At what price should you put it on the market?
The importance of correct pricing
The initial price is important. Obviously, you don't want to underprice your property. You can easily do that if you work on out of date information, such as prices achieved a few months ago. Estate agents will often have a good feel for what they can achieve, not based on past prices but on the number of enquiries there are receiving for your type of property. They tend to be ahead of the factual information on prices achieved. But equally you do not want to make the mistake of putting the property on the market at an unrealistic price. The immediate downside of that is that you don't get any visitors through the door, or they only come out of curiosity to see why it is so much more expensive than a comparable property with the same number of bedrooms down the street.
Eventually, you have to lower your price. It soon becomes common knowledge that the property was on at a much higher price and has been reduced, and most buyers will assume that means that some problem has been discovered with the property not known at the outset such as collapsing foundations or something else found by a bad survey, which has meant the property price has had to be dropped. That can kill potential future interest. It is also a sign of failure. The buyers scent blood in the water and go for further reductions, believing that you must be desperate
Use several agents to reach a consensus
Shortlist some estate agents you would consider instructing. Click here for how to select likely estate agents. Once you have made your list, get the estate agents to come round, one by one, and tell you what they think of the property and what price they would put it on the market at. This is not a valuation, and if anyone suggests that they will do a valuation and charge for it, simply refuse. For estate agents, it's just part of the business to have to quote for properties they might not necessarily get instructed on.
Ask each of them the price at which they would put the property on the market. You should note down not just the price but the reasons for it. You should expect them to justify their figures by reference to what other properties have recently gone for, and why they draw any distinctions between those properties and yours. Don't automatically go fo the highest price. Bear in mind that an unscrupulous agent who can't compete with the best firms on merit may quote an outrageously high price just to get the instruction. Once he has you signed up, he will bank on talking you into dropping the price later, blaming it on the market generally or your property. That doesn't mean the highest price is necessarly wrong - in recent times, even estate agents have been unprepared for sudden rises in interest from potential buyers.
Changing the price
Once the sale is under way, if you haven't had any offers near the asking price, you should carefully consider your estate agent's advice on any changes to the price. After several viewings, there will have been plenty of feedback about the price and it should be possible to fairly accurately gauge how much to knock off it to make it competitive with similar properties being viewed by buyers.
How fast you need to sell is a factor. You may be able to achieve your price in time. There may be one buyer out there for whom your house is perfect. But to get the majority of potential buyers interested, in order to clinch a quick sale, you may have to reduce the price more
Price information
Check prices
For all properties sold since April 2000, the Land Registry records the price paid and it is available to anyone who wants to look it up. landregisteronline.gov.uk for a fee of £3 per property.
The Land Registry is the official record of property details, so it is the ultimate source of the information. But there are a number of other companies and websites which can provide you with price information more easily and free of charge. For instance, try houseprices.co.uk ormouseprice.com.
Checking on progress
If people don’t view the property or you don’t get offers there are a number of possible reasons. The property may be overpriced. You should ask the estate agents to reprt what reactions they have had from viewers. If everyone keeps saying they can buy a house with an extra bedroom and a larger garden for the same price in the next street, you know you have to reduce the price.
Keeping tabs
You should check with your estate agent that he will be keeping a note of people who ask about your property and people who view it, so you have some idea of how successful their marketing campaign is being in producing potential buyers.