I remember baking bread, boiling sticks and potting pourri when we were trying to sell our Queen Village estate at the start of the late-1980s slowdown. It succeeded only in making me nauseated and the house-hunters suspicious.
"What are they trying to hide?" I heard one prospect say to his spouse as I passed them on my way inside after the open house.
I didn't know it at the time, but the aroma was masking the odor they add to natural gas so you know there's a leak before the house explodes. We had a faulty gas meter in the basement.
Today, with a lot of houses available, selling one is less about smell and more about marketing.
A couple of weeks ago, our online operation asked me to participate in a video interview of Realtor Allan Domb. I told him I'd recently interviewed a first-time buyer looking in both city and suburbs. The buyer said that he'd found suburban sellers more willing to negotiate.
"If that's true," Domb said, "the listing agent is at fault. If the seller isn't willing to negotiate, the agent is not providing the necessary education."
I know some agents will tell you what you want to hear - that's why your house hasn't had a showing in six months. You're going to have to change - maybe get an agent more interested in selling than listing.
Change isn't easy, especially if you remain unconvinced that it's needed. To sell a house in this market requires flexible thinking. As hard as it is to part with a single penny of equity, you just might have to.
In fact, you may have to hire a stager. Many real estate agents know what they are and use them, with great success.
"I had a listing on Delancey Street for $1.1 million that was on the market for three months," said Bari Shor, an agent with Prudential Fox & Roach. "We brought in a stager, there were three bidders, and the winner paid the asking price."
