Do I ask for more than £250,000

featherball

My husband and I are going our separate ways.

Our house has been valued at £285,000 approx.

It is an ex council house.

Is it worth putting it on the market for this price where it's 3% stamp duty or put it on for lower so it's only 1% stamp duty?

Thanks

MadelinesMum

Hi, I would put it on for the valuation price. Get at least three valuations. Do a bit of research and see what similar houses made recently and then you'll see if you're on the right track.

Don't forget you can haggle with estate agent over fees and the length of contract and check the whole contract as sometimes they stick in horrible clauses.

Good luck.

Ozzuk

It depends how urgent the sale is really, nothing stopping you listing at 285, you can always drop the price/accept lower offers. The stamp duty thing does stick in peoples mind but you're talking dropping over 10% to save someone 2%

princeofpounds

If it's on at 285, it sounds like the agent wants to push for over the 250k barrier.

However bear in mind that many agents overvalue on their first visit, in order to get greedy vendors onto their books (despite the fact that marketing price is probably the last reason you should choose an agent, as any fool can write any old price on a poster).

I'd follow Ozzuk's advice. Market for 285 but try to agree in advance if you will accept lower offers and try a lower price after a certain period without success. Hopefully means less argument.

ethank

Have you checked rightmove and zoopla? Are there any comparables? What have other houses in the street sold for recently?

Jonbvn

Hi OP,

We were in a very similar situation to you earlier this year. We eventually had our house on the market for £275k and was sold to a cash buyer a month later at £265k. Of course it really depends on local area, demand etc. etc.

AdrianC

The SDLT difference will cost the buyer £5k. No more than that. If you were within that kind of range of the threshold, it might be worth worrying about - but the difference is seven times that.

booksurr

285k asking price is hinting to buyers that you are well aware of the SDLT threshold at 250k but will not accept offers as low as that, so anyone serious about your property is going to be in the 3% bracket for SDLT even after they have made a below asking price offer

then again it is all mind games and depends on your area and demand

Unitoons

We marketed our property at £280k and I was initially worried about the stamp duty threshold. However, we noticed there were a shortage of properties in our area in this price range and we had several asking price offers with 24hrs of instructing the sale.
If the property is worth £285k then you should have no problems achieving this! It is far enough above the £250k mark to show potential buyers that you are looking for more than this!

Mallotum_X

As said above 285 is well past the stamp duty, so if thats a fair valuation then typically you would be asking something like 288 - 290k to do a deal at the 285.

If your valuation was just over 250, say 260 then you would be unlikely to get more than 250.