I came across this story in the Washington Post, on a subject near and dear to my heart — the “freshened” listing.

Freshening up a listing by withdrawing it and relisting it several months later is a trick that has been used for a long time. It is particularly popular when properties have languished from one year into the next because the numbers assigned within a multiple listing service correlate to the year, and sometimes the date, the property is listed.

Primarily because new properties garner more attention, many agents/sellers pull their listing for a few months and then re-list it with a new entry date. But does that mean that’s all you need to do? Thankfully Illyce Glink does say that you may have to look more at your house when it’s not selling rather than freshening listings.

Instead, she says to stage your home — no news there, to rethink your price:

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.

And finally, use the Internet to virally market your home. Either way, we both agree that “freshening” a listing isn’t the only thing holding your house back from being sold. Another look at the property and may come up with a few ideas of how to sell it faster (hint: drop the price.)