How to price our house

Tinkertonian

Hello

New member here, first post. We are about to put our house on the market.

Background: we tried unsuccessfully to sell last year, when houses locally were selling really quickly and for above asking price. Three agents suggested a price of £425k, and a fourth suggested £385k (saying that they preferred to go lower to create interest, and expected it would sell for more).

We chose the agent we thought had the best service overall and did try to push back a little on £425k as we felt it was too high, but ultimately we had to trust their judgement as the professionals and we went on at that price. It didn’t sell, we reduced to £400k but by then the damage was done, i.e. people wondered what was wrong with it. I did then tell the agents again that it shouldn’t have been priced that high, and they agreed that in hindsight it should have gone on at £400k and would have sold easily at that price. 

The house has a lot going for it but is near (but not actually on) a junction  with traffic lights, albeit not actually that busy a junction. I think the agent was pricing generically for the house and area, and didn’t take this specific detail into account. 

We now have a different agent lined up who I’m really confident about. They suggested a high price of £375k and a low of £350k. We feel apprehensive about trying again, obviously, and are keen to get the price right. 

All of which is to say: should we go as low as possible to generate interest? Or start a little higher so we have room to reduce it a little if we need to? For comparison: there is a house just around the corner, similar condition or perhaps a little less desirable IMO, smaller (3 bed rather than our 4), but the position on the road is better (because it’s away from the junction). It’s been on at £365k for at least a couple of months and hasn’t sold. 

Any thoughts on which way to go with this? Thanks in advance 😊

JM68

Listing at (what you/the EA) consider to be a 'low' price does not necessarily generate (additional) interest.  But listing (too) high might put off some people from even viewing even though what they might offer could be acceptable to you.

Given the current market you are probably best 1) listing at lower than similar properties were being listed at last year and 2) giving yourself scope to reduce or accept an offer under asking. 

Based on what you have posted that sounds like listing at £375 initially. 

But selling (at a price you can work with) is always more challenging during housing market downturns as their are fewer buyers around and those selling properties you may be interested in moving to may not always be realistic about market changes when it comes to the prices they list at. 

AskAsk

EA always over inflate prices to get your custom.  i find even when i tell them that i want a realistic price as i don't want my house to be on the market forever, they will still come in at the higher end and you end up reducing later on.

you could argue the 4th bedroom compensates for the junction so your house is the same price as the other one that hasn't sold.  you could say offers over £350k to catch the low price and if there is a lot interest, this would facilitate the price to creep up above £350k.

Tinkertonian

Thanks for replies so far. 

I really feel like this agent is not inflating the price, they’ve made a lot of effort to understand the history and get to know the house as a specific house rather than just seeing it as ‘x-sized in y-area’. 

However, I feel a little uneasy about both figures. £375 might be this year’s version of our £425 last year, while £350 really doesn’t leave us much scope for reducing if needed. I wonder about £360 perhaps.

Would be great to see more opinions on this please if others have a view. 

Thanks

Skiddaw1

@Tinkertonian I'm with you. If it were me I'd market at £360.

TheJP

The seller sets the price, simple. What do you think its worth and what do you need for the next sale.

AskAsk

Tinkertonian said:

Thanks for replies so far. 

I really feel like this agent is not inflating the price, they’ve made a lot of effort to understand the history and get to know the house as a specific house rather than just seeing it as ‘x-sized in y-area’. 

However, I feel a little uneasy about both figures. £375 might be this year’s version of our £425 last year, while £350 really doesn’t leave us much scope for reducing if needed. I wonder about £360 perhaps.

Would be great to see more opinions on this please if others have a view. 

Thanks

EA like prices to drop into the rightmove price selector band.  350k or 375k, which is why they have advised you of these two figures.  effectively they think it may go between 350k and 375k.  which is where "offers over 350k" come in as you can still be expecting 360k but it will fit into the rightmove banding.  it means you won't miss out anyone searching for properties 350k and under, should you not catch anyone interested above the 350k mark and have to reduce a couple of weeks' time.

sugar-walsh

I'd go at 375k and be willing to accept a lower offer. Unless you want yo go yesterday, then go for the lower number. 
People who can afford 350k are lookingbat 375 houses with a view to knocking some off.

Tinkertonian

TheJP said:

The seller sets the price, simple. What do you think its worth and what do you need for the next sale.

I don’t know how much it is worth;  whatever someone will pay for it, as I often hear/read. Locally there are no near-matches - 3x 3-beds (inc. the one mentioned previously) with smaller gardens which are listed at £340, £360, £365. But they don’t have the junction issue. 

Re. onward sale, I guess we will cut our cloth according to what we get for ours. The houses we are looking at span across quite a wide price range, depending on exact street, size, condition etc etc. However, I think less than £340 might make it challenging for us to be able to find the right house. 

Tinkertonian

I just checked again on Rightmove. The £340 and £360 houses also have less downstairs space - ours has a kitchen/diner extension and these ones don’t. So the £365 3-bed - which does have an extension - remains the closest comparison (but as I say it hasn’t sold at that price). 

Worth mentioning as well that I’ve asked the agent selling the £365 house for a valuation, just to calibrate. Are there any specific questions I should be asking them about that house and its price? 

Thanks all.

Ramouth

Do you absolutely need to move now?  If not I would be tempted to wait a few months to see what happens.  If prices continue to fall, the gap between your current and new property will narrow.  If prices stabilise confidence in the market may increase which might make selling easier.