I recently bought a home, and I didn’t pay much attention to where a home was advertised (our realtor did all the “finding houses for us to look at” stuff anyway). Advertising gimmicks to make a house look more attractive would have either not affected us or turned us off. If you look too desperate to sell, the buyers might start wondering what’s wrong with the house that they can’t see (and a lot of buyers who wonder this walk away a long time before an inspector could tell them they don’t have anything to worry about), or might make you a lower offer if they do make one.
One thing that the seller of one house we visited did that I thought was good- they left copies of the required disclosure form in the house when we went to see it. The form had stuff about how recently various maintenance had been done, which is very useful to know. The fact that they used the official form made me feel more confident that they weren’t trying to hide something than a brochure of their own with similar information would have (and was probably easier for them).
An ad on a web site that gives you the chance to post lots of pics of your house would be good. Even better would be a print-out of some of those pictures, possibly stapled to the disclosure info. Prospective buyers visit lots of houses in very little time, and they all seem to run together after a while. Some room on those pages of pictures to take notes would be nice, too.
People are going to walk on your floors and carpeting when they’re looking at your house- deal with it. Even if you ask people to take off their shoes when they come into your house, don’t ask prospective buyers to do that (we looked at one house where the sellers literally provided little plastic shoe covers- it was really weird).
Get someone who doesn’t spend a lot of time in your house and who has a good sense of smell to go through and check for any lingering odors, and try to deal with any they find. You’re used to the smells in your house, but prospective buyers aren’t. Odors are a huge turn-off for a prospective buyer. I don’t recommend leaving room fresheners around or spraying a spray to mask odors, either- some people might be allergic to something in those, or might not like the scent you pick.
And don’t forget the obvious- a nice handout for visitors to your house, cleanliness, and a lack of weirdness isn’t going to make up for stuff like:
Is your asking price in line with current asking prices for comparable homes in comparable locations that have actually sold? I know, you love your house, you paid $X for it and put $Y worth of improvements into it- prospective buyers don’t care, especially not in a buyer’s market like most real estate markets in the US are now.
Do you have any rooms that scream 1970s or 1980s or whenever because of outdated carpeting, wallpaper, or something like that? It’s hard for a prospective buyer to look past something like that, even a buyer who knows that a situation like that can be remedied fairly easily. You don’t need to tear out all your carpet and put in hardwood floors, or re-do your whole kitchen in the latest fashion, but some paint or new carpet might help a lot if you’ve got a room that is a real time capsule. If you have any rooms that are very obviously children’s rooms (cartoon theme wallpaper or bedspreads or the like), you might want to do something about those as well.
Don’t have any art or books visible that anyone might find offensive or take issue with. I would avoid anything having anything to do with sex, race, religion, or politics, except for maybe one small, tasteful Christmas tree or menorah at this time of year. If you do have a Christmas tree, do a conventional, traditional theme this year- nothing exotic or cutesy. Lose the lawn ornaments or decorative outdoor flags, if you have any. I would go so far as to remove any political, religious, or otherwise potentially controversial bumper stickers on your cars, if there’s any chance prospective buyers will see them (and there probably is).