Advertised Price - OIRO, No Offers etc?

not_loaded

Hi, we’ve finally got to the point of putting our house on the market. We’ve had agents in for evaluation. They've been highly complimentary in general, and we’ve had no recommendations for problem sorting before marketing.

Our problem is how to show the price. Let’s say we are told that £200,000 is what we ‘should get’ for the property, then should we ask that amount with ‘no offers’ or should we ask say, £220,000 on the basis that most viewers/buyers will offer below the advertised amount?

My view is that asking £200,000 would almost certainly encourage offers of £175,000 or £180,000. I’d be very interested in MSE users opinions on this.

charliee_3

dont do no offers... maybe you should use that old chestnut 'offers over 200k'
people may veiw and offer lower but you may just get that person who loves it and wants to offer you the full 200k to secure it.
bear in mind though that whatever they offer, if it is overpriced and the survey say uh-uh they may ask to renegotiate a lower price when they have you over a barrel..

googler

If you want to get and should get £200k, then will anyone who's looking to buy AT £200k look at your house if you price it at £220k or so?

Won't they think it's outside their budget?

shirlgirl2004

Personally I'd put it on for £215k but 220 sounds OK too. Did the EA not advise you?

not_loaded

dont do no offers... maybe you should use that old chestnut 'offers over 200k'

Yes, I felt that ‘no offers’ is a bit of a hard-nosed approach. My wife feels that ‘offers over’ may well make people feel awkward at offering under. So hard to tell.

If you want to get and should get £200k, then will anyone who's looking to buy AT £200k look at your house if you price it at £220k or so? Won't they think it's outside their budget?

Simple answer, I don't know - that's what the question is all about. If they put the parameter into RightMove at £200k then obviously they won't see it at all. I have a feeling that in the present market situation, people will be looking above their budget on the basis of knocking people down on their asking price.

Personally I'd put it on for £215k but 220 sounds OK too. Did the EA not advise you?

Yes, I was thinking £210k or £215k would be okay, following my blind assumption that most viewers/buyers will offer below the advertised amount, but it is just that, a blind assumption on my part, and it's obviously interesting to know what other people think. Most of the agents shrugged their shoulders over the pricing, saying ‘who knows’?

Thank everybody for your views here, I think they're all very good points, and of course, I suppose there's no absolute ‘right answer’ on this.

chickmug

In my opinion do NOT ever ever use any of the terms
'Offers Over'
'Offers in the Region of'
'No Offers'.

There are exceptions for higher demand, or unique, houses but perhaps in a better market.

Once you know your bottom line add to it and £220k or £215k sound fine but tell you agent you are looking for a minimum higher than your bottom line or don't even tell them if you have a lower bottom line. All they will want to do is get a sale, to earn commission, and not be that bothered about getting as much as they can for you.

gemstars

I'd agree with chickmug. I'm in the process of buying for the first time and all those terms put me off.

I'd say listing at 215 is a good idea. All the advice for buyers tells you to offer under the asking price.

However, you might want to do more research into what your house is actually worth.

EAs tend to value high expecting offers to come in lower so if you then up the price thinking your house is worth the EAs estimate you might price it far to high and put people off even viewing.

JayZed

Yep, I agree with chickmug and gemstars, avoid "offers over" etc, and just stick it on at an asking price that leaves some room for negotiations.

To be honest, if you're hoping to get £200,000 for it, I'd be more aggressive and stick it on at £225,000 or even £230,000. I reckon that in this market buyers will be putting in offers of 12-15% below the asking price (£200,000 is a 13% discount on £230,000).

I don't think that googler's concern is valid: most people will look at properties up to around 15-20% above the top of their actual budget in the hope that they'll be able to negotiate a discount.

Of course, all this is predicated on the assumption that £200,000 is a reasonable target sale price. How many agents have you had to look at it? Have their estimates all been quite similar? Have they indicated that £200K is what you can expect as a sale price, or have they said that this should be your asking price? A lot of agents will suggest an asking price of X with the aim of achieving a sale price of Y.