The most important decision that you make before selling your property relates to the price: how much is your house worth and what price should it be marketed it at?
There are several factors to consider when setting your price:
1. Is there precedent? It is very unlikely that your home is completely unique. For this reason, there should be plenty of comparable properties in the area which give you a good idea about what the property is worth. Ask your agent to produce a comparable report so that you can see what your neighbours recently sold for.
2. Does your proposed price work online? Nowadays, more than 95% of property searches start online so you need to use an asking price that is easily found online. To maximise the number of buyers who will see your property, stay away from 9s and 5s such as £399,995 and instead choose a rounded figure that fits in with the price bandings that the online portals use (e.g. £400,000).
3. What sort of price is it? Are you using an "asking price", "offers in the region of" or are you providing a range of prices ("From X to Y")? At Open Door, we use a guide price which is the published "starting price" of the property. It is designed to spark interest, increase viewings and – hopefully – lead to more offers. It helps a property stand out and to generate competitive bidding.
4. Does your agent support it? If you set your price way above the agent’s recommendation, their lack of support could be evident in the way that they talk about your property to their team and to potential buyers. If they are strongly against your preferred pricing strategy, it may be worth rethinking about your choice of agent. Or your price. The agent is normally well-versed in his/her local market, after all.
If you’re not sure about the best pricing strategy for your property, please get in touch today. Otherwise, we’ll post again soon... :)
