There’s a house for sale...

[ELW85]

...namely ours.
We want to take a dog the stamp duty holiday and the market in our area to sell has always been decent but they’re going in 2 days in the area in which we want to buy.
Agent reckons we’ll get 295k for ours. 4 bed detached in the north east, modern, high spec, v private etc but it’ll be the most expensive a house has gone for on our development.
She reckons either market at OO £289950 or just be bold and whack it on for £295k. Thoughts?

Depends on your circumstances - have you found a property , do you need the extra cash for your new place, do you need to sell quickly, how's the market going on the NW ? All these would need to be taken in consideration before you decide.

Never offers over.

I wouldn’t even go look!

• take a dog = take advantage with auto correct whilst balancing a 4 month old on my knee!

@VictoriaBun - we need to sell relatively quickly as we’ve seen a property we love albeit it’s been on for a while. And we’ve got a nasty ERC so need the cash too!

@BluebellsGreenbells - that’s interesting, can I ask why?
In honestly I rarely pay attention to any contextual wording, I just look at the price!

Have you had more than one valuation? Get 3 or more. Ours varied so much, take the average and agree never offers over....

I also hate OIEO/OO. Just say what you want.

I'd also recommend a website called The Advisory. It'll tell you whether you're in a strong market or not in your area. It also has some really good tips on pricing and choosing estate agents.

Offers over is a psychological thing. You're basically saying to any prospective purchaser you're not prepared to negotiate so they won't even bother coming. At the end of the day people love to think they can get a deal, everyone needs to feel they've won in a negotiation.

Of course, if your property is super desirable anyway, it won't matter because you may well get competing offers.

Don't just take one EAs opinion on price though. They may be trying to simply get your business.

@Treacletoots - yes we’ve had 3; some wanted to go a bit over but all agreed £295k doable and quickly.

I hadn’t realised OO was so unpopular!
We don’t think it’ll get more footfall?

No no no! Never offers over! Just say what you want, makes me think that's I'd get into a horrible upwards negotiation situation.

@Treacletoots - thanks for the advice! I agree people like to think they’ve won so start at what you’d really like and be prepared to concede a bit but still actually get what you’d wanted!

I'd put the lower figure but not OO because no one will initially offer over, anyhow. People with a top budget of 290 might not see the listing at 295 if they're strict about what they view.

"I also hate OIEO/OO. Just say what you want."

Agreed. It becomes a bit of a gameplay then. Also, I have found it's the more desperate to sell ones that do the OO or OIEO.

Once I saw a vendor who was insisting she would not even accept £10K above the OO / OIEO figure. Her house sold - but for £10k less than the OO/OIEO sum advertised.

Thanks all - the overwhelming consensus is just advertise for what we want.
If they’re anything like me they’ll search for the max (in this case 300k) and then try to haggle down!
@Treacletoots - checked The Advisory and our area is hot as a sellers market, which is reassuring!

It’s the thought that you are in competition with other buyers and there’s an expectation to be a bidding war when you have no idea who is bidding what!

Not a game I want to play.

@Treacletoots Thanks so much for the tip on The Advisory, I've been worrying about our area but according to that website we're going to be fine! Really appreciated that suggestion

My MIL house was valued at 1mill, 1.3 and 1.7. She sold for 1.5 so deff worth having a variation of EE come and value it

We sold our first home the other day (completed) but it went on the market with OO (Not Scotland).

The reason it went to OO was because that was the minimum we would accept for a quick sale (we already had a house lined up) so we needed to sell to lock that in. Houses similar would maybe go on market for 220/225 but ours went on for OO215..... we accepted an offer of 235. with all offers above 215.

@whichteaareyou - those are some fantastic prices for your MiL! Sadly we’re nowhere near that but one day...
All 3 agents have agreed 295 is right for the market at the moment, so fingers crossed!

@missmarplesapprentice - ah that’s interesting! So you went OO your mom and then had the competition to drive it up; good for you!

To give a flavour of the local market at the moment, I got this from my friend who was trying to buy somewhere that went after 2 days of listing:

“ So I saw the owner of the house I want. He’s had 60 viewings in 2 days (every 15 mins) and 13 cash offers. The asking price is 300k and his offers are up to 330k already so he’s closing full and final offers tonight!”

Let’s hope it goes that way for me!

your min, not mom @missmarplesapprentice* 😂

Let’s hope it goes that way for me!

But not on the one you’re buying?

@ELW85 yes exactly that. We used the same agent as the house we are buying and it is definitely a sellers market where we live. We had 8 viewings and 4 offers in the first 4 days, once there were offers on which we were happy with then the agent stopped all further viewings. I ended up with fb messages from people a week later asking to let them view it....I stuck with our buyers.

@BluebellsGreenbells -Absolutely! Got to embrace double standards in the property purchasing game, haha!

@missmarplesapprentice - congratulations and good luck with the rest of your sale/purchase.

Rather then try and advertise for the highest price on your road, I would put it on at a few grand below what the EAs think it's worth, for a quick sale -
Reason being is the more interest you get, the more chance you have of multiple competing bids, and then you can go for the holy grail which is best and final offers - shit for buyers, great for sellers.

You'll then end up with more money then you would have done had it been on for strong money, and you'll have the pick of the buyers, taking into consideration chain free folks, people with a large deposit etc, ie the people most likely to get this sale over the line.

Quote: "I ended up with fb messages from people a week later asking to let them view it.."
^ WTF? You need to amend your privacy settings!