Pricing my house

[PastaBeeandCheese]

Has anyone priced their house at the lowest they think is reasonable and then refused any offers that are lower? Did it work?

We've been on market 8 weeks and had a lot of initial interest, nothing since. We reduced from the price the agent originally told us to use and based on things I'd read on here I had all the photos retaken. This has moved us from red to green on the Rightmove statistics and we are now well ahead of the branch average in terms of Rightmove 'clicks' but no further ahead with the sale.

I've told the agent we'd accept an offer £10k lower than asking price but no lower as even that is under market value (we are keen to move ). The agent agrees that would be the lowest sensible price for our house and suggested reducing to that but not accepting any offers.

I just feel people will always want to make an offer and feel they are getting something off.

Can anyone advise or give me their opinion please?

It's worth a punt if you need to move - market as 'fixed price' or 'offers over' and see what happens.

At the end of the day, you have final say whatever offer is made and if you're not getting any at the moment, you've nothing to lose.

Good luck.

yes could do offers over x amount. you can always say no.

yes, offers over. clear message but people will still be tempted to make a cheeky offer. never mind. just stick with the price in your head.

It depends on whether you've had more than one valuation and whether it really is market value (based on completed sales locally) or whether you might be slightly out of touch (i.e. the estate agent gave you an asking price, his opinion of actual vakue might be some way short of that?)

We did a similar thing (albeit some years ago) - had 3 agents round who suggested marketing it at £225k, £200k and £210k with a view to getting offers at £190-£200k. We put it on at £200k and told them we wouldn't consider any offers less than £190k. Having said that I'd been watching the local market so closely for about 18ths and knew that !190k+ was realistic. They're obliged to tell you of all offers, but we just gave them authority to reject everything on the spot below !90k. Eventually accepted £192k.

I think my BIL did something quite clever - he came to an agreement where he'd pay X% commission if they got buyers to make an offer at A, he'd pay X+0.5% if they got an offer above B and X+1% if they got an offer over C. Certainly incentivised the estate agents and they did get an offer over C!

Have the same dilema OP so interested in the replies. Our estate agent suggested putting our house on the market under the "attractive price for selling" listing and although we have had plenty of viewings (1st time buyer territory) the offers we are being made are plain cheeky...I wish I hadn't been talked into it, as we've left ourselves with no room for negotiation. I think we would of been better to put it on at market value and come down the 10K during the offers - of course we may then have priced ourselves out of the market and had no viewings...Just don't know - which is why its so "aggghh" making!

How do you check your rightmove stats?

My house has been up for sale for about six weeks. Not a jot of interest so far :-(

Thanks for the replies. The EA has suggested we mull is over until Thursday. I guess I just can't see that it would make a massive difference as I can't understand why someone wouldn't just offer £10k less if they liked it but thought it was expensive!

Mandy21 I think it is realistic. It is on for the same money that a twin of the house sold for last year but we have a new kitchen, new bathrooms and all the outside is done. £5k more than next door sold for 2 years ago but we are a bigger property with a double garage and an additional sitting / family room. I am concerned it is more a case of there just not being buyers out there. The EA said the market is slow and are not a FTB house so we are relying on one, possibly two people selling first.

Patience..... You can't check them yourself AFAIK but your agent can pull up a report and email it to you. It shows how many times your house has appeared in a person's search criteria and how many times a person has clicked on your property and looked at all the pictures against averages. We are coming out well above average since we had better pictures taken. I note the average has reduced somewhat since we first went on the market though which adds weight to the 'market is slow argument'.

I was convinced to do 'offers over' on the last house we sold. Every offer was under, I wouldn't do it again. If you need a quick sale you may have to make it a bargain, otherwise it is just a waiting game I think.

Don't know where you are, and we are in an area that has been known for a slow market, BUT came through town a different way this week and noticed on two streets that would be first time buyer terrority (terraced, small, no parking off road) they were all sold signs. Amazed and happy things are clearly starting to shift at least round here.

Nobody can make you accept a lower offer than your own limit, so at least if you make it clear on the website you may get people coming to view the house. I have seen Ads where it says PRICE REDUCED TO SELL OFFERS ABOVE 120K and you recognise it as a house that's been sitting around for a year, when it was priced at 150k. Nobody can MAKE you accept 115, so I'd get people in.

Just to update we've gone for OIEO approach. Last roll of the dive really. We don't need to move..... We just want to move so we will see if this helps.