Why £995 could cost you £000's when selling
Did you know that there is a way that you can set your asking price so more buyers browsing the online property portals will see your home? There is a clever way you can work with Rightmove or Zoopla to optimise your asking price and it’s called the Zero Price Strategy.
If you are buying or selling a home, you will most likely be familiar with Rightmove.co.uk. The UKs number one property portal. If so, you will be used to setting your search criteria. The most commonly used search fields are area/postcode and minimum and maximum price range. A drop-down menu allows you to choose what price you search from and to. This is where the magic of the Zero Price Strategy happens.
Zero Price Strategy is a tactic where you set your asking price to fit in with the pricing brackets on Rightmove. Working with the price brackets in this way will make your home visible to more buyers searching Rightmove.
Let’s look at this further. An estate agent values your home at £499,995, really, it’s worth £500,000 but they think that to price it a tad under will make the price more attractive. On Rightmove a buyer with a budget of £500,000 may set their search criteria from £500,000 to £550,000. However, as your asking price is set at just below £500,000 your home will not appear in this search.
If you market your home at the round figure of £500,000 which sits perfectly on a Rightmove price banding, your home could potentially appear in twice as many searches:
From £475,000 to £500,000 and also
From £500,000 to £550,000
Pricing at £499,995 means you miss out on all the buyers searching in the second search – in the higher value search.
So, why does this make a difference? The more people that see your home, the more enquires you are likely to receive. This in turn increases the number of viewings and ultimately the better opportunity you have of selling your home.
There is a direct link between the number of ‘views’ your Rightmove property advertisement achieves with the time it takes to sell and the end price achieved. More views lead to a quicker and higher value sale. It’s all about exposure and attracting buyers to your online listing.
Let’s look at a real-life example. I‘m looking for a home to buy in Derby, I have a budget of £500,000. I set my Rightmove search criteria to look for houses between £500,000 to £550,000. The search results bring up 14 results.
Now let’s look at houses sitting just below £500,000. I search for houses between £475,000 and £500,000. 8 more properties show that sit between £495,000 and £500,000 – just a smidge under £500,000. These properties did not appear in my original search, even though the houses are likely to be worth £500,000. If they were priced at £500,000 then 8 more homes would have been visible to me. That’s over half the number that the original search brought up, bringing the total up to 22 houses.
Don’t miss out on buyers searching in a higher bracket. Work with Rightmove and set your asking price in line with their price search criteria. Optimise your price to increase its exposure.
Not only will your home appear in more searches it also shows a confident, rounded price. The whole theory behind pricing your home just under at a 999 or 995 price so it appears cheaper is a dated way of valuing a home. Many estate agents still do this, but we believe that your home is not a cheap commodity so why price it cheaply? Be confident in your asking price.
If you want to know more about the Zero Price Strategy call us on 01283 537120 or email derby@surepropertygroup.com we’d be happy to chat through the details with you