house selling tips needed

foureyes

i am currently in process of putting my dormer bungalow on the market
it is in a fairly sought after seaside location very close to pubs shops churches restaurants hotels etc, what i would like to find out is would i be better off pitching the house price at a lesser amount than i would be prepared to sell for - advised by auctioneer - to generate interest and hopefully get a few bidders to compete with each other thus increasing the price. Or would i be better off stating an amount closer to what i would like to get? as i think that pitching it a good bit lower wolud be asking alot of potential buyers to increase their bids substantially

SimpleSam06

I'd stick with the auctioneers advice there. You should be aware that property prices are in freefall, and interest rates will probably go up (with 3.3% inflation in the Eurozone in February), so you might want to lower your expectations in any case. Good luck with the sale.

ev612337

Hi,
I'm in a similar position. But our auctioneer has the opposite view. Given that they say it's a buyers market, we were advised to have a guide price above what we expected to get for the property. The estate agent said that whatever price we agreed on, we could expect to get offers below it. In my case, it's a 5 bed dormer outside Kells near the new M3 interchange. It was valued at 405,000 - 410,000 by 3 different estate agents we sought the advice of. We decided to go with one of them, and put the property on at 430,000 hoping to realise an offer around 400k.

We've had the house on the market since late Oct 2007 and so far no bites. We've had viewings and offers, but nothing we could accept.

Recently we dropped the asking price to 400k to get the house to show up in daft and myhome searches where people set this as their ceiling. This has generated more interest, but still no serious bidders.

We could go for 390k or a little less, and I now wonder if we should have been at 400k all along, so it's hard to know who's advice to listen to.

I wish you luck and I think you should seek the advice of several auctioneers / estate agents in your area before you decide the best way forward.

For the record, I have my house on myhome.ie, daft.ie, ebay.ie, youbuyfromme.ie, crossakiel.com and propertynews.com to name a few.

It's not easy!!!

The_Conductor

While pricing your property low may generate more interest- buyers have no appetite whatsoever for entering into a bidding war against anyone anymore- so it is a bit of a self defeating exercise. Being realistic about what your willing to accept will probably generate bids in the region of 10-15% below this level- but it will show you the lie of the land regarding buyers in your area. Personally I'd weigh up the pro's and the con's of these various bidders and run a mile from anyone who has to sell their own house in favour of someone who can close at an early date, and be prepared to accept a lower offer from them.

It is a vastly changed landscape- I really don't understand why auctioneers and estate agents think that they will continue to get away with playing mind games with both buyers and sellers.

You do need to appreciate that you may have to settle for significantly less than you have in mind- but to get a sale this may be what it takes. The longer you leave it on the market, the greater it is depreciating anyhow- so weigh up your options, and your expectations.

A much lower price now, may be far more preferable to an even lower price in 6-12 months time (which increasingly is not an unusual length of time for properties to be on the market).

Do-more

Reading between the lines, I think that the EA probably thinks your expectations are too high and is setting the price at a level where he expects someone may bite.

At the end of the day the EA will only make his commission if he can sell the house. He knows that there are very few potential buyers out there and even fewer with mortgage approval.

Chances are in 3 months time he will be coming to you saying "well we have only had one offer of X my advice is to accept it if you really want to sell"

BTW you mention it's located by the seaside, is it a primary residence or a holiday home?

foureyes

Do-more wrote: »

Reading between the lines, I think that the EA probably thinks your expectations are too high and is setting the price at a level where he expects someone may bite.

At the end of the day the EA will only make his commission if he can sell the house. He knows that there are very few potential buyers out there and even fewer with mortgage approval.

Chances are in 3 months time he will be coming to you saying "well we have only had one offer of X my advice is to accept it if you really want to sell"

BTW you mention it's located by the seaside, is it a primary residence or a holiday home?

hi do-more
thanks for your words of wisdom regarding sale of my house and possible
reasons for estate agents advice re price .
the house in question is my primary residence but i am in the middle of building
a new bungalow {after 3 years struggling with planning application / co. council }
i know i have missed the boat , but i can live in hope of a fairly good selling price .

Do-more

Best of luck whatever you decide.

After the house is on the market, get someone you know but not easily linked to you, say someone from work for example, to ring up and enquire about the house. Get them fish around a bit to try and see what the EA is really thinking.

Say something like "we drove pass it last night, but jaysus you don't really expect to get that sort of money for it do you?" The EA (hopefully) will say "yes of course we do, it's very good value" or he may drop his guard and admit to not expecting to get that price and suggest a price that he will say he thinks it can be bought for. Either way you will then have a better idea of where you stand with your EA.

Sorry if I'm making assumptions about your finances, but you need to be careful with your dealings with your EA, as if he thinks you really need to sell to finance the new build which you are committed to he may be very lazy in not trying to get the best possible price for you. Remember that €20,000 or €30,000 difference in the sale price means a lot to you, but to him, it only means a difference of €200 or €300 in commission. Most EA's are only interested in getting it sold as quickly as possible and moving on to the next one.

jdivision

Whatever you put it on at, somebody will offer less TBH

siy

I certainly wouldn't price low, and expect a bidding war.

With property prices declining, property buyers are expecting to get a good deal. They are certainly not expecting to pay higher than the asking price.

jetski

have you made any profit on the property since you have owned it?

sarahhurray

what's the competition like? What are the options for buyers in your area? try to see your house from their point of view. Is your house unique and likely to be sought after or one of many similar houses all asking similar money?
If your house doesn't have a unique selling point then you need to price it around the same as the competition but have it done up immaculately. Buyers want something perfect if they are to be tempted by the going asking in your area, or if it needs work it must have great potential and a serious cut below the neighbours house.
make sure your estate agent is polite and calls people back. Buyers aren't going to chase a property.
People will buy at the right price. If you can sell for below your neighbours you may sell quickly and move on with your life at minimum hassle.
Estate agents are very, very reluctant to give you what they honestly think the place is worth, they don't want to lose their customer - you. You really need to coax them and assure them you want to sell not sit on the market for nine months.

johnnyskeleton

foureyes wrote: »

i am currently in process of putting my dormer bungalow on the market
it is in a fairly sought after seaside location very close to pubs shops churches restaurants hotels etc, what i would like to find out is would i be better off pitching the house price at a lesser amount than i would be prepared to sell for - advised by auctioneer - to generate interest and hopefully get a few bidders to compete with each other thus increasing the price. Or would i be better off stating an amount closer to what i would like to get? as i think that pitching it a good bit lower wolud be asking alot of potential buyers to increase their bids substantially

When I saw the thread title I was expecting someone to be looking for advice on how to do up their house to increase it's value, or suggestions on how to sexy up the advertisements.

But I'm pleasantly surprised to see that you seem to realise that price is the only real factor to be considered.

My take, and it could just as easily be complete nonsense is:

Rather than have an emotional view of what the house is worth, I would suggest that you start with the approximate value in 2005, then be prepared to knock 10-15% off on bids. If you get no real bids in the first 2 months, drop the price, always being prepared to accept 10-15% knocked off if necessary.

When dropping the price, drop it in a meaningful way. Many properties that are about 50k overvalued at, say €300,000 will drop the price to €290,000 to "generate interest" but it's still overvalued, and the sellers will, if anything, be less likely to accept a lower bid at this offering price because they think "I'm already cutting my own throat" etc.

And perhaps most importantly, even though you're probably better off selling now than in 6 months time (because prices most likely will have dropped even less) don't drop the price below what you genuinely think the house is worth to you.

JimmyOats

Interesting discussion this. I'm in the market for a new place myself (not in Kells unfortunately ) and I've come across both stratgies, pricing high and low.

I've been acting on the assumption that all properties are priced high and expecting an offer far below the asking price. Some EAs have been receptive while others have practically laughed in my face. I'm pitching my offers at roughly 10% below asking, I think even that may be too high.

Pa ElGrande

From the horse's mouth

Builder’s price slash sees house sales boom

Auctioneer Aidan Davitt attributes the achievement to correctly pricing the homes for the current market.
“When Rathgowan was launched last June there was little or no interest, with only investors taking a punt. This time around with the homes starting at €199,950, the interest has been phenomenal.
“The twenty houses sold have all been bought by first time buyers and in the main the homes have been bought by people living and working in and around the Mullingar area,” says Aidan.
The main lesson believes Aidan is to recognise the principal factor in selling a house is to “price it right”.
“No one is interested in whether the homes are timber framed or concrete built, if they have eco-credentials, if there is loads of extras like high spec kitchens or fancy sound systems. All buyers want to know is what it will cost and if it is good value in the current climate,” says Aidan.
“The bottom line is that if a house is priced right it is selling. Second hand houses are back fifteen to twenty percent in the last ten months. Price the house to sell and there are buyers who will snap it up.”

mags16

First of all, I am not an estate agent but I sometimes do some work for one of the larger agents in Dublin. A few points.

1. The agents I work for have managed to sell lots of houses in the last few months. The only reason is that they have persuaded vendors to drop prices.
2. Estate agents are not interested in keeping properties on their books for months and months. It eats into their margins.
3. If a buyer is using a search facility on myhome or any of the similar sites, it asks for a max price. If your house is priced high, it won't select it.
4. Bidding wars are a thing of the past. Purchasers don't want to do it anymore.
5. If you are not happy with the way your agent is selling your house, meet with him/her and discuss it. If you are still not happy, change agents for a fresh approach. People do it all the time.

I wish you luck, OP, with the sale of your house. It's not easy in this market but previous posters have given you some good advice.