Vendor to be realistic about the price

[Justpassingtime1]

Estate agent says reasonably confident about achieving a sale
but must be realistic about the price.
What does this mean and can this advice be trusted ?

Did he suggest the price or ddI yah have something in mind?
Did you go with his recommendation? Did he suggest the market was slowing/tricky in your area ?
The agent should be clear,.i would price it at x and I expect to get y

I would ask another estate agent for another option

You should always talk to at least 3-4agents before you decide who to use. They will be able to give you lots of useful info about local market and ask them to give advice as to how to present the house better. EA’s get bad press on MN but they can be extraordinarily helpful. They can be a fountain of excellent useful info.

I would say it sounds like the agent thinks you might be expecting more for the house than what they think it is worth. Get some valuations with other agents and see what the consensus is.

I would agree with @areallthenamesusedup

We met 3. First flew through the house, didn't even look in the garden and gave a number. He was in the house for 5 minutes max.
Second sat down with a book of properties for sale locally to justify the price, was here for 45 mins at least.
Third was old time suave, flashy watch and had his "apprentice" with him. Not our type.

However all three estimates were broadly the same!

Talk to more to see who fits your style.

I just looked at the market myself. I spend half my life on Rightmove 😂 I’m extremely aware of what houses in my area & on my estate go up for & then sell for (as I also dig around on the sold price section!).. I knew exactly the figure I had in mind & two estate agents suggested the exact same. So job done.

We used an online agent, sold in a couple weeks. Saved a bloody fortune!

well, my property was sold 100K more than the agent valued it.
we are not talking millions, the property price 400-500K bracket.
he printed out last six months sold property with 1/4 mile and said there you go the price.
accept agent price(+-) at your own risk.

Don't depend on the agent to get you the best price. You might think they work for you, but only to an extent... why?

Here's why.
Lets say their commission is 1.25% (average, yours might be lower or higher). Lets say your property is worth approximately £200k. So that's £2,500 commission, approximately.

How, lets say that you really could get £220k, as there are buyers out there that would sooner or later offer this. And the agents will know this, they pricing of the market very well. But you get an from an early viewer for £200k. You would expect the agent to tell you to wait out for a few weeks or months, an offer of £220k will come.

But they only get their commission when its sold. So their whole incentive is to agree a sale, if the price is not too bad.
If they convince you to take the £200k offer, then their £2,500 commission is one big step closer to being in their bank account.
If they ask you to wait for £220k, what do they gain? Another 1.25% of £20k... that's £250.

For £250, do you think they'll risk waiting a few more weeks or months, having to do lots more house viewings and wasting their time?

Meanwhile you would have left £19,750 on the table!

So the moral of the story is, don't depend on the agents to look out for you in terms of getting the best price. Do your own research, have your own number in your mind. Only you will look out for you, in this business transaction.

There are so many variables: what the market will bear and the condition and decorative order of your house.

If you’re the seller then I think he means you’re expecting more than it’s worth,

Or that he's been "optimistic" with the pricing. Have you asked him at what sort of offer level he'd advise you to accept? That's usually pretty telling. If you're listing at, say, £370 then in your own mind you probably think you'll get £345-350 but the agent might think you'll get £320-330 and would recommend you'd strongly consider an offer at that level. The exact figures aren't really the point of the example but you may as well know what each agent actually thinks. The difficulty with agents suggesting a top figure is that we're all conditioned to think we're "losing money" if the offer is lower whereas nothing exists until you get an offer.

He means it will sell if it's cheap enough.