It’s no secret that Stamford, Rutland and South Lincolnshire are in a hot sellers market, with good quality homes selling fast and for great prices. However, if you are a prospective seller you need to make sure you do not overprice your property when hitting the property portals. The consequence of doing so usually results in taking a longer time to sell, where often the final purchase price will be lower than if you had had your home valued correctly from the start.
A property has its most impact on buyers when it is first listed. With a short window after launch before a home becomes stale in the eyes of a buyer, our Fine & Country team explain the benefits of setting the asking price at market value…
- A greater volume of viewings
A well priced property will attract far more enquiries and viewings – fact – so you will soon know whether the price is right once your home has launched to market. Having spent weeks, months and in some cases years searching for their dream house in the country, buyers are very familiar with local selling prices. Anything that looks overpriced they will avoid. The more viewings you can secure, the more likely you are going to attract multiple offers, bidding wars, a faster sale and the asking price, if not higher. For example, we suggested a client in Ketton launched their three bed house with an exceptionally large garden at £1m. Within a week we had secured ten viewings and achieved full asking price, completing the sale in just six weeks.
- Bidding wars
Plenty of viewings can result in multiple offers, as buyers try to outbid the competition. This is known as a bidding war and is a great position to have when you are a seller because it pushes offers higher and higher. Think of it a bit like selling something on ebay – price too high from the start and you don’t get much interest, but start a bid at 99p, it’s amazing how quickly that figure spikes once you have lots of people interested in the item and placing their bids.
- Sealed bids
Sealed bids happen when a property receives a lot of interest from buyers. Rather than having a continuous bidding scenario which could potentially go on forever, sealed bids offer a private auction type scenario where competing buyers submit their best and final offer (ie their highest) by a pre-agreed deadline date. The seller then reviews them all before accepting one of them.
- Open houses
We are a big fan of open houses – so much so that we wrote about them on our blog recently From saving time and managing viewings more effectively to selling quickly and attracting bidding wars, you’re only going to benefit if you attract plenty of interest on the day by setting the asking price correctly from the offset.
- A higher selling price
All of the above can result in the final purchase price higher than originally set – sometimes up to 20% over. Since May 2020, almost half of our sales achieved the full asking price or over. Meanwhile, 65% of our current sales under offer have sold on or above the asking price. We often achieve figures over the asking price on open houses too.
- A quicker sale
Setting the price right means that you are more likely to sell your home faster too.
Summary
If you overprice your home, it will most likely stay on the market for longer, meaning after a few weeks or months your estate agent will be suggesting you reduce the asking price. By this point, the balance of power shifts to the buyer, giving them far more room for negotiation. You also risk little interest and failing to sell at all.
The key to ensure your home is being marketed at the right price is to find a good estate agent. When choosing a firm, you will be presented with various market appraisals, but those who are most accurate are usually the ones who truly understand the local market and are suggesting similar asking prices. It’s the agent who has suggested a price much higher than everybody else you need to be wary of, as they could be trying to win your business – which is a recipe for disaster!
Find Out More
For more information about what your home is worth, please do contact Jan and Ildi on 01780 750 200 or e-mail: stamford@fineandcountry.com
Rutland and Stamford Luxury Property Blog 