How to price house - help please

googler

"I suggest that you put the house on the market with at least 2 agents. a bit of competition between the agents is a good thing"

Only if the two agents have a demonstrably different approach, different advertising styles, or have something else to distinguish between the two.

There's no real advantage putting it on with two agents who have offices 30 yards apart on the same high street, who both use Rightmove, who both advertise in the same paper, etc, etc.....

princeofpounds

Frankly, the price is a secondary consideration when choosing estate agents, although inexplicably people seem to make it the primary one. You should choose based on visibility, service levels, the way they conduct their business relationships, their negotiation skills etc.

If you reject a better estate agent pricing at 200k for a poor one pricing an unrealistic 220k, the poor one isn't going to be able to sell it for 220k.

Pricing is YOUR decision, the agent only advises (and can reject work if they think it's so high it's ridiculous).

As to pricing itself, you have to ask yourself if you are serious about selling it. Many asking prices in the market are not going to generate a transaction right now - in technical terms, there is a high bid-ask spread (google it).

You have three basic options. Price low, get attention and lots of viewings and maybe an offer. Try to guess exactly the right price to generate a transaction. Price high, get little interest and hope someone is an idiot and comes along thinking 30% of a 30% overvalued house is a bargain. Take your pick.

The whole notion of 'should I get x% off asking price' is a totally bogus concept as the asking price is a totally arbitrary figure with only psychological importance. But unfortunately it's how the human mind works.

elliewelly_2

Hi thanks everyone, I am really grateful for your thoughts and comments. I just want to be clear that we arent choosing the estate agent on price - except that one of our considerations for chosing an estate agent is that we want one who shares our requirements in terms of selling and who we think will do a good job. Their attitude towards valuation is also an indication of their attitude as a whole - or that's what we thought anyway.

For example, the guy who totally overpriced ie valued us on a parr with what is a better house albeit in an identical location with identical layout, obviously didnt either take any notice of the inside of our property or do his homework.

OH is going to drop into the estate agents offices tonight and and ask some of the questions suggested today.

Thanks for the comments re multi-agency but we have already decided to go sole agency for similar reasons to those outlined by googler above.

Our preference is for no tie-in period too - these varied massively from none, 2 weeks, 12 weeks & 16 weeks. Although they each had their reasons for suggesting why their approach was the best of course.

Will update if there is any progress later - everyone's thoughts and experiences are really useful so keep them coming please. Thanks.

Manual_Reversion

googler wrote: »

Judge the market, get the realistic price right first time, and market it at that price.

Googler has hit the nail on the head with this. This is no time for sellers' games. If you want it sold just get it done, don't mess around for months on end watching the value slip away further. The trick of increasing the asking price in order to furnish buyer with a perceived bargain when vendor subsequently accepts 20% off the inflated price doesn't work from what I can see on Rightmove / Property Bee.

We sold in autumn 2008. We went with the agents' suggested asking price of peak minus 5%, had viewings but no offers in 8 weeks. Agent, almost apologetically, they phoned to suggest knocking 10k off the asking price. We told them to take another 5k off while they were at it in order to get it slightly ahead of the market. Sold it straight away. We weren't forced sellers, but we wanted to get it sold and had to be pragmatic about it.

chickmug

Hello Elliewelly

I have posted this before which may be of help to you. I am posting again rather than giving a link to the last post as I have updae it and not sure whether I can completely replace the whole of the previos post.

If anyone would like to add to it I can update again.

---

Some thoughts on what to look for when choosing an agent. Can anyone really get the answers to all these questions? I say can anyone afford not to get answers. You are spending thousands of pounds and if you were spending this amount on anything else (TV, camera, second hand car) you would probably research the matter just as thoroughly.

I am now retired (ex agent) and only ever found the odd person ask all these questions. Most were only interested in what’s the best price you can get, how much do you charge and how soon will you sell.

CHOOSING AN ESTATE AGENT TO SELL YOUR HOME

Draw up a list of possible agents by: -

• Looking at the Yellow pages or Yell.com
• Looking at agents adverts in the newspapers – which ones grab your attention?
• Looking at agent’s web sites – easy to use – request details to see how the site works and how quickly you are sent the details.
• Solicit recommendations - not just those who sold very quick with no problems. You want those who went through problems and difficulties selling so they were better able to assess how the agent overcame the issues.
• Visit their offices to see if they look welcoming – go in and ask for sale details to see how your enquiry was handled.
• Do their staff look to young (inexperienced), too old (lost any enthusiasm), too casual (sitting there doing their knitting or reading magazines), or too slick (interested more in the £££’s).
• Are their windows fresh and make the properties look tempting?

The Questions to which you want answers: -

• Are they members of professional bodies? This will make complaining more effective should it get to that point.
• How flexible they are on commission? And do they price match?
• Who deals with you once you are on the market and then once a sale is agreed? Hopefully it will be someone who knows what they are doing. In smaller agents it is common to be dealt with a by a partner who would have good incentive to get the sale for you.
• How are viewers are vetted. Are those that request a viewing asked - can they afford it, do they need to sell, are they sold, what is their chain and who exactly will be viewing?
• Do they accompany viewings and who will be present on their behalf? A casual part timer with low incentive to sell or someone more senior with a much greater interest in success? Do they have certain times only when they will accompany a viewer – seven days a week, mornings, afternoons and evenings?
• Ask to have sight of their selling agreement and if they are prepared to vary it should you feel uncomfortable with any parts.
• Be sure you know whether you want to go Sole Selling Rights SSR (whoever sells even if you sell to your friends you will have to pay the commission), Sole Agency SA (you can only use one estate agent but usually can sell privately) or Multiple Agency MA (you can use other agents and as many as you want. The problem with this latter option is the agent’s incentive is reduced and their commission is a lot higher. If you go on with more than a couple of agents many will not spend their money even though they will take your house on. Finally will they agree to named exclusions even on SSR such as if a neighbour, workmate or friend buys?
• What is their minimum period of engagement? This varies around the country but 12 weeks is long enough preferably shorter but you will find resistance from many agents as they want a decent period of time in which to recoup their expenses in marketing.
• Your exact liability if they did not sell after the minimum period and you switched agents. I suggest they provide a list of all those they feel they have introduced and to which they may feel they have a commission due. If you switched one thing most people do not do is make sure the new agent agrees to split commission with the earlier agents should that situation arise. So effectively you will pay no more than the equivalent of one commission.
• How complaints are are handled in their office.
• Ask if they will expect you to use their HIP, solicitor, broker, etc.
• Can they provide recent testimonials?
• What media will be used, what type of adverts and what frequency?
• How soon will they get it on the web sites? And how soon can they update should anything change?
• How often will they contact you to give an update?
• When a sale is agreed how often will they contact you to update you?
• Do they take a passive or proactive stance SELLING for you and not just giving out sales details showing people around?
• How experienced are they especially to resolve any problems that may and do arise especially when a sale is agreed.
• How can they persuade you that they will negotiate very hard to get the best price possible?

Sales details
How soon will the draft set be issued to you?
Are they happy for you to be able to omit, add and alter once you have been sent the draft set?
If you are not happy with any pictures will they happily change and if the outside shots were taken on a drab day will they re-take as soon as possible in better weather?

Good Questions to ask the valuer (the questions rarely asked but difficult to answer)
Why should I use your firm?
Why do you think your firm is any better than (quote their main competitors)?
I will be paying a great deal of money to use your services why shouldn’t I use a web based firm or sell privately which will cost a lot less.

googler

"Our preference is for no tie-in period too - these varied massively from none, 2 weeks, 12 weeks & 16 weeks. Although they each had their reasons for suggesting why their approach was the best of course."

Evidently one (perhaps foolish) agent has agreed to a zero tie-in, but it seems like madness to me.

Put yourself in the agent's shoes - would you commit to the start-up work - schedules, photos, web, etc, etc, if there was a prospect of you, the client, walking away with no penalty after 1 or 2 days?

Go on, give your agent a decent shot at selling it and stick with him for 6 weeks at least..... even if he does give you a zero tie-in

pawpurrs

QT you think thats bad when I had mine valued the prices ranged from 249950 to 449950 :eek:

GDB2222

googler wrote: »

"I suggest that you put the house on the market with at least 2 agents. a bit of competition between the agents is a good thing"

Only if the two agents have a demonstrably different approach, different advertising styles, or have something else to distinguish between the two.

There's no real advantage putting it on with two agents who have offices 30 yards apart on the same high street, who both use Rightmove, who both advertise in the same paper, etc, etc.....

I agree and I should have said that. You want agents in different areas. For example, when we sold my late aunt's house in Mill Hill we used an agent in Mill Hill and another one a few miles down the road in Hendon. These are areas in London which are broadly comparable, so somebody looking in Hendon might easily be persuaded to look a little bit further afield in Mill Hill. In the end, the Hendon agent was the one who sold the property, and we ended up with to competing buyers. So, yes, a bit of competition is a great thing.

An alternative approach is to choose one agent who specialises in property a bit more upmarket than the property you are trying to sell. If the upmarket agent has a potential buyer who cannot afford the upmarket prices he can pull your property out of the drawer.

By the way, there is no particular reason for paying your agent a flat percentage of the property sale price. If you reckon the property is bound to sell for at least £120,000, you could offer the agent 0% for the first £115,000 and 10% for anything over that. The agent does not have to agree to that, but his reaction will tell you a lot about how much he thinks the property will sell for.

QTPie

pawpurrs wrote: »

QT you think thats bad when I had mine valued the prices ranged from 249950 to 449950 :eek:

Wow!!! :eek:

googler

"By the way, there is no particular reason for paying your agent a flat percentage of the property sale price. If you reckon the property is bound to sell for at least £120,000, you could offer the agent 0% for the first £115,000 and 10% for anything over that. The agent does not have to agree to that, but his reaction will tell you a lot about how much he thinks the property will sell for."

In the current climate, with the prospect of non-housing financial factors having a major effect on house prices, taking on any property for (potentially) zero return would be, IMHO, absolute madness and/or business suicide - take your pick.