How to price house

Sue_S

We would like to achieve £400K for our house but can't decide pricing strategy. Should we put it on at £425K and accept offers? Or OIEO £400K (or will we be get too low offers) or put it at £410K or £415K?

Any advice welcomed. £400K is a reasonable/low price looking at recently sold properties nearby.

agrinnall

It's difficult to say without knowing the local market and the strategies employed in that area. I would suggest that you discuss it with the Estate Agents that you are considering using and pick the combination of strategy and confidence in EA's abilities that best suits you.

somethingcorporate

If you put £400k you will need to expect offers below this number whether or not you put offers over, OIEO etc.

If you want to get £400k and £425k does not look unreasonable then go with this number. In terms of RM if people are searching up to £400k they would obviously miss yours.

Are you in a massive hurry? If not then test the waters with the higher number, you may get a better price. If you want to sell quickly and £400k is competitive then obviously start lower.

What does your EA advise?

david1951

It really does depend on the area, current markets conditions, what the house is like, and a whole host of other factors.

You could start at a low number (£400K) to attract lots of buyers, who all then go to a bidding war. As others have pointed out this means that you get buyers who look 'up to 400K' in Rightmove. This can be done effectively with houses that are in excellent decorative order, so that people are encouraged to view and then fall in love with it, etc.

Alternatively you could start at a higher number £425K with the hope of settling at £400K. This runs the risk of getting few/no offers and then buyers are in the driving position.

Neither strategy is guaranteed to work.

You have to speak to a few estate agents and go with the one you feel most comfortable with.

AdrianC

The price that goes on the ad doesn't actually affect the price that you're willing to accept - it's purely a marketing decision. What else comparable is on the market in your area? How's that priced?

Personally, I regard anything other than a simple figure as being pretentious rubbish.

Philuk

I wouldn't really consider the prices other properties have achieved, sale prices are usually released months later, and not relevant to the competition you are facing. After all, the buyers always buy the best property available in the area for their budget so you have to be this best house at a given moment.


As a prospective buyer, once I decide I like a property, I take the floor plan and calculate the price per square meter. I then compare it against properties within the area and weight whether any differences could be explain by specific factors such as condition, outside space, etc. Any mispricing appears very clearly that way.

alumende27

I find it annoying when people say 'OIEO'. If they want more than that, then just say what they expect, it always strikes me as someone just being greedy and trying it on.

Find a good estate agent who will know how to appropriately market the property, that's what you pay them for! I've always steered clear of the ones that reckon they can get the highest price if it's way above other valuations, always assumed they just say that to get the contract, perhaps incorrectly.

fairy_lights

dsdhall wrote: »

I find it annoying when people say 'OIEO'. If they want more than that, then just say what they expect, it always strikes me as someone just being greedy and trying it on.

Yes same here, if you want offers in excess of a certain figure, why not just advertise it at the price you want?

Sue_S

Earlier in the year I had agent valuations ranging from 380K to 465K so it was difficult to price. I've got another agent coming round tomorrow who's sold a couple locally in the past few months so I'll see what they say. Thanks for everybody's opinions, much appreciated as my friends are starting to avoid me because all I talk about is house selling :0

hazyjo

I'll be in the same boat - am expecting valuations between £500-550k+ and the last six months have thrown me - I'm really not sure what it's worth any more. I think £520k is a fair price to achieve, but things seem to be going within a week for the asking price or offers over. Asking prices have definitely risen again in the last few weeks. I'm worried about underpricing, or people not wanting to go over the asking price if I'm way under for fear they're overpaying.


I hate brackets, but have seen it on most of the houses I've looked at elsewhere, so I might contemplate it. Will see what the EAs say once I'm ready for valuations although will probably use an online one.


I might be back lol...


Good luck, OP - let us know what happens.


You can have all the house talk you like here My BF has learnt to love property talk (he hated it), and my mum has always been interested.


Jx

ElsieMonkey

Personally I think OIEO is off-putting. It leaves a buyer unsure of where they stand or how to judge your property before even getting through the door. And you don't want this because you have the best chance of achieving your best price the more people you get through the door!

What price you do go for obviously depends on your area, condition of property etc. However I'd be brutally honest with yourself when assessing your competition and your own property, and price your property competitively to stand out in RM search results as offering the best value for money. You need to put yourself in the shoes of the viewer. i think a mistake a lot of people make when selling their property is confusing what they would like or need for their property with what the market is actually prepared to pay for it.

I've lost count of the amount of properties I've looked at which are clearly overpriced compared to over comparable properties, but the owners won't budge because they need XXX in order to move on to where they want...that's not the concern of the buyer or a reason to price at XXX. I looked at a lovely property recently up at 290k. Another down the road for 270k. The difference between them? The 270k one had bigger kitchen, larger front and back garden, double garage and rear access. It was priced very competitively. I put an offer in and had 260k accepted. The other although lovely is still sitting on the market. Don't lose buyers or your initial impact coming to the market by pricing too high.