller Bar-B-Q." I also talked about the neighbors and neighborhood.

Was the blog responsible for the sale? Indirectly. I run a PR firm, so I sent out story ideas to national media and real estate columnists. It got covered, and people from out of town came to look. But the buyer was a local guy who was driving through the neighborhood. When I told him about the blog, I created a sense of scarcity in his mind. That same day, he made an offer about 10% below asking price. I'm not sure a blog would help sell a typical suburban home. My house was built in 1907, so it is a neat place with a great story.

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Mark was the editor of Kiplinger's Personal Finance magazine from July 2017 to June 2023. Prior to becoming editor, he was the Money and Living sections editor and, before that, the automotive writer. He has also been editor of Kiplinger.com as well as the magazine's managing editor, assistant managing editor and chief copy editor. Mark has also served as president of the Washington Automotive Press Association. In 1990 he was nominated for a National Magazine Award. Mark earned a B.A. from University of Virginia and an M.A. in Writing from Johns Hopkins University. Mark lives in Washington, D.C., with his wife, and they spend as much time as possible in their Glen Arbor, Mich., vacation home.