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Original poster

‘Guide Price’ - off putting?

47 replies

Peridot1 · 27/08/2020 12:46

Our house is on the market currently and is on at ‘Guide Price’. Agent put that on the listing and I haven’t given it much thought until I saw on another thread that some people find it off putting.

I dislike ‘Offers Over’ and ‘Offers in excess of’ on property details and can see why that is off putting but I’m not getting why ‘Guide Price’ might be?

I always assume ANY house price is a guide really. It’s all open to negotiation surely?

I really wasn’t aware it could be an issue and as we are not getting many viewings I wondered if it might be having an impact.

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ComtesseDeSpair · 27/08/2020 12:53

Primarily, if people are browsing Rightmove and see a house with a guide price, many will assume it’s an auction property and not bother to click any further. Personally, when I see “guide price” I also assume that the estate agent has given a valuation that the vendor disagreed with because they expected higher, and the guide price is the higher / unrealistic price the vendor wants.

As you say, any asking price is open to offers and negotiation, so a guide price isn’t giving you anything meaningful.

JellyBelly78 · 27/08/2020 12:53

I don’t mind Guide Price, I assume it to mean they’re happy to take offers. 😁

FlumpetCrumpet · 27/08/2020 12:57

I see guide price and assume it is priced in the same way an auction is (but not that the property is going to auctuon) ie that the price stated is there to draw you in (and put it in a lower price band for rightmove purposes) but if you actually offered that it would be refused and the actual price the seller wants is up to 25k more. I can't be bothered with that nonsense and it tends to put me off.

Original poster
Peridot1 · 27/08/2020 13:00

@ComtesseDeSpair - why would you assume guide price means it’s an auction property? Or that the vendor disagreed with the agent? In our case I actually think it’s priced a bit high but as it’s on at guide price it’s obvious we are open to offers? Which we are!

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Original poster
Peridot1 · 27/08/2020 13:01

Interesting @FlumpetCrumpet. Definitely not the case here. And in fact the agent didn’t even discuss it with us.

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Notsurewhatsgoingon · 27/08/2020 13:03

It does put me off because I don't really understand what it means. I viewed one guide price property because I really really liked the look but I was confused about what we should offer. I often think like the pp that the vendor is wanting more than the valuation or that it would be worth the guide price but there is something wrong with it. Which was actually the case with the one that I viewed as it had very bad damp.

Original poster
Peridot1 · 27/08/2020 13:08

@Notsurewhatsgoingon - I don’t understand it either! We’ve viewed some that were marketed with ‘Guide Price’ in details and we didn’t think anything of it. It didn’t put us off. Probably because we don’t understand it!

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cantstopsinginglittlebabybum · 27/08/2020 13:09

Makes me think auction.

Homes under the hammer refer to pricing as a guide price for all their properties at auction.

I wouldn't view a property with a guide price. Tell the estate agent what you want to sell it for.

Wearyheavyladen · 27/08/2020 13:13

Another one here who is put off by guide price. We saw a property we really liked, but didn’t bother put in an offer because we thought the whole thing might be too much of a hassle back and forth or that the vendor wanted a lot more than the guide price.

In theory it should not matter but the uncertainty it creates is not what people need when the whole house buying thing is already stressful.

Wearyheavyladen · 27/08/2020 13:15

The more straightforward the buying and selling process is, the better. Most people don’t have time for all this added complexity and guessing games.

MartinJD1976 · 27/08/2020 13:16

I think sellers get too hung up on various terms agents use. If you see a place you like on RM and it's inside your price bracket, then you're not really going to be deterred from inquiring about it based on this wording, surely. The only thing that matters is the price itself and that the pictures/floorplan are OK.

Notsurewhatsgoingon · 27/08/2020 13:19

@Peridot1 is your home similar to the ones around it. I just ask because if it's up with a guide price and it's unique for the street it's on or one like it hasn't sold for many years people may be confused about what it's actually worth and what to offer or what the vendor will accept. Of course you get this with absolutely any house but guide price muddies things.
Again this is only from my very limited experience but the one we looked at was a 5 bed surrounded by 3 beds unlike it and because it needed work we were confused about what to offer or if it was in a bad state etc if it had been up with an asking price it just feels much clearer. Most people are not estate agents and have to follow their lead on house values.

HerNameWasEliza · 27/08/2020 13:19

I'd follow it up but it dampens your enthusiasm. I think that either the price is not really clear or that the estate agent is invested in spin marketing - neither a great thing. What's the problem with just stating the asking price like most adverts do?

AChooooo · 27/08/2020 13:20

I assume guide price means they’re open to offers, which I consider a good thing. I don’t even look at ones that say ‘offers above X’ because I assume it’s similar to an auction/ highest bid wins.

Bluntness100 · 27/08/2020 13:22

Just tell the agent to put the price on straight and remove rh words guide price.

Lougle · 27/08/2020 13:27

I always think that it means that the vendor are looking for more and it will be highest bidder that gets it. I also don't like OIEO. Just say that you want £xxxxxx for it.

Original poster
Peridot1 · 27/08/2020 13:34

@Notsurewhatsgoingon - it’s an unusual house. Five bed detached with over half an acre. Nothing else too similar really nearby.

Will get agent to change it. Having talked to Dh and he has looked at quite a few now to see how common it is it seems that certain agents seem to use it a lot over a certain price point. Our agent certainly seems to.

It’s hard enough to get people in the door at the moment so am not keen on anything that is likely to put people off in any way.

We already had a planned viewing cancelled after the potential buyers drove around the town centre and popped in to say they weren’t interested having seen the town.

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WB205020 · 27/08/2020 13:38

If you have it on with a guide price of say 400k, but thats the minimum you would want / need for it and you actually wan 420k then put it on at 425k.

This whole guide price or offer in excess......its silly. The price you put it on is the price you want. People can negotiate down and it there is a lot of interest you will probably go to a sealed bid situation and get close to or over asking price.

Guide price and Offers in excess generally put people off. They put me off anyway.

Requinblanc · 27/08/2020 13:41

It is just annoying and confusing to be honest...

Put on the ad whatever the estate agent valued it for and what you think is a fair price as the asking price.

Some people might make a lower offer if they think the property is overvalued and you can then accept or refuse or if they really love your home they will pay the asking price.

Guide price or offers over are just off-putting and makes things more complicated and vague.

Basillify · 27/08/2020 13:42

Guide price wouldn't put me off but then it's not very common in Scotland at all. I'd assume you were looking for offers around that number so more appealing than our usual "offers over" process. I'd probably expect you wouldn't be open to offers of much less than the guide price but equally I wouldn't expect to pay much more than the guide price either so wouldn't be entering in to a bidding war.

I've found auction properties to be clearly marked on Rightmove when I've been looking so wouldn't necessarily jump to that conclusion but appreciate that might not always be the case.

Original poster
Peridot1 · 27/08/2020 13:42

The price it is on at is what we would love to get but we are realistic. There is definitely wriggle room which the agent knows.

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Original poster
Peridot1 · 27/08/2020 13:48

And it’s definitely on at the price the agent thought was right. Our neighbours were on too at OIEO with the same agent. A very different house. So I think agent valued ours not too far off theirs. They’ve decided to stay put now.

We definitely haven’t put it on at Guide Price to try to get more. As lovely as that would be!

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Frazzled13 · 27/08/2020 13:49

It would put me off because I don't know what it means. Do they want higher? Or are they open to offers? At least with a regular asking price (in England) you know that unless you get into a bidding war type situation, the asking price is the max the sellers are expecting.

Zarara · 27/08/2020 15:02

It doesn’t put me off exactly but agree it’s not very clear. I always assume they want more or less than the guide price and it’s a bit of a gamble as to which one. It depends how desperate you are but I saw an advert that had a price then ‘open to offers’ which I liked. No one likes making an offer if they think they’re going to offend the seller so that makes it clear that the sellers are open although I know some would say it looks desperate... just sticking with a price is probably the most straight forward.

lazyakita · 27/08/2020 16:47

There's a bit of ambiguity with "guide price" that I and many others seem to find off putting. I don't really know why, other than despite having spoken to several estate agents I still don't understand how a guide price differs from just putting a price on it. Here guide price generally denotes an over priced property.