How to price our house

youth_leader

I was in a dreadful mess with my house valuation situation when I was selling.  

I do wish mortgage lenders would come and value properties before they go onto the market, it would save a lot of angst.  

Tinkertonian

No, we don’t need to move right now. However, we’ve been in limbo a bit since last year and I do kind of want an end to it. But that’s a fair point, thanks.

We have quite specific requirements about the sort of house we want to buy.  I’d like to get ours sold sooner rather than later, so that we can offer on whatever we see coming up in the springtime/whenever the right house comes along. 

MikeJXE

The key to selling a house is you first have to get them in,

The first port of call for a buyer. will probably be online. 

The price has to be attractive as do the photos inside and out, something has to catch their eye so they stop and look further 

Viewing, no kids or pets, smells nice, clean and uncluttered 

SuzeQStan

Hi OP - if your house has greater square footage then I’d get the house looking it’s best - fresh paint clutter away and demand lots of photos from EA that you get to vet.  -  and list it same or slightly more than the closest & most similar property which has sold near you recently. 

If it were me I’d stop looking at the junction as a problem - there’s a buyer out there that would see it as a bonus being so close to transport links - or wouldn’t see it as an issue for whatever reason.

Has to be said - If you see the junction as a problem then potential buyers may pick up on this vibe. Be your home’s cheerleader. Don’t pick it apart. 

Make the EA work hard for your business - also it’s good to negotiate a lower percentage that they get for selling your home.

EAs far from know everything - we had a local long standing EA tell us back in 2018 ‘there is a ceiling price in this street list it at £215.000’ well we insisted on an extra 20k on top of that they and it sold in 24 hours.

And that house wasn’t in a particularly desirable area either. But it looked fab in the photos.

Tinkertonian

SuzeQStan said:

Hi OP - if your house has greater square footage then I’d get the house looking it’s best - fresh paint clutter away and demand lots of photos from EA that you get to vet.  -  and list it same or slightly more than the closest property which has sold near you recently. 

If it were me I’d stop looking at the junction as a problem - there’s a buyer out there that would see it as a bonus being so close to transport links - or wouldn’t see it as an issue for whatever reason.

Has to be said - If you see the junction as a problem then potential buyers may pick up on this vibe. Be your home’s cheerleader. Don’t pick it apart. 

Make the EA work hard for your business - also it’s good to negotiate a lower percentage that they get for selling your home.

EAs far from know everything - we had a local long standing EA tell us back in 2018 ‘there is a ceiling price in this street list it at £215.000’ well we insisted on an extra 20k on top of that they and it sold in 24 hours.

And that house wasn’t in a particularly desirable area either. But it looked fab in the photos.

Thanks, lots of food for thought there. Have to say, I don’t think the junction is a problem at all! I only described it as an ‘issue’ because of the way it put some potential buyers off last year. 

The new agent is great and we have had in-depth conversations about all the great selling points of our house, and how to emphasise these, and also how to respond positively and honestly if/when the junction gets mentioned. The agent will be doing all the viewings anyway so I won’t be there for anyone to pick up any vibes from  

babyblade41

Living on a junction will always limit buyers especially families , unless the area is in a great school catchment area.

If you want to move sooner then price will play a big part

Sarah1Mitty2

Tinkertonian said:

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 😊

Are you using PropertyLog to see what sellers of similar houses are doing?

markin

You cant erase the old listing easily and from everything you said i think 395 should be the starting point and let the buyer beat it down.

Is the garden to small and close to the road for enjoyment? Could you post a google earth view screenshot with location cropped out.

Tinkertonian

markin said:

You cant erase the old listing easily and from everything you said i think 395 should be the starting point and let the buyer beat it down.

Is the garden to small and close to the road for enjoyment? Could you post a google earth view screenshot with location cropped out.

No, the garden is fab. Really big even after a kitchen extension (unusual for this area), secure, green, flat (again unusual) and quiet. This is a big selling point. 

I think £395 feels way out of my comfort zone. This time last year, definitely- but now, needs to be a good bit lower. 

markin

With a drop of 50k on the asking price are people going to think they are getting a bargain, Or that it could drop another 50K and they should hold off?

What did the houses actually sell for from the land reg Data?

Have the 3 beds dropped 50K from last summer?