What price should I sell my house for?
One of the most agonising decisions when selling your home is what price to put it on for. Marketing your home at too high a price, and you might not sell it. Put it on too low, and you might get far less than you should. Here is a quick guide of what to do to make sure you get the best price possible for your property.
What price should I sell my house for?
One of the most agonising decisions when selling your home is what price to put it on for. Marketing your home at too high a price, and you might not sell it. Put it on too low, and you might get far less than you should.
What price to sell your house for is one of the biggest financial decisions you are going to take. Working out how much your home could sell for is as much art and luck as science. Once you have done everything you reasonably can to make the house more appealing to buyer, you then need to stack the odds in your favour by doing your homework. Remember, it is you, not the estate agent, who decides the price at which to put the property on the market.
You need to adopt a two-stage approach:
· First, decide a best estimate for the likely sale price the house might achieve
· Second, decide your selling strategy. Factors such as the speed you want to sell the house will affect what price you ask for it
What price should I sell my house for?
Start by getting a free, instant online valuation with our tool. It will give you a valuation with which to start your research. Get an instant valuation in just two simple steps. Simply enter your property address details and contact details. The results are based on up to date local data and Land Registry sold data. Your results will give a high-end valuation, a low valuation and a suggested rental income.
Do not just rely on the valuations by others – even us professionals!
It is very tempting to rely on the valuation given to your home by estate agents or mortgage lenders to determine what price you should sell your house for – but it can be a mistake as they may not put as much value on certain aspects as you would especially if they have only relied on house sales statistics from sources such as the Land Registry. This is fine as a starting position but do not necessarily give a well informed insight into local variations in house prices, including factors like local school catchment areas. Your agent will hopefully have considered these aspects for you but its worth checking for yourself.
· Local estate agents should have good local knowledge, but some suggest an unrealistically high valuation in order to win your business. Once instructed, after a few weeks of little interest, you’ll be faced with having to reduce your asking price. ElliotLee have a track record of achieving their recommended asking price, an indication that we are more realistic about price.
· Mortgage valuers can often give extraordinarily low valuations in order to protect the interests of the mortgage lender.
· The difference in a valuation given by an estate agent and mortgage valuer can be as much as 20% of the value of the property
Research how much homes sell for in your area
When you’re trying to work out what price you should sell your house for, you need to become an expert on local house prices – both how much houses have actually sold for, and how much they are on the market for.
· Use our free instant online valuation to get a high and low estimation of what price to sell your house for, as well as possible rental income
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· Be aware of what is happening to local house prices, as the dynamics of the market will inform whether you can be optimistic or pessimistic about the price you will get for your property
What’s happening with house prices now?
Looking at local house price trends can also be helpful in working out what price to sell your house for.
There continues to be a shortage of properties available for sale and, though there are early signs of buyer demand softening, it remains a sellers market with properties for sale being snapped up quickly. This means you should still be able to aim high with your asking price. But be aware there is a trend of falling mortgage affordability as interest rates and the cost of living rise, which will impact how much home buyers in the future can afford to pay.
Decide your house sale strategy
Once you are sure there is nothing else to learn about what price you should sell your house for, you need to decide what strategy you use for selling it. ElliotLee have experience of what works locally. ElliotLee offer a bespoke selling strategy to each property we are marketing as selling houses should not be a one size fits all approach.
Can you afford to take things slowly?
If you can take your time, you should not feel pressured to sell at a price you are unhappy with. You can take two basic approaches:
· Start high, but be prepared to go lower. If you sell at a high price, great. If you do not, then you can slowly reduce the price until you do sell. You will have thoroughly tested the market
o The danger of this approach is that if the house sits on the market a long time, it might become blighted in the mind of potential buyers, asking “what is wrong with it?”
o You could reduce this risk by taking it off the market for a while and then start afresh a bit later. You can obviously only do this if you have a lot of time
· Start low, attract attention, and try and get a bidding war going, with purchasers bidding each other up. This obviously works best in a hot market with lots of willing buyers and few properties for sale.
If you are at the point where you have done your research and would like to speak to a local property professional for a full market appraisal then please get in touch here or email our senior valuer directly james@elliotlee.co.uk to arrange a free consultation at your property.
Article credit - Homeowners Alliance