How do YOU use Rightmove? + Pricing structure.

EssexHebridean

Ok - I’m curious to know how other people use RM, to try to work out what impact a particular property price level might have on the number of people seeing the listing.

When I’m searching with looking for suitable properties in mind, I have it set to show newest listed first - as if I’ve been looking for a while, I want to see new stuff coming on that I might be interested in, so this sort order makes sense for me. Our agent is saying that the price being “on the nail” for one of the price bracket levels is all-important though, as it that means the property will “show at the top of that price bracket” - which could indeed be true, but surely only until another property at that same price point is listed? (As my assumption is that at that point, date listed order becomes relevant again?)

The agent favours a “guide price” approach and claims that even if our actual “desired price” (I know - it’s not that simple, but hopefully my meaning is clear enough) is in the middle range of the guide price, that will be fine because if someone really wants the property they’ll “be able to stretch themselves”. My view is that because of the way RM shows things, the bottom of the guide price effectively shows as the asking price, and most people will offer below that at least as a starting point, and at this point in time, assuming that someone is going to be able to actually afford anything up to £10k more than the top range price they were looking at just feels wrong. (For context, our target market is likely to be FTBs, and it actually feels ethically wrong to me to lure someone in with an “asking price” and then tell them that “well, actually, we’re looking for more than that” - I’m well aware that anyone wanting to act ethically around buying and selling properties is unusual, but we’re keen to act in a way that means we can sleep at night! ) 

My take on it is that an “offers in the region of” price slightly above what we actually hope to get (realistic price, not what the agent claims we can get)  would hopefully attract offers close to the right level - any offers below what we are realistically likely to accept are indeed likely to still have sufficient “wiggle room” built in to be able to reasonably say “you’re close, but we’re looking for a little more”.

Thoughts?

Sarah1Mitty2

Are you using PropertyLog, without that you are guessing in the dark really.

eddddy

EssexHebridean said:

Our agent is saying that the price being “on the nail” for one of the price bracket levels is all-important though, as it that means the property will “show at the top of that price bracket” - which could indeed be true, but surely only until another property at that same price point is listed? (As my assumption is that at that point, date listed order becomes relevant again?)

I really don't think that things like listing position in RM is so important for considered purchases - like buying a house.

(Listing position might be important for impulse purchases - like fashion. You might see a 'funky' shirt you like at the top of a list and decide to buy it instantly, without checking to see what other 'funky' shirts are available from other sellers.)


If somebody is seriously house-hunting, I don't think they'd just look at the first property in the listing (or just the first 5 or just the first 10) and ignore the rest.

More likely they'll thoroughly search the listing, hoping to find a 'hidden gem'.

And once they've done 'drive-bys' of a few properties, and they've done a bunch of viewings - they'll have long forgotten the position of each property in the RM listing.

EssexHebridean said:

The agent favours a “guide price” approach and claims that even if our actual “desired price” (I know - it’s not that simple, but hopefully my meaning is clear enough) is in the middle range of the guide price, that will be fine because if someone really wants the property they’ll “be able to stretch themselves”. ...

This sounds like estate agent guff, which is intended to bamboozle sellers.

For example...

• The EA is expecting offers of £250k
• The seller wants an asking price of £270k
• So the EA says "Let's generate interest by advertising a Guide price of £260k to £270k. With all the extra interest, people will bid against each other to reach £270k"
• Then when an offer of £250K comes in, the EA tries to get the seller to accept it.

Martico

I trawl the map view of the area I want, min beds and other essentials filtered, set a price way above what I can afford, set no minimum price, and search and learn as I go

Sunsaru

Martico said:

I trawl the map view of the area I want, min beds and other essentials filtered, set a price way above what I can afford, set no minimum price, and search and learn as I go

If you're not hitting the 3rd or 4th page then you're not doing it right...

EssexHebridean

eddddy said:

EssexHebridean said:

Our agent is saying that the price being “on the nail” for one of the price bracket levels is all-important though, as it that means the property will “show at the top of that price bracket” - which could indeed be true, but surely only until another property at that same price point is listed? (As my assumption is that at that point, date listed order becomes relevant again?)

I really don't think that things like listing position in RM is so important for considered purchases - like buying a house.

(Listing position might be important for impulse purchases - like fashion. You might see a 'funky' shirt you like at the top of a list and decide to buy it instantly, without checking to see what other 'funky' shirts are available from other sellers.)


If somebody is seriously house-hunting, I don't think they'd just look at the first property in the listing (or just the first 5 or just the first 10) and ignore the rest.

More likely they'll thoroughly search the listing, hoping to find a 'hidden gem'.

And once they've done 'drive-bys' of a few properties, and they've done a bunch of viewings - they'll have long forgotten the position of each property in the RM listing.

EssexHebridean said:

The agent favours a “guide price” approach and claims that even if our actual “desired price” (I know - it’s not that simple, but hopefully my meaning is clear enough) is in the middle range of the guide price, that will be fine because if someone really wants the property they’ll “be able to stretch themselves”. ...

This sounds like estate agent guff, which is intended to bamboozle sellers.

For example...

• The EA is expecting offers of £250k
• The seller wants an asking price of £270k
• So the EA says "Let's generate interest by advertising a Guide price of £260k to £270k. With all the extra interest, people will bid against each other to reach £270k"
• Then when an offer of £250K comes in, the EA tries to get the seller to accept it.

Yes - you’ve essentially echoed my thoughts on the subject - thank you. We won’t be entertaining a bidding war - if it came to a number of people interested (which would be lovely, but unlikely!) we would realistically go to best and finals, and then review each with a view to the position the buyer was in as well as the actual offer made. Once we’ve accepted an offer, that will be that.

My gut feeling is that the sort of people who will never go past the “top” listing probably wouldn’t be likely to proceed right through anyway! 

I think the agents are a little thrown by encountering people who don’t simply accept that “the agent must know best because they are the agent” - neither MrEH or I are strangers to encountering EA BS, and they are currently being expected to work a little harder for their comms than they might be accustomed to, let’s say! 😆

Martico said:

I trawl the map view of the area I want, min beds and other essentials filtered, set a price way above what I can afford, set no minimum price, and search and learn as I go

Yes - that largely ties up with my parameters too - I didn’t think I could be alone in this approach! Thank you! 

bex2012

When we were looking two years ago, I didnt set any filters. We only wanted a very specific area so I just had RM set to newest listings in that area. I could see from the listings what was detached, price, number of bedrooms etc, but then I was checking daily.

Jonboy_1984

Martico said:

I trawl the map view of the area I want, min beds and other essentials filtered, set a price way above what I can afford, set no minimum price, and search and learn as I go

Same here, and this matched how I set my alerts having bought when the market was hotter…

MFWannabe

When we were looking it was a specific area and I put in just over my max budget and sorted by newest 

GDB2222

Interesting. Someone new to the area would most likely list in price order. As you know, the default order is price, decreasing. 

It’s only after they have been looking for a while that they will shift to newest first. 

EssexHebridean

GDB2222 said:

Interesting. Someone new to the area would most likely list in price order. As you know, the default order is price, decreasing. 

It’s only after they have been looking for a while that they will shift to newest first. 

I’d agree with that. Our suspicion is that our target market are relatively unlikely to be new to the area, but it’s not beyond the bounds of possibility that it could happen. 

Thanks to all for their comments here - much appreciated!