Psychological Pricing

suttonjr85

My house was valued between £200k - £215k. Listed at the lowest valuation to gain more interest....month later had only 3 viewings and nothing else lined up. Disappointed to say the least. 

I'm debating dropping the price to £198k to get it relisted on Rightmove. I have to admit I'm sucked in by pricing and sure others are too hence why marketing companies use psychological pricing. Does it work with housing though? Can't find any info on the internet.

Has anyone got experiences of doing it this way?

Would i get more interest if I price it at say £197,500 rather then £198,000?

eidand

valued by whom?
Did you research the area to see how much similar properties sold for?
Have you checked other similar, current listings?

If you're not getting viewings it's always the price. A few k more or less makes no difference. The house would have to be overpriced  by quite a bit to not attract much interest. 

I think you're over-thinking this. There's nothing psychological about this process. You're either priced correctly in which case you will have the viewings and will sell, or you're not. It's as simple as that.

NameUnavailable

If your home is on for £200K anyone searching up to £200K should find it. The next level down on Rightmove is £190K so you would need to drop to that or less to make any real difference in who might see it.

The real question is, is it overpriced or is there some other 'issue' that is deterring potential buyers? You could post a link here to your listing and get some more feedback.

AskAsk

EA have all sorts of gimmick they can do to play with the price listing on rightmove.  speak to your EA and get their advice.

numbercruncher8

Personally I don't think psychological pricing works in house purchases. Definitely in consumer goods where the 99p price point works, but this is non-negotiable. By contrast a house on at £200k will end up mostly selling for a variety of values underneath.

Dropping the price £2k will make the listing appear in the recent Rightmove search, but the viewers who viewed at £200k may know what's happened, browser extensions tell you when something was listed and when it was reduced.

If you're gonna drop the price I would do it as few times as possible. Someone reducing in £2k increments looks to me to be desperate or a nit picker, that is my impression. 

There is something to be said for dropping it into a new price band, so people that previously excluded it may pick it up. That's £190k.

ElizabethRose

I think dropping by such a small amount is pointless and won't have any effect as it won't change the price bracket on rightmove. 

What is your local area like? Are properties selling or are you in an area where the market is quiet? How does it compare to other properties? You say the pictures look fantastic but are they weird angles which makes it look like the agent is trying to make it bigger or lighter than it is? I'd suggest posting a link as you'll get a wide range of feedback to help.

ElephantBoy57

eidand said:

valued by whom?
If you're not getting viewings it's always the price.

Has it been advertised, has it got a for sale board outside? If people haven't seen it advertised, they won't even know its for sale.

numbercruncher8

It says listed, so it is.
Unless there is incredibly large footfall, I think a board outside makes only a tiny difference as virtually everyone will search via the portals.

Classic EA stuff though, give a high valuation and act all surprised when it doesn't get viewings - they are hardly gonna admit so soon that they were too optimistic. Don't see the listing so can't say for sure but it is possible that all of the agents tried a value on the high side to get the business. Seen quite a few listings (London) where the listing price equals the highest sold price (or priced above to equal that price) in the street/block from a few years ago - those prices are too high today.

RelievedSheff

If you are not getting people through the door for viewings it would suggest that either the advert is very poor or that the price is too high, or possibly a combination of the two.

I think there is little merit in dropping the price in small increments. You have only been on the market for a month which is really hardly any time at all. Give it a bit longer and if no viewers come forward then it is perhaps time to reassess the price.

getmore4less

Someone needs to do some proper research to see how many are buying at the price point and what they are buying.

Most of my "more like this" have shown good numbers since the market restarted in June with good sell through rates of well priced properties and even some not so good that were left overs from before March. 

post a link and I can do one for yours.

My house was valued between £200k - £215k. 

In June you said it had been valued at £185k by 1 agent, you seem to have ignored that and gone with the another agent.

Live in a victorian mid terrace. We paid £173,000 3 years ago. On Zoopla it is valued between £196k - 213k (take that valuation with a pinch of salt) and our bank value it at £191k. 2 bed house on our road go for around £180k, we are a rare 3 bed. 3 beds on this road recently have sold for £198k (worse looking then our house, needed new windows and doors), our house is well decorated and ready to move in. I expected it to be marketed at £200k and would have accepted £193k. However a well known agent valued it at £185k

Reading the rest of the post you may have misjudged the market if you are getting no viewings.
You say this is a rare 3bed in 2bed land, maybe those buying 3 beds prefer a different area.

More like this research will help with that

If the agent can't explain no viewings you are in trouble they will give up(maybe have allready) and focus on property they can sell..

BrOz

The viewings came in when the house price came into the right search brackets eg: 200k I dropped 5k to do this.

When I view houses listed at odd prices I round it all up so that wouldn't work on me. I house advertised at 198k would be 200k to me. 

One thing to note is how available is your EA? How quick do they respond? I requested to view a home and the EA said they were so busy they couldn't fit me in for 2 weeks and I was very flexible with times and dates - I said ASAP. I'm still waiting to view this House BUT I'm viewing one today that's cheaper and looks better so I'll probably end up offering on this house and cancelling the other as I'm waiting too long. I bet most people didn't even book a viewing if they had to wait 2 weeks because the agent is too busy.