Is your house overpriced?

You want to sell house fast, but no one seems to biting. Could it be that your house is overpriced? A simple way to determine this is by analysing online and offline traffic (you may need the help of your property agent here).

 

• How many people have viewed your online listing?

• How many phone calls have you received?

• How many viewings have you hosted?

 

If your property is competitively priced, you should be getting some clicks, phone enquiries and even a viewing or two. However, if the price is too high, people aren’t even going to click on your listing, let alone call or visit your home.

 

 

How do I price my house competitively?

 

Home owners are not property experts, so most have little clue on where to start concerning pricing. A simple method is to ask a property agent to help set the price. However, some sellers don’t use real estate agents. Even those that use them, they might not be convinced that the valuation is correct. After all, the neighbour down the street sold their price for a higher price (or something like that).

 

A good start would be to analyse the market. Visit online property portals and filter the search to similar sized properties in your neighbourhood or in nearby areas. List down the prices in a spreadsheet or a piece of paper, and try to identify the price differences. Is the land area larger? Is the location more central? Are there nearby amenities? Has extensive renovation been done?

 

Obviously, some sellers are just lucky. But generally, you will begin to recognise and understand the market pricing after spending some time with these numbers. This is exactly what most reputable estate agents do, although they have been doing it for years, and on a much larger and more comprehensive scale.

 

Armed with this new knowledge, you will now be able to adjust your selling price with confidence.

 

Hiring a surveyor

 

Certified surveyors and members of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) rely on a broad range of local, regional and national factors to reach their valuation. They provide the most definitive and authoritative price of any property. This is the reason why high value property owners and buyers, as well as financial institutions, rely exclusively on the valuation provided by surveyors to aid in their selling, buying and lending decisions.

 

Many homeowners, however, are hesitant to hire surveyors as the RICS Condition Report and/or HomeBuyer Report cost at least a few hundred pounds. Nevertheless, if your house isn’t moving, and the valuation of your real estate agent is far from your own, perhaps it is worth investing in a valuation done by a professional. It will take guesswork out of the process and help you to get your home sold faster.