What's best - to go with high valuation or be more sensible?

[candyy]

We're selling our flat and have decided to go with the estate agent who my solicitor works for. Mainly because he is a brilliant solicitor and it makes sense to keep all the work with them.

However, when the solicitor's valuer came round to value the flat today he's valued it lower than the other two quotes I got last week. I told him this and he said he wanted to be realistic of its value and not promise me money that we may not get.

It's only a matter of a few thousand difference, but it may mean we can move to a place we really want.

Now I'm thinking we should have gone with an estate agent who said it was worth more as they may 'sell it' more to prospective clients and get us a better price.

I'm in scotland, so flats are advertised at offers over and then prospective buyers are given a rough guide to the percentage to offer over the asking price from an estate agent.

Do you think it's better to be realistic and sensible, or go with a higher price we want to hear. Though i guess lots of estate agents value high just to get your business.

Am feeling a bit deflated, as i was hoping to get what we were valued at on Friday.

We had exactly the same situation as you, we went with the higher valuation & ended up selling it at the lower one. The 2nd agent was pretty spot on with his valuation.

Our feeling was 'You don't ask, you don't get'! Its probably worth a try at the higher valuation, if you say to the estate agent you want to use that this is the price you want to put it on at then they will probably do so because they want the business (& commission!)

Does that make any sense? Feel like its all coming out garbled tonight!

It depends how much aggro you want - put it on at the higher value and you may end up with no one coming to see it or the estate agent telling viewers that you are being a bit "toppy" and he's sure that the price will come down. Not much fun having it festering on the market and always feels like a defeat when you have to lower the price anyway.

The other estate agent sounds as if he is being realistic and, ergo, relatively trustworthy. Giving news that others don't want to hear is usually something EAs are very bad at so I would go with him.

usually they give you a high valuation to just get your business. then advise you to reduce it at a later stage, usually when you go to them wondering why there are no viewers

IME

I'm not sure if the current climate of the housing market changes things, but when we sold our house last summer we also had the attitude 'If you don't ask, you don't get'. We went with the highest valuation (£30k above some of the valuations we had)...and we got it! 30k is a big difference. Very glad we did it :-)

I would go for the higher price, but with the seller you want.

Agree to reduce it after a week or two.

We did this a few years ago and got offered the asking price 4 times during the first 24 hours (at a 20% higher price than most agents recommended).

You don't have anything to lose by sticking it on high for a week or two.

I would go with the realistic estate agent but ask him to up the price by a couple of thousand - that way you may get a little bit more but hopefully won't have overpriced and won't get viewings.

Would say depends on how desirable your house is and how desperately you want to move. We just had to be very realistic about current market recently and went with the agents that told us same price that I thought was fair.

You can alwyas go witht eh higher as long as you are prepared to drop.Last summer was a totally different market It was the 'top' of this cycle and we are now on the way down If you are realistic you will sell unless there is something wrong with yuor property.

houses near us are all selling within a few months, APART from one which I think is about £20K overpriced

it has been on the market about a year

not sure on Scottish system tbh

The market in some parts of the UK eg the south east/London (don't know about Scotland) and for some types of property eg one bed flats, is completely dead so, if this applies and if you really want to sell then price it realistically. The market changed dramatically since Christmas so ignore anything that may have happened in 2007.

Otherwise the market may deteriorate further while you are holding out for the higher price - which could actually be a good thing if you are moving up the property ladder as the more expensive properties will also come down in price and the differential will be greater - but bad if you are searching for a cheaper property or in an area which is not affected by the current market conditions.

So the important thing is to find out what the local market is doing and act accordingly.

So what have you done canddy girl?

if its on "offers over" people will offer what they are willing to pay irrespective of what valuation your estate agent puts on it. The market here is changing - a couple of years ago you would have had to add about 20% to offers over price to have any chance of it being accepted - now more like 10%

Sometimes they go low to generate interest. We are in the process of buying/selling in central Scotland, and have been told by various agents that because the market is v v quiet pitching it low can generate more interest so then there is some competition at closing date to push price up. 10% over asking price is roughly the normal pattern here at the moment.

We decided to go with the lower estimate, which i'm glad about now. They've got us three viewings in the two days we've been open for business, so hopefully it will go to offers over which will push the price up.

Oh good candyy hope you get a sale and a good price. We've been on the market also for 2-3 days but no viewings yet .

You'll probably find they all want to come at once! Which would actually be a good thing - I never realised until today just how long it takes clearing up and hiding stuff. Especially when you have a baby. Hope that the girl who comes tomorrow loves it! We've had a buy to let potential buyer today, though i get the feeling he'll not want it, and no-show tonight.

Are you in a hurry to sell caterpillar?

No hurry as havent bought yet. Have you?

One viewing booked in for the weekend...hoorah! Hope they show. Apparently our house has had 300+ "hits" on rightmove website .

Hope todays viewing for you went well.

Heya, we've had a second viewing, so am hoping she puts an offer in tomorrow. It is slightly torturous, as we've had our offer accepted on a house we want, but only if we sign the missives within a week. We said we wouldn't, as we are waiting until we get a buyer for the flat. We are just hoping we can find one quick so the house doesn't get snapped up by someone else in the meantime!

How was your viewing? It definately does seems best to sell before you buy.

You were sensible to go with the lower estimate, especially with the o/o system I think.

Fingers crossed for a closing date and sealed bids!

We're trying to buy in Scotland atm, and there's very little on the market ...