To Price or Not to Price

In a recent article on the real estate lift out section of The Adelaide Advertiser, an article raised the question whether or not a property should be advertised with a price or not, often noted as “Contact Agent”

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The article referenced that the #1 issue that really annoyed potential buyers from making further enquiries on a property or not was when there was no price guide offered, i.e. “Contact Agent”.

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Realestate.com.au report that up to 72% of potential buyers ignored a property listed for sale with “Contact Agent” as a price guide!

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Potential buyers were of the opinion that properties listed with “Contact Agent” for the price guide were:

- going to be too expensive for them,

- the price expectations from the owner / agent were going to be unrealistic

- or they simply could not be bothered contacting the agent to get more details about the price. The vendor and agent were not making it convenient for the potential buyers.

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There are very few, if any,? products or services that are advertised without a price. Cars, clothing, groceries, electrical goods, pretty much everything that we as consumers look to buy, are advertised with a price.

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There are some quite legitimate reasons why a property might be advertised without a price:

-??????????? The property is very unique, and any price guide offered on the property may either undervalue or overvalue the property, hence compromising the potential sale price.

-??????????? The price for properties that are expected to achieve a very high value are often subjective and again, any price guide offered may impede the final sale price.

-??????????? The personal circumstances of the vendor and their reason for selling the property may steer the agent / vendor to withholding the price.

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Agents that recommend the use of or are instructed to use “Contact Agent” by their vendors as their messaging for the price communication would be well advised to only adopt this strategy for the initial phase of the campaign.

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As potential buyers come through the property, agents have the opportunity to ask these potential buyers where they see value for the property to help them identify what the “market value” might be. This can then be fed back to the vendor with a recommendation from the agent to promote a price or price range to help engage more potential buyers to inspect the property with a view to making an offer.

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Occasionally agents are instructed by their vendors to advertise the property without a price guide in an attempt to create a sense of exclusivity or curiosity.

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If you are about to list and sell your home, have this discussion with your agent. If they (or you)? insist or recommend that the property is advertised for sale without a price, ask them (or consider for yourself) how the 72% of the potential buyers that scroll past your listing because there is no price, are going to become engaged with your property so that the sale price is maximised.