What price to put house up at?

Redgirl82

Ok, I am selling and a bit confused. I recently got valuation done and house was at €X25k. There has been a couple of houses sold in the area at 25k less and they all would have been in need of repair.

I have done up house and loads of work. Anyway I asked the estate agent and he says to put up at same price as others in area sold at. This is to get interest. My plan was to put at €X50k

I am not sure why I would undervalue house? I want a decent price for it as I spent a fortune doing it up. My fear is undervalue it and someone bids the asking up front and then I look stupid saying I actually want more for the house

Even the estate agent says the house is worth way more than what he wants to put it up at....

Any idea's?

miezekatze

I think that's done a lot, but it doesn't really make much sense to me either. What's the point of getting people interested whose budget is, say 300k, when you are actually looking for 350k. As a potential buyer I'd be a bit annoyed if I offered asking price and was then told that the actual asking is 50k higher.

Angry bird

Your aim is to get the maximum interest possible in your property so if the estate agents are advicing on a price, then this is probably the thing to do. You don't have to accept any bid if you don't want to. Check with the estate agent and/or solicitor as to all the various things you need so that there are no obstacles to a sale being completed insofar as possible, e.g. planning permission for extension/alterations, BER cert etc etc, have all your ducks lined up in a row.

gaius c

Price lower than you expect to attract interest and get a bidding war going.
Good tactics if you ask me.

The property is only worth what somebody is willing to pay for it.
More people willing to pay = more money.

Redgirl82

Thanks for advice, it will be first time selling a house so new to all this.....

I have done BER certs etc and have all that ready to go.....

dearg lady

I am not sure why you would want to price it 25k over the valuation? At least go with the valuation, even if you choose not to price it at what other houses sold for.

riclad

Say you think house is worth 150k,
put it on the market for 120-130k,
if its worth 150 someone will offer 150k.
120 is a basic price to attract viewers .
look on the property price register,
how much do houses in the area go for.?
in a rural area someone might spend 10k doing up a house and it might not make any difference to the sale price.
the worst thing to do is put a ad up at too high a price,
AS this will put off any potential buyers off even looking at the house.
after 100k, people are really paying to live in area x.
that,s why a house in d4 is worth 4x times more than a house in coolock.

Smiley11

We recently went sale agreed on our house. Its a lovely house with a lot of work done to it but there are run down houses in the area which let it down unfortunately. My own view is that these houses won't always look like that & fortunately the purchaser saw past them.

The EA did research on similar properties in the area & what they sold for & he then advised us on a guide price, as opposed to asking. I was happy with this price but my other half felt it should have been higher due to the level of work done. We argued over it a little as I had to remind him of the external problems that we have no control over. EA felt it would go for a good bit more but that we needed to get people in the door to see how nice it really is. I have to say he was right. He marketed it really well & there were a lot of viewings...I was wrecked from cleaning it so much but appearance matters!

Our first offer was the guide price which we were delighted with & we went sale agreed less than 5 weeks after it went to market 60k over the guide price. Obviously we're thrilled but you can't count your chickens at this stage of a sale so we're not getting ahead of ourselves.

I think if you're happy with your choice of EA & have confidence in them, then you should take heed of their advice. Just make sure that he touts the work you've done & the cost implications of having to undertake that kind of work if they bought a lesser house. I'm a firm believer that a house is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it & we've had a great result through an excellent agent.

sapper

Sellers have 2 tactics these days re asking prices - price it high and hope to get one bid in at or near, or price it low and hope for a bidding war.

Bidding wars do still happen but there's a lot less desperation out there this year. When it's a "liquid" market (lots of comparable properties for sale and sold) no one is fooled by a high asking price.

If you think it's worth x25 then ask x25 instead of x50 as you will turn off buyers asking for 25k more. If no one comes to view within 2-3 weeks drop the asking to x00. Same if you get viewings but no bids.

Unfortunately unless you have created a fabulous-looking property you may not get fully compensated for all your work.

lainey316

My recent experiences from a hopeful buyer perspective... a few more anecdotes never hurt right?

Nothing more annoying as a buyer than getting out in the rain on Saturday morning, viewing a property several times and when negotiating turns out vendor wants 25k over asking and house is worth 25k under asking. Okay, I might still be peeved with that guy. Frustrating and a waste of time for everyone - agent said he'd had at least 20 couples in, we were the only ones to even consider a bid and just... no go. House off market now anyway (it could be sold, but I don't think so)

Less so with the people who have sale agreed at 16% over asking and they genuinely seemed to have over 100 viewers. The bidding was very quick (we dropped out about 8% over asking, which was 10 days after the first open view)

A third property was asking x50, had an offer of x55, rejected it and put price up to x75. Has since changed agent and back on at x50. Since first agent is massive and big into open view, most people in the area will have seen it already. Not sure what the gameplan is there.

If the house is worth it, within say 5-10% of the price for the area and the pictures are good, and clearly it's better than the other properties, you'll get the viewers anyway. Pitching too low just means you have an awful lot of people who can't possibly afford it trooping through your house wasting everyone's time. There's a balance.

Arbiter of Good Taste

Depends where you are located. In an areas of high demand such as certain areas of Dublin, buyers not assuming a house will sell at least 10% over asking price are naive

riclad

Say you think its worth x50, nothing wrong with offering it for x30.
I presume its on myhome or daft.ie ,
does,nt matter about the locals really.
A house in dublin could be bought by almost anyone who has the money .
A house in longford is limited to btl investors or someone who wants to live in
westmeath ,or a local buyer .
No one can say a house is worth x50 unless they recieve a bid close to x50 .
of course there might be one or more bidders ,
so you have to wait and see what the interest is.
Is there lots of similar houses for sale in that area.
See what bids come in,
see what the agent says after a few weeks .

gaius c

Arbiter of Good Taste wrote: »

Depends where you are located. In an areas of high demand such as certain areas of Dublin, buyers not assuming a house will sell at least 10% over asking price are naive

Depends. We bought ours significantly under asking because they priced too high to start with and scared off viewings, let alone bidders.

A vendor who has scared away competition for the only bidder is a buyer's dream and an EA's nightmare.

The real problem is people who have "reserve" figures in mind that are over their asking and they cannot sell for less. Had this happen to us too. 5k below asking but it turned out that what they really wanted (and couldn't sell for less than) was 15k over. Just walked away.

gaius c

Arbiter of Good Taste wrote: »

Depends where you are located. In an areas of high demand such as certain areas of Dublin, buyers not assuming a house will sell at least 10% over asking price are naive

Depends. We bought ours significantly under asking because they priced too high to start with and scared off viewings, let alone bidders.

A vendor who has scared away competition for the only bidder is a buyer's dream and an EA's nightmare.

The real problem is people who have "reserve" figures in mind that are over their asking and they cannot sell for less. Had this happen to us too. 5k below asking but it turned out that what they really wanted (and couldn't sell for less than) was 15k over. Just walked away.

Butters1979

You could put it for lower than you think it's worth to attract more viewers but be careful in putting it up for lower than you are willing to sell. More bidders does not necessarily equal higher bids, people will bid up to what they think it's worth and what they can afford and no more.

Putting it too low will attract people who do not have the money to match your actual valuation, whereas putting it at the higher price might avoid that time wasting.

riclad

Put it on sale for say x30 if its worth x50 someone will probably offer x50 .
IT,S not fair to advertise it for x10 if you,ll only accept at least x30 or more .
Estate agents know what house,s in an area are worth .

spaceHopper

Get another EA to look at, they may not be telling you that you won't get your desired price but still want to get you to put it on the market and feel under pressure to take a lower price. Also do the maths on what your minimum price you can move on for is, make sure that the EA knows you can't take less the XXX and won't be selling for less.