13 viewings in 3 days- is it underpriced

[Pusstachio]

Our house went on on Monday and we’ve now got 13 viewings scheduled Thursday-Sat. Our initial relief at getting any at all is turning into a creeping panic we’ve put it on too low.

Our house is a recently renovated modern townhouse with an open plan layout downstairs (why we want to move- I need more doors in my life). It’s got a different layout to others and the rest of the street is HMOs so it was tricky to value- we had valuations with a £100k range and went for the middle essentially. We’re in a desirable area in catchment for the best primary in our city.

The agent is saying it’s their usual level of interest (but they said that when we got to 6) and now that it’s usual for January. Appreciate they wouldn’t want to agree it’s underpriced.

Assuming offers materialise (aware this is completely unproven) what are our options?

We do think the highest valuation was wild, but suspect we could have gone £25k+. Agent advised that would put us in a different search bracket online which wouldn’t be right for our home.

If it’s all HMOs you may be getting a lot of developers looking

This I good. You may still get 25k more, or even more than that. Far better to get people around and for buyers to chase the price up than it sit around then get reduced.

I know some of them. About 4 work for the same hospital as DH (we are on the dedicated bus route) and 3 have kids at the school. Of course there may be some developers in the rest.

Viewings don’t mean offers, there is always an initial glut when a property goes on the market. However, if you have priced too low you will get a number of offers so can then go to a competitive process and ask for best and final if that’s what you want to do. Best to discuss with your estate agent.

Round here there is a shortage of property in some price brackets

You may well get offers above asking. I sold a house earlier this year, over 25 viewings the first weekend and sold for over 7% above asking. The agents did it intentionally to generate interest and competition.

Yes we’ve never done this so I’m not sure how you even get multiple offers? If we got one tomorrow for instance would we advise we’re waiting for other viewings to conclude before advising? It seems unlikely to me anyone would offer on a first viewing anyway so I’ve always wondered how people end up with multiple offers.

It’s on for Offers In Excess Of (I just assumed people would offer £1k in excess)

The In happened to us and we went for best and final offers. However we didn't take the highest, we took the one that was most likely to proceed as a cash buyer.

Yes absolutely. They will make the offer via the estate agents and it’s perfectly reasonable to say that you have other viewings arranged and will go back after the outcome of those.

If you do get multiple offers just be mindful of the purchasers position - cash buyer/chain free can be big advantages even at a slightly lower price to make sure things go through as quickly and smoothly as possible.

There are quite a few cash buyers in there. The house we like is a probate sale so would be lovely if that aligned.

The agents normally gather feedback from everyone that has viewed and give them a time to submit offers by. Then they collate details of all the offers to put to you e.g. price and their situation. If there are multiple proceedable offers the agents usually ask for best and final offers. Even if e.g. the best offer is a first time buyer you normally ask everyone to submit best and final to try to push them up.

If lots of people like the house, you will get multiple offers.

When we sold our house a few years ago, we had several viewings and full asking price offer within a week. Unfortunately, that first sale fell through. When it went back on we again had several viewings within a week and two asking price offers - our agent advised us to go to a closed bid process - we ended up selling £15k over asking and broke the ceiling in the street.

I'm still shocked to this day!

If you were to get an offer from the first viewings that you were happy with, you can accept it in principle but on the basis that you will not be removing it from the market. That will allow the other viewings to go ahead but keep your offer in the bank if no-one else shows an interest

The agent will advise any other viewers that you have had an offer and that they will need to top it if they are interested.

If you get multiple asking price offers you then go to a closed bid process with a deadline for best and final offer.

Your agent will deal with all of this for you - you just need to be clear about what you are willing to accept.

You genuinely thought people would only offer 1k more on a property listed at offers over?

Didn't your agent explain that this is normally used to generate interest and that should you get offers many of them will be 5-10k possibly more depending on the listing price over what you've listed it at.

Ha- or a mass shaming of my taste in decor/cleanliness 😅

Thankyou so much- this is so clear & reassuring!

We did similar - the buyer who offered the most was in a chain, whereas the other buyer was a first time large deposit buyer which we preferred. We went back to the preferred buyer and asked them to match the higher offer - which they did!

We went back and forth on the valuation as discussed as ours was tricky to price. The nearest one that had sold within 15 years sold for £25k more than we’ve listed at, but in lockdown when the market was wild. It’s also a different layout better for HMOs.

He advised going OIEO due to the difficulty in pricing and made a throwaway comment ‘there’s always one that will come in at price+£1k’- perhaps I misunderstood his meaning

It really depends on your local market at the time and the property. I've previously bought an "offers over" house for 5% less than asking. But in outer London this year everyone that offered on the house we were selling offered well over asking as not many of that sort of house were coming on the market in the area.

At the beginning we say we won’t consider offers until after the first two weeks
or
that first rush of viewings

So the EA needs to tell you the amount plus situation. Stack the offers up and decide after the rush

Its not first come first served
Its also not necessarily the highest offer it’s the best
ie do they have a mortgage agreed in principle
are they ready to move
is there a chain
etc

Presumably you marketed it at a price you were happy with in the first place ?

If so then why the panic ?

If not then why not ?

@GasPanic the property was tricky to value. While we’re broadly happy of course we don’t wish the sell it for less than the market rate, not least as we’re staying local

@Pusstachio If several people want it, it will find its own price as properties can sell for over advertised price. I’d be delighted if I had 13 people booked in but you might not get any offers! Some might even think it’s over priced! A few years ago, I accepted £272,000 for a property and two viewers had said it was not worth £250,000. My DMs house went for more than advertised. Generating interest is never a bad thing.

When selling my DMs house 2 years ago, we had 12 viewings made the day it went on the market. From those viewings carried out over 3 days, we had 7 offers all over asking. The one we selected ended up a no go and it went back on the market, 6 offers made, one accepted and sale completed within 7 weeks at 20% above asking.