What to do when you think agents overprice your house

[Dollywilde]

First time selling, trying to move on from our flat as baby #1 is on the way. For context, we live in a part of South East London that’s often described as undesirable! Personally I think it’s great but it’s definitely one of the cheapest postcodes and I don’t think the general London trends really apply here as much.

Just had our second EA over and received our second valuation suggesting we could sell at £350 - 375k. I’m astounded - ok, it’s share of freehold, 700sq ft and has it’s own tiny garden - but our second bedroom is a box room with a low ceiling and there are some significant negatives (internal hall which needs redecorating, previous damp proofing course, the exterior needs re-rendering etc). Based on what I’ve seen on Rightmove in our area, I was expecting to be told £300k-ish - £325k at the very most.

We have a third agent coming on Monday but I’m now trying to work out what we should do. I know it’s an agent’s job to be ludicrously optimistic. I also know that it would be lovely to have an additional £25 - 50k in our pockets! That said, baby is due next month and I’d rather take a quick sale at a realistic price than a 3 month wait for an offer at a higher one.

I know I can’t compare our place to others on rightmove as the pictures always look lovely, but I’m left scratching my head and thinking ‘surely it can’t be worth more than this one with two double beds, even with a larger lounge/S of F/garden?’

Assuming agent 3 comes back in a similar range, I guess our options are:

1. Go on the market at 350k and wait and see. Reduce in due course if we don’t see interest. Pros are £££! Cons - could take longer to shift. Would love to have an offer pre due date so not juggling a baby and viewings!

1. Push EAs to go on the market at 325k (which I still think is too much!). Cons - less cash, pros - possible quicker sale? Also weird as we have friends a few mins away who are on at 325k and their place IMO is nicer than ours in terms of the finish quality...

Would it be weird to push an agent down on the price they’ve valued at? Part of me thinks that I should trust them if all 3 agree - they know the local area and buoyancy right now. But I just want to get moved to be honest! We’ve seen houses we like for which we’d need to clear 300k on this place and tbh being in a new house for Christmas would be worth it IMO.

Help!

I think only you can decide. If you're willing to accept 300k for a quick sale then go at 325k and anything above is a bonus. If you want a min of £325k then don't start at that price - go higher and then expect to reduce it if needed but accept you are taking a risk it may take longer

It could be that the agents are overvaluing so you go with them. However, could it be that you’re out of love with your Property so you think it’s worth less than it is.

Other than sq footage, the value of the flat will vary depending on specific location, how nice your road and building are or whether is has more period features or even a better school catchment (as you do get families buying 2 bed flats sometimes too).

I'd trust the agents, if all three are in the same ball park.

Our house was valued at £15k more than we expected (lower price than yours). We sold it for exactly that.

Wait and see what the other agents say. If they’re all along the same lines then give it a go. If this one is much higher than at least two other valuations then I would write it off. Have you looked at sold prices on mouse price rather than asking prices on Rightmove? Far more informative I think, especially if there are open days, bidding wars, anything like that going on.

I wouldn't trust the agents as far as I could throw them - now and again you'll find a good agent - it's worth telling them up front that you value a fast sale rather than an unrealistic valuation.

There's no guarantee of a quicker sale just because it's lower.

I suspect your flat will have appeal because it's a London flat with a garden, albeit small.

If you start high - it might be a pleasant surprise.

Also, don't forget EA maybe taking the stamp duty holiday into account. That's expected by some to increase prices a bit.

Either way you'll not move before the baby is born so why does it matter if the baby is 3 months old or 6 months old?

@ChocoTrio

There's no guarantee of a quicker sale just because it's lower.

I suspect your flat will have appeal because it's a London flat with a garden, albeit small.

If you start high - it might be a pleasant surprise.

Also, don't forget EA maybe taking the stamp duty holiday into account. That's expected by some to increase prices a bit.

If the flat is overpriced it will take longer to sell, so marketing it for the correct price in the first place will usually result in a much faster time to offer.

You need to mske it clear to the estate agent that you want it priced to sell. There are people who choose the estate agents who give the highest valuation so maybe that's why they value higher. A realistic price is what you want. But I agree that a too low price can make people think oh that's cheap what awful thing can be wrong with it.

No it certainly is NOT the job of an estate agent to be wildly optimistic! it's their job to sell your house for the best house possible. Have the agents explained why they have priced it so high? Have they shown you comparable properties that have sold recently? It is an unusual time, with some pent up demand plus the stamp duty reduction also spurring on sales. Therefore prices pre lockdown may not be as relevant.
Be clear with your next agent that you do want the best price, but also want to sell it in a timely manner. After all, if the buyer is getting a mortgage the bank will also value the property, so it doesn't make sense to overvalued it.

It’s my current area of ‘expertise’ as a buyer, is it online at all yet?? (Being nosy)

Get nested to value it too. They were the only ones that were bang on with my house in SE London (similar high jinks and we put it on at 36 weeks, accepted offer at 8 weeks of age!). We sold through our original agent in the end but at exactly the same price as nested predicted.

We have one estate agent in our area that massively overprices properties, they always take ages to sell and for much lower prices. I would be dubious about any valuation that’s much higher than market