Index
You've decided to sell your property, or maybe you're just thinking about it. Whatever happens, the main thought on your mind right now is: at what price should I sell my house?
An honest selling price in line with the market allows potential buyers to quickly and confidently assess the real value of a property, creating the conditions for receiving multiple offers, the number of which simply depends on the actual market demand for that type of property. If the seller, on the other hand, asks for the moon and demands a higher figure than the real value of the house, he might in some cases find a fool (or someone in an urgent situation) who will be willing to pay that price, but much more often he will simply lose the opportunity to intercept ready, determined buyers with a real desire to buy. At that point, the property could even become frowned upon because it's overvalued, and some potential buyers might decide not to consider it even if it's reduced.
After all, would you trust someone who tried to be smart?
So, let's start with the fundamental element: How do you determine the real value of your property? Unlike Casavo, you don't have access to data from dozens of transactions in your area, but you can somehow obtain it manually, even if it won't be as precise. We recommend these sources:
- The OMI (Real Estate Market Observatory) zone exploration tool offered by the Revenue Agency
- A comparison with “comparables”, that is, with properties similar to yours for sale in the same area. For this purpose, you can contact the agencies directly or you can consult online classifieds sites such as immobiliare.it, casa.it and idealista. Remember, however, that these prices will be – on average –more 12.5% higher than the real value!
- You can ask Casavo for a free, no-obligation valuation of your property, which will be carried out taking into account the area in which the property is located and its characteristics (floor, lighting, type of heating, etc.), while comparing it with dozens of comparable transactions carried out in the previous 6 months and based on real data. I remind you that Casavo carries out the evaluation within 24 hours.
Everyone in the world is asking themselves the same question in this situation: how much to sell for?
Italy, however, is a special case and deserves even more careful consideration: in our country, in fact, the average difference between the price initially asked by sellers and the price actually achieved at the sale is 12.5% and is even increasing in 2017 compared to 2016! To give a sense of the percentages: for a property put up for sale today at 250,000 euros, the right price to offer is probably 219,000 euros, or 31,000 euros. less!
As we always like to do, let's put this data into a European context: in the UK, Stockton-on-Tees is the city with the highest difference between the initial asking price and the actual selling price. For this British town, the average difference is 8.7%, and it's important to underline that this is an extreme case! The national average is around 6.5%.
Let's then combine this data with the average time needed to sell a house: in Italy it takes on average almost 8 months (about 6 in Milan,
This reasoning also includes the role of some dishonest real estate agencies that sometimes inflate the initial valuation of a property to secure the exclusive sales mandate: inexperienced sellers, in particular, get a big smile when they hear that their house is worth a lot - after all, a property is worth a lot. It is often the biggest investment made by an individual in their lifetime!
In summary, therefore, to establish the price of your property, try to obtain information through the tools available online (OMI zones and classifieds sites), or contact a real estate agency you trust that won't use tricks to secure the mandate. Alternatively, if you want a quick and accurate valuation, ask Casavo!