Thoughts on this selling tactic?

bylromarha

House has been on the market since April. We're relocating 170 miles over the summer whether the house has sold or not as I have a new job starting in Sept and we want the kids in new school for the new academic year.

We had wanted to be settled in the new house by mid August, but accept that's never going to happen now. However, we still want to get sold as close to this date as we can as we can find a short term solution whilst the sale completes.

So the tactic: house is on for £138,950. Since April we've accepted one offer of £133,000 and another of £134,950, so know we're in the right area pricewise- Rightmove sold prices confirm too. Annoyingly both buyers pulled out pretty soon after offer accepted due to parents not offering as much cash as promised (:eek: I know) or buyer who carried on looking and found another house he liked more.

Thinking we reduce the price dramatically to Offers over £122k, seller pays stamp duty, sealed bids by 8th July. Thought process behind this is that it'll put the house down into the 120-130k band, so more potential viewers walking in the door. Us paying the stamp duty will stop people thinking "I'm just offering up to £125k".

Crazy tactic or an astute one which should pay off? All thoughts gratefully received - even the ones I don't want to hear!

mrginge

offers over is a waste of time if you ask me.

Just put it at a straight 125k.

bylromarha

mrginge wrote: »

offers over is a waste of time if you ask me.

Why do you say that?

houseimprover

bylromarha wrote: »

Why do you say that?

Because it shows ur minimum you would accept and a few people would offer under that anyway

Ivana_Tinkle

If you pay the stamp duty it counts as a vendor gifted deposit, which means your buyer won't be able to get a mortgage.

I'm afraid if you need a quick sale you're best off just straightforwardly dropping the price.

lessonlearned

I agree that "offers over" are a bit of a non-starter. People will just offer what they want anyway regardless. You might even put off potential viewers who will just assume that you are totally unrealistic and inflexible.

Better to just say OIRO - Offers in the Region Of.

As for price - it's a huge drop from £139 to £122k - unless of course your price was over-inflated to start with. However you say you've already received offers at £134K and £135k. This would suggest that your asking price isn't too far out.

Unless you are truly desperate to sell I wouldn't slash your price to £122k. Take advice from your EA. They will have a better idea of market conditions in your area.

If you are truly desperate then £125K should generate plenty of interest. The danger with a drastic reduction to £122k is that people will realise that you are desperate to sell and will come in with really low offers.

Don't give your house away.

Smith_007

Offers over is meaningless.

Do you seriously think any buyer is going to offer over the minimum price you have given? (Scotland excepted due to the different system). A buyer will only offer what they think it is worth, regardless of how or what you set your price as.

Incidentally, we bought our last house at £9k under the 'offers over' price...... We found out the vendor was in debt (the vendors pre-payment utility meters were our first clue) and was desperate for a quick sale. His loss was our gain.

DaftyDuck

Drop price to ~ £135,000 for a month to see what happens. The two offers you got were an indication you were in the right ballpark. If you put "Offers over £122,000 waffle something blah", I promise you, all I see is "Offers around £122,000", and I'll be offering £116,000, heading to £119,995, or just possibly £121,000. But not a penny more.

Once you've advertised at a lowered price (and only got offers like mine would be), it's difficult to bump the price up again... and I'd not resubmit an offer either.