Very Similar Properties; VERY different Prices!

[CaveMum]

A quick straw poll please.

By coincidence we have put our house on the market in the same week as our next door neighbour. I don't know their situation as it is a rental property and in the last 2 and a half years I have only seen the landlady once, but we have been planning on selling to move to a bigger property for about a year.

The thing that is bothering me is that the houses are on at very different prices. Both are 2 bedroom Victorian houses, ours is mid-terrace and next door is end terrace. Both have "cottage" gardens, though next door's is more or less totally taken up by a large shed/studio.
Granted next door has more period features than we do (they have several original fireplaces, we have 1 reproduction,but still working, fireplace).

We have put ours on for £172,500, next door is on at £215,000!

Our agent thinks next door is massively overpriced - the owner paid £220,000 just before the crash in 2008 so is probably trying to get her investment back - and that it will work in our favour.

I guess I want to be reassured that we have not underpriced our house - the two agents we had out to value it both said "around £170,000" so I cannot understand how next door can be priced so differently.

Next door

Our house

I know I am baised, but I think we have a better set of photos too If you look at the room dimensions, you can see that there is not a big difference between the two houses.

Both very nice looking houses imo. However, next door is not worth that much more. And yes, you have much better images and marketing then next door.

I'm not sure I like where there front door is either.

I didn't look at the details, but it's different EAs, which might explain different pricing, plus theirs is end of terrace, so fewer noise issues on one side at least. Do you have allocated parking on the street, as again they'd have more space on the corner.

No there is no allocated parking in our road but it is very rare to have a problem finding a parking space. 9 times out of 10 we can park both of our cars right outside.
It is not a busy road - there are houses on one side of the road only, the other side of the road is a row of trees and beyond that is an open piece of private land used by a racing stable.

The agent marketing next door is the other agent we had round to value our house so I consider them pretty realistic. I wonder if the owner has dictated the price rather than following the agent's advice.

Theirs is worth more but not that much I wouldn't have thought.

I live in Cambridgeshire, and would say that their's is over priced, yours is more realistic. I think you are right when you say they are trying to recoup the money they've lost.

We recently had four valuations on our property which differed by £50K - our house is worth around £290K to £300K so this was quite a big variation. To be honest I think it depends on the estate agent and how soon you want to sell along with a lot of other factors.

You can put your house on the market for whatever you think is right but it doesn't mean it will sell and personally I would be uncomfortable about totally ignoring professional advice re the price. Having said that though I would talk to your estate agents about it and see what they think.

Perhaps next door are prepared to wait it out and feel the end of terrace and other pluses will be worth it to someone. I think it would probably take more than that to justify that price difference even around here (Surrey) where the smallest 'advantages' seem to hike up the price by £10-£20K.

Perhaps next door need to sell at that price or they can't afford to sell in which case they are probably cursing you and your nicer house and photos (imo)

Thanks all, I was starting to get paranoid! I guess we'll see who sells first! Ours has literally been on the market for 48 hours so we'll know more when we've had a few viewings.

Actually, it's good for you, because when people see the price of next door, they'll think that your house is a real bargain.

Actually there are a couple of huge differences between the 2. They have 2 reception rooms- you have one through-room. They have a cloakroom, you don't. Those two things alone would make a difference to the price.

Having said that, our ex-neighbours have just sold their house for £20k more than we got for ours, in a pretty similar market.

I did notice that the house next door is chain-free too, as well as having a downstairs loo and a separate dining room, and is an end-terrace. I suspect the sellers are just trying to get their money back.

Theirs also have a side entrance to the garden.

There are some quite big differences - end terrace, 2 receptions, studio, cloakroom. Also theirs does look significantly bigger from the outside- bay window upstairs, raised gable. Market will tell if those things are enough to justify the price difference!

DH says put yours up to 185...people will still think it's a bargain.

I would say being an end terrace, having 2 reception rooms, kitchen/breakfast room, cloakroom, studio in the garden and side access to the garden all mean it should be worth more - but honestly I would have thought £20-25K more at the absolute most. I would be very surprised if they got any offers over £200k.

What's the difference in floor area. If each metre square is worth day £250, then its very easy to notch up a price difference. Your house is lovely.

I think the price difference is justified. Theirs looks a much bigger house. The raised gable for a start means their loft must be bigger in terms of ceiling height and therefore would be ripe for conversion. They have a downstairs cloakroom and direct access to the garden.

Yours looks prettier (nicer interior and nicer pictures) but that is superficial.

If I were buying I would view both and weight up the space vs cost issue.

Love your kitchen btw - it is identical to ours

As mentioned there are a few things that mean their's has been valued as higher, also think they're a bit unrealistic though. As you say you'll see once the viewings step up.

Yours is gorgeous inside btw, and I love your street name

Looking at them both on Rightmove I think their house definitely has the edge. I prefer the position of your front door, but looking at the pictures it looks like you could easily put a front door on your neighbour's.

They have a downstairs cloakroom, bigger kitchen with space for a table, their bathroom looks more spacious (although it is difficult to tell if this is just an illusion), no chain, end of terrace, bay windows and separate dining room.

I think the price gap is probably justified, although maybe not quite that much. Will be interesting to see what happens.

I have carefully scoured the details of both and worked out the square footage! Agree with all of the above! It depends on how people value their extras (bay windowed bedroom) as opposed to yours ( nicer, more upgraded kitchen) They are an end terrace. you are in walk in condition. Who knows which house will sell. I would have thought that there will be an eventual 20,000 difference in the prices.

Thanks to all again. I agree that next door is worth more than ours, it is a slightly bigger house width wise, but length wise it is the same as ours, but £43k more? Who knows!

Your neighbour must be seething .

It will be a good thing for you. 2 other houses went on the Market for the same price as ours when we were selling but we had the 'best' house of the three (end terrace, corner plot, extra downstairs space, cloakroom etc). I think everyone who viewed ours viewed the other two and could see that ours was a bargain by comparison. We sold within 10 days in Septembeer the other two still haven't sold.