1Take out an ad: We sell our second-hand cars this way, why not our house. A classified ad in a national newspaper costs just €12 per line, or around €84 per column, while a double-column display ad with colour image in a national newspaper can cost between €1300 and €1400.

2Pay and display: If your home is listed on daft.ie or myhome.ie and has been for sale for several months, you could pay extra to get it moved further up the listings pages. It will give potential buyers the impression that it's just new to the market.

3Hire a billboard: A timid looking 'for sale' sign will do nothing but alert your neighbours to the fact that you are on the move – and going nowhere. If you really want to turn heads and get people talking about your property, consider hiring a mobile billboard. "Mobile billboards have been popular with builders selling blocks of apartments because they allow you to target a certain area at key times," explains Barry Tiernan, sales director of www.adsonthemove.ie. The tactic could also work for individual vendors. Expect to pay around €300 per day for a mobile billboard which is on the road for eight hours. Most people hire them for a one-week period, according to Tiernan, and the good thing is you choose the route the mobile billboard takes to attract viewers to your property.

"It's not that unusual to hire a billboard to advertise your home," says Orla Vaughan, senior direct sales executive with JC Decaux. "One vendor selling a home in Galway last year hired a billboard on the Dublin to Galway Road and also in Ballsbridge to advertise his property being auctioned, and he got a huge response."

Expect to pay from €434 for a billboard in the suburbs for two weeks, and around €2,500 for a visible location in the city centre (www.jcdecaux.ie).

Alternatively you could do what one Florida estate agent did, and make large magnetic ads to decorate your car with.

4YouTube your home: In an effort to appeal to more buyers outside their neighbourhood and even outside Ireland, several Irish vendors have posted videos of their property for sale on YouTube. Some creative vendors have included before and after images which show how much blood, sweat and tears, (and money) have gone into the property.

An on-line profile can give your home invaluable cache, and the listing and membership is free.

If you haven't got a camcorder or would like a professional video, Meath-based company www.go4.i4 will help you make a virtual tour of your home. Their basic package starts at €39 and consists of turning pictures of your home into panoramic images, while for €149, they will take photos, create a tour and put it onto a website.

5Part exchange: If you have your heart set on a new home, some developers will buy your existing home in part exchange. You just pay the difference on trading up to one of their homes. Durkan Residential is offering part-exchange on its Silken Park development of detached four-bed homes in Citywest, Dublin 24 through Sherry FitzGerald New Homes.

6Bring your house to life with a dead celebrity:?It's wacky but it's one sure way of getting your house noticed. The idea is being championed by US real estate queen and property commentator on NBC, Barbara Corcoran. She advises sellers to "become friends with Photoshop" and use the software to paste pictures of dead celebrities into photographs of their home

"In the crowd of ads, the celebrity gimmick stands out. It breaks up the monotony of looking at listings. Potential buyers will remember a house as the Marilyn Monroe house or the Elvis house. An added bonus is they'll probably point out the ad to others," says Corcoran.

While photo-shopping a picture of Marilyn Monroe into your ex council house won't exactly get buyers through the door, you could try it with footballer George Best or musician Phil Lynott. If you're living in an artisan-style home, source a more literary 'friend' to slot into the background in your living room.

7Hold an open day: Host an open-day in your home at the weekend and advertise it by placing ads in your local supermarket, community centre, in the local paper and on-line, as well as on a sign outside your door. Hire a chef to do 'tastings' or offer tea and muffins to encourage potential buyers to browse. While this can really get people talking about your home, it can also attract some unwanted guests so be warned.

If there are a number of homes for sale on your road/estate, ask other sellers to team up to host an 'open-homes' day, where potential buyers could trail from house to house. This gives buyers the chance to meet neighbours and get a feel for the area.

8Accentuate the negatives: Take your cue from US couple Dave and Angela Hruby and accentuate your property's negatives. After their house in upmarket Edina, Minneapolis failed to sell having been on the market 10 months, Dave, an advertising copywriter set up his own website and marketed the house online as www.worst
houseinedina.com. The site has got 700,000 hits so far – although no buyers.

9If all else fails, throw in the dog: Okay, giving away the family dog might be taking things too far, but you could consider throwing in some added extras with the property like a boat, car, ride-on lawnmower or all the furniture.

10Or lifestyle freebies: Why not offer the services of a cleaner or gardener? One buyer in America was selling his home with free beer and pizza for a year.