Pricing house - what to do

Aqua1985

I last sold a property 10/12 years ago and things seem to  have changed. 

The old logic was if your house was valued at 280/285 you would probably list it at 290/300 and hope you got an offer close to the asking price.
Had three valuations on our property of 260,270 and 280. One EA wanted to put in on for the 280 the other two wanted 250-255 and get some sort of bidding war to achieve 265+. The logic was to get people through the door and right move search parameters etc but would be interested in peoples thoughts? 

simon_or

I don't have any statistics to prove it but anecdotally and based on what I see in the town I live in, it's appears to be the lowball-asking-price-triggers-bidding-war strategy that seems to be getting the seller the best offers, at least for properties that are 'desirable'.

babyblade41

look at comparable properties & what they have actually sold for not what they are selling .

This should give you an indication of a ball park figure 

Ramouth

I think agents are keen on the “price it low and get a bidding war going” strategy because it makes their stats look great on the agent comparison website.  

When we were selling ours there was a 25% difference between the suggested listing prices.  We went for and achieved the highest figure.  I do not believe that a bidding war would have got to anything like the same figure.  

The agent who had suggested the lowest figure had excellent stats for achieving asking price and selling quickly but I can’t help thinking this was just because they value low.

Zerforax

Will also depend on your area and what kind of places are most sought after.

What is your time scale? Do you need a relatively quick sale or are you happy to potentially wait 2-6 months to sell?

Is money or speed of sale more important to you?

I've seen some estate agents who pitch prices low to achieve quick sales after a weekend of viewings. And I've seen another local estate agent who always overprices their listings but I guess it gets more vendors to give them listing in the first place?

donutandbeer

I don’t like deliberately listing too low for an insane bidding war. You will attract people who can only afford the listed low price, and if you are just not going to accept that price, it’s a waste of time.

We had 4-5 estate agents around for evaluation, then we picked one whose attitude & personality we liked the most. They actually gave us the highest evaluation range, but we adjusted the guide price to what we feel comfortable of, also because we preferred a quicker sale. 

Marcus-H_2

When I see properties listed as offers over £, I don't even bother wasting a mouse click.
As for the 3 valuations - take into account the commission. Some work on low commission, but likely to price the house lower for a quicker sale. You can always drop the price later, but you can't up it.

GDB2222

The one strategy that doesn’t work, for sure, is overprice the property and watch it languishing on the market whilst gradually reducing the price. 

gwynlas

Look at the estate agents themselves and compare their sold stats and who sells similar houses to yourself. Also whether their photographs look professional and are their descriptions generic or individualised. Who is doing viewings and are they well informed or know little about theit stock, would you be happy buying through them? The ones with the higher price might be pitching knowing that it can be lowered on the other hand they might acknowledge that your home stands out in the market and can achieve their asking price. 

movilogo

EAs prefer open house as it is less work for them and encourage bidding war. 

However, this staregy can backfire in case house doesn't get sold in Open House. 

I have noticed recently some Open Houses are happening within a short window - like 2-3 hours only - compared against all day long until a few months back.

2 EAs I spoke with have admitted that they are not getting enough buyers lined up to conduct all day long Open Houses any more.

While this is location specific, it does indicate majority of buyers are now fed up with bidding war. 

diystarter7

Go for the EA with the lowest commission ad put it on the market at the highest valuation plus a few k's on top and see what happens over the 7 days. If not views at all lower the price a bit if viewing, then stick to the price and be ready to accept slightly lower offers, especially from those with no chain.