How should I price my house?

The_Bride_3

Hi all, as you can see this is my first post, so be gentle!

I am in the process of selling my house and have had some valuations done, however there are more options than I thought for pricing the house. One estate agent suggested putting the house on at "Offers over £145,000" (she valued it at around £150,000).

The same agent also suggested two other options, either putting it at £149,950, or "offers around £150,000".

Myself and husband are in difficult position as he has got a job which has required us to move immediately, so we are effectively paying rent and mortgage. :eek:

Does anyone have any thoughts as to which of these three options is best, i.e. would generate the most interest, get reasonable offers, etc, but also sell the place asap?
Cheers

hopefulfooluk

How much would you be willing to accept? 140k? 142k? If so, "offers over 145k" will immediately cut out some of the people that would have been prepared to offer what you would accept.

Put it on for 149950 and see what happens. You will get some joke offers, but that's all part of it (and may be useful to you anyway if you need to move pronto).

Good luck!

Chris

Squidgy

People will offer you all sorts regardless of what you put. I would go for the £149,950 if that's what they say your house is worth.

If you get no viewings or lots of silly offers then I might be worthwhile looking at adjusting your price as some estate agents notoriously tell you they are worth more to get your business!

Look at similar houses to yours in similar areas to see if you think they have got the price right first.

Don't forget though that it's a cold market at the moment.

mandi

in my experience as an agent, and considering the market at the moment. I would go for the ofers over £145K, that way you should have more viewers, and hopefully more offers for the agent to negotiate the price you want

I agree with Squidjy though, the markets not brilliant at the moment

NB have you thought about advertising your property privately, as well as using an agent?? if you sell yourself you could save yourself... loads of £££££££££

meanmachine_2

I'm no expert, but I am a potential buyer, and I would say that offers over is entirely inappropriate in today's market.

Believe it or not, it's the buyer who sets the value, not the seller, and it's only worth what someone is prepared to pay for it.

I don't take too kindly to someone telling me that they'll will only consider offers over a certain price. That's for me to decide, not you. And to be honest, on a £150K property, I'm knocking 10% immediately, which gives us £135K as a starting point. If you go on the market with a bottom ceiling you're putting off most buyers to start with.

My advice is to put it on at £149K and see what happens. You ever know, someone might offer that for it. But I should imagine you will get "silly" offers at below £140K.

This nonsense about silly offers makes me laugh. Vendors enter the market with a price that is 10% above what it should be, reject "silly offers" 15% below that, then 3 months later cut by £10K. How silly are these original offers looking now?

Don't chase the market down. Be sensible and you should sell, even in today's deathly market.

The_Bride_3

Cheers for responses. I know the market is a tad "iffy" at the moment, but you often can't plan when you need to move.
Typically enough we bought in a sellers market, and are selling in a buyers market! Drat.

mimi_money_saver

If the original poster is selling the property in Scotland presumably they would have to stick to the "offers over" system. Can you let us know if you are selling in Scotland or not. If you are in England or Wales I would not use the "offers over" system in the current climate as the others here recommend.

meanmachine_2

The_Bride wrote:

Cheers for responses. I know the market is a tad "iffy" at the moment, but you often can't plan when you need to move.
Typically enough we bought in a sellers market, and are selling in a buyers market! Drat.

Well it's been a seller's market for 10 years now, so I'm afraid that couldn't be avoided.

who knows, maybe a cut in int rates will turn things around. For my sake I hope not, but you never know. The British Public's obsession with bricks and mortar knows no bounds.

The_Bride_3

Hi Mimi,
Am in England, so am not tied into any "system"
Would be interested to know why "offers over" would be objectionable to some buyers tho....is it just because it sounds a bit 'in your face'?

mandi

The_Bride wrote:

Hi Mimi,
Am in England, so am not tied into any "system"
Would be interested to know why "offers over" would be objectionable to some buyers tho....is it just because it sounds a bit 'in your face'?

Suppose it is a Bit"in your face" but as with all things , even if you ask for offers over theres always someone who will come in with less.. its really just to generate intrest that I suggest this way, as already mentioned ... its a buyers market

TheDink

Having recently viewed about 30 properties to find the right one, I didn't look at any which priced themselves "Offers over".

As a buyer, I have a budget and I only want to view properties which are within that budget. In the case of "offers over", I have no idea how much "over" the asking price the vendor is actually looking for.

Price it realistically, taking into account the location, state of repair etc, and you will get viewings. £149,950 sounds best to me, but I would hope to get you down to £140k.