Why The First Two Weeks on the Market are So Important
The first two weeks a listing is live get more attention than the rest of the time it spends on the market put together. Get the price right from day one and you use that window properly. Get it wrong, and the following months are spent trying to undo it.
Why the first two weeks matter more than any other.
New listings get peak exposure on Rightmove and Zoopla in their first two to three weeks. This is when buyers with saved searches and portal alerts see the property first, when it appears highest in "newest first" search results, and when the most motivated buyers, the ones who have already had their mortgage in principle sorted and are actively looking, are paying closest attention. Once that window passes, exposure drops off, and a listing that has been sitting starts to look like it has something wrong with it.
What happens when the price is wrong from day one.
Nationally, homes that sell without a price reduction take an average of 36 days to find a buyer. Homes that need at least one reduction take an average of 127 days, well over four months, and end up selling for £33,597 less than the original asking price on average, with each further reduction costing around £12,000 on top. Over 36% of UK homes listed last year needed at least one price reduction before selling, and the picture is similar across the North West. For every 5% a property is listed above the local market average, the odds of it selling at all drop by roughly the same amount. None of this is about the market turning against a seller partway through, it is set in motion on day one.
Why some agents overvalue anyway.
It is a known pattern in the industry. The agent who gives the highest valuation wins the instruction and gets the seller's signature on a sole agency agreement, often for eight to sixteen weeks. By the time it becomes clear the price was never realistic, the seller is already tied in. Buyers who dismissed the property in its first two weeks rarely come back once it is reduced, so a property that gets cut in price often ends up selling for less than a similar one that was priced correctly to begin with, and the agent responsible for the original number is rarely the one who has to explain it. This is exactly why we do not tie sellers into lengthy contracts. If our valuation is not accurate, we would rather you were free to say so and move on than have you locked in while we work out we got it wrong.
Get a valuation based on current data, not a number designed to win your business.
If you are thinking about selling, we would rather give you a figure that actually reflects where the market is now and use the first two weeks properly, than start you off on the back foot. Book a valuation with us and we will talk you through exactly how we arrived at the number.
Sources: ValuQ, "Why Do Estate Agents Overvalue Properties?" (valuq.co.uk).
