Accessible Pricing
Introduction
Although pricing our home at fair or market value is certainly reasonable, it is not necessarily the best approach for achieving the best price. Here I discuss the reasons why it is not necessarily the best approach, and why accessible pricing is a better approach to implement for encouraging the strongest buyer engagement, and ultimately, for achieving the best price.
Fair or market price is not necessarily the best way to achieve the best price
In previous sections, I’ve discussed why and how over ambitiously pricing or overpricing our home can be an ineffective pricing strategy and counterproductive to our purpose of not only selling our home, but also for the best price.
But did you know that even pricing our home at fair or market value isn’t necessarily the best way to sell it, at least not for the best price?
How can this be?
One can reasonably assume that if we simply price our home at fair or market value, then we can reasonably expect to attract buyers and offers. And one would not be wrong in that assumption.
However, this is simply half of the win. The fact of being able to attract buyers, and even offers per se is one thing; but being able to attract buyers and offers to the point of achieving the best price is certainly another thing!
Pricing our home at fair or market value can reasonably attract buyers and offers without a doubt, but not necessarily enough buyers and/offers to achieve the very best price that we could possibly achieve compared to pricing it more attractively (i.e. pricing it to be more saleable).
Fair or market price is not necessarily an accessible price
For clarification, I refer to ‘accessible price’ to mean a price that allows, encourages or compels buyers to engage, i.e. to pursue our home, including making enquiries, attending viewings, and following up with the intent to potentially buy.
For example, if the fair or market price of our home is £1,000,000, then the accessible price may be £950,000.
FAIR OR MARKET PRICE VS. ACCESSIBLE PRICE
Every property has its own right type of buyers, or more specifically, it’s most likely and promising buyers. The most likely and promising buyers for our home would make up our likely buyer pool.
Even if our home is priced at fair or market value, the price may not necessarily be an accessible price to most of our likely buyer pool. One segment of our likely buyer pool will be the most obvious buyers who are looking in the price bracket where our home belongs; however they are not the only buyers that make up the pool. Another segment will be the buyers whose maximum price that they’re prepared to pay for their next home is below the market price of our home, i.e. the buyers who are looking in the lower price bracket below the market price of our home.
For example, if the fair or market price of our home is £1,000,000, this will be an accessible price for buyers within our likely buyer pool who are looking to buy at around that price; but is an inaccessible price for buyers within the pool whose maximum price is below that figure.
And so, if we price our home at fair or market value, we are likely to miss out on those lower price bracket buyers. Attracting lower price bracket buyers can certainly play an important part in achieving the best price - I discuss this in more detail below.
SEGMENTS OF OUR LIKELY BUYER POOL
Fair or market price does not necessarily excite buyers
Fair or market price does not necessarily excite buyers, nor compel or stimulate their interest to want to engage. In fact, a fair or market price is to be expected by buyers and doesn’t make one property stand out or more attractive over a competing property (unless the competing property is overpriced).
In all likelihood, our home will be competing with other similar properties, some of which are also priced at fair or market value, meaning that our home is no more saleable (in other words, not offering a stronger value proposition) than those competing properties. And if our home is not any more saleable than the competition, then buyers will have a more difficult job in deciding which property to give their priority and consideration to; which means that the property is likely to be lost in the shuffle among its competition and likely to sit on the market for longer, with its time value diminishing the longer it sits!
To better understand this, let’s consider the following scenario in the image below.
Let’s assume that there are five properties in the same area: our home and four other properties, with each and every one of those properties competing against one another for the buyers’ attention and interest. Let’s also assume that all of those properties are identical to one another.
Our home, along with Properties A-B are priced at fair or market value, and Properties C-D are priced above the market value.
Based on the price alone, our home is no more saleable (in other words, not offering a stronger value proposition) than Properties A-B. Our home does not stand out and is no more attractive than those properties, and so buyers have no reason to be excited, compelled or interested in our home over those properties. In fact, since our home and Properties A-B are the same property for the same price, buyers will have a more difficult job in deciding which property to give their priority and consideration to. Please note that for the purposes of this example, I’ve only represented competing properties priced at fair or market value with only two properties; in all likelihood, our home would be competing with more than simply two properties.
Our home (along with Properties A-B) will only be attractive to buyers if there are competing properties in the area that are overpriced, which in this scenario is the case with Properties C-D. This means that we’d have to rely on competing properties to be overpriced for our home to be attractive to buyers!
It’s worth noting that although our home priced at fair or market value can without a doubt, reasonably attract buyers who are looking to buy at around that price, it does not mean that the price will attract all of those buyers that we could have otherwise attracted with a more exciting and compelling price; because as mentioned, fair or market price is not necessarily an exciting or compelling price. Just because a buyer is able to meet the fair or market price of our home, does not mean that they will feel compelled to pursue our home, especially not if competing properties are also priced at fair or market value.
But don’t buyers generally tend to pick and view more than one property before deciding which one to buy?
One does certainly acknowledge that buyers generally tend to pick and view more than one property before deciding which one to buy, but not all buyers get around to viewing all of the properties that they intend to view for one reason or another. It’s quite possible, for example, that the buyer may decide to buy the third property that they’ve viewed without needing to view the rest of the properties on their list - consequently, those remaining properties on the list that have not yet been viewed have lost out on a chance of a potential sale, simply because they were not higher up on the list and/or not given enough priority or consideration! The buyer’s decision could be due to a number of reasons, but here I highlight a couple of possible reasons as examples:
The buyer may have decided that the third property fits their needs and sees no reason to expend further time and effort in viewing the rest on their list.
The buyer may have decided that the third property fits their needs and is unable to view the rest on their list due to time constraints or pressure.
In either of these two scenarios, it may well be the case that our home equally fits or is even a better fit for the buyer’s needs. But if our home was one of those remaining properties on the list that the buyer did not get around to viewing before abandoning them and deciding to buy the third property, then we’ve lost out on the chance of a potential sale!
But not only have we lost out on the chance of a potential sale, we’ve also lost out on a buyer that could have contributed to and strengthened the buyer engagement for our home. Each and every buyer we capture only serves to strengthen the buyer engagement, as well as strengthen the interest, competition and demand for our home! But if we lose out on a buyer that we could have captured, then the buyer engagement, as well as the interest, competition and demand for our home won’t be as strong as it could have been!
In this scenario, the reason why we’ve lost out on the chance of a potential sale and/or the buyer contribution can be partly attributed to the fact that our home isn’t more saleable than the top competition on the list that were seen by the buyer before deciding to buy the third property.
If our home was indeed more saleable, offering a much stronger value proposition, then there is a likely chance that the buyer will be more compelled to want to put it higher on their list and/or give it higher priority and consideration, where it’s likely to be viewed much earlier before the other properties on the list. Our home will therefore be more likely to be seen and considered by the buyer when deciding which property to buy, rather than potentially become unviewed and abandoned along with the rest of the properties that are lower down on the list, or are of lower priority and consideration!
And if more buyers are compelled to want to put our home higher on their list and/or give it higher priority and consideration, then this only serves to strengthen the buyer engagement, as well as strengthen the interest, competition and demand for our home!
We shouldn’t take the chance of buyers not giving our home their highest priority and consideration
For some buyers, where one’s property sits on their list may not necessarily reflect the buyers’ priority, consideration or preference relative to the other properties on the list. Although some buyers may sort their list in the order of priority, consideration or preference; other buyers may simply list their properties of interest more randomly, perhaps in the order that they were added or noticed (or some other order).
If the buyer does in fact list their properties of interest in a more random order and our home is one of the properties on the list, then there’s no telling where it sits on the list. The further down our home is on the list, the less likely the buyer will get around to viewing it for the possible reasons discussed above.
In this scenario, the reason why our home sits in a random position on the list can be partly attributed to the fact that our home isn’t more saleable than the competition on the list. This means we have not offered a strong enough value proposition, nor given the buyer any compelling reason to want to put it at the top (or at least near the top) of their list, and/or give it higher priority and consideration.
Even if the buyer does list their properties of interest in a more random order, if our home was indeed more saleable, offering a much stronger value proposition, then there is a likely chance that the buyer will be more compelled to want to put it higher on their list and/or give it higher priority and consideration, where it’s likely to be viewed much earlier before the other properties on the list. Our home will therefore be more likely to be seen and considered by the buyer when deciding which property to buy, rather than potentially become unviewed and abandoned along with the rest of the properties if they’ve decided that they’ve viewed enough!
Simply put, we shouldn’t take the chance of buyers not giving our home their highest priority and consideration. Regardless of how buyers sort their list, we should aim to make our home more saleable to ensure that buyers give it their highest priority and consideration over the competition!
Saleable price is more exciting and accessible than fair or market price
Simply put, pricing our home at fair or market value can reasonably attract buyers and offers without a doubt, but the price does not necessarily make our home more saleable than the competition, so we may miss out on some buyers (particularly from our likely buyer pool) that we could have otherwise attracted with a more saleable/attractive price!
So although we can reasonably expect to attract buyers and offers, the level of interest, competition and demand we receive may not necessarily be strong enough to achieve the best price!
So rather than a fair or market price, a saleable price would be more accessible, not to mention more attractive, to buyers (particularly from our likely buyer pool), in that it’s a price that’s more exciting and compelling than fair or market price and stimulates the buyers’ interest to want to engage.
Saleable pricing is a form of accessible pricing, which I cover in more detail elsewhere in this guide - click here to jump to that section.
We need strong buyer engagement to achieve the best price
As mentioned earlier, fair or market price does not necessarily excite buyers - more to the point, it does not necessarily excite enough buyers to want to strongly engage.
It is in fact strong buyer engagement that we should aim to encourage (as opposed to just attracting a few buyers), as this is what brings the strong level of interest, competition and demand we’d need to achieve the best price!
To be clear, I am not suggesting that it’s impossible to achieve the best price with fair or market price and without the strongest buyer engagement for our home - but this does not stack the odds in our favour to achieve this!
In cases where we do receive buyer interest and offers without strong buyer engagement, in all likelihood, we may find those offers falling short of the best price, maybe even short of the market price!
The best way to stack the odds in our favour as far as achieving the best price is concerned, is to price our home in such a way to encourage strong buyer engagement!
Encouraging strong buyer engagement with an accessible price
The key to encouraging strong buyer engagement is to present accessibility for buyers, or more specifically, present a more accessible price for buyers to engage with!
When pricing our home with the aim of achieving the best price, we ought to present to buyers a price that is more accessible, not to mention more attractive and exciting, than simply fair or market price.
Although fair or market price can reasonably attract buyers and offers without a doubt, an accessible price will be more attractive to buyers, offering a lower barrier to entry for them to engage, thereby creating excitement among them and stimulating their interest in our home!
To better understand this, let’s consider a scenario following on from the previous scenario above.
Following on from the previous scenario above, where our home was priced at fair or market value; in this scenario, our home now presents a more accessible price to buyers.
Based on the price alone, our home clearly stands out and is the most attractive, as it offers the strongest value proposition in the area and a lower barrier to entry for buyers to engage; thereby giving buyers a reason to be excited, compelled or interested in our home over Properties A-B that are priced at fair or market value, but especially over Properties C-D that are overpriced.
Am I suggesting that we list our home at a low price?
Certainly not, but I am suggesting that we price our home in such a way to offer buyers a lower barrier to entry to encourage stronger buyer engagement than what we could possibly receive if the price was at fair or market value.
Accessible price is the ‘sweet spot’ price
Although we are not underpricing our home per se, there is certainly an appropriate price point, i.e. the ‘sweet spot’, that would offer buyers a lower barrier to entry to encourage strong buyer engagement, yet enables us the best chance of achieving the best price. This sweet spot is the accessible price. I have discussed how we can arrive at this appropriate price point from the perspectives of saleable pricing, buyer enquiry pricing, and band pricing in more detail elsewhere in this guide - click the links to jump to those sections.
Helping buyers to pick our home as their highest priority and consideration
From the buyers’ perspective, seeing our home present an accessible price makes their job easier in deciding which property from the choices available on the market that they should give their highest priority and consideration to (as buyers generally tend to pick and view more than one property before deciding which one to buy). This is especially important for buyers who do not have ample time to find a suitable property. If our home does indeed offer a more accessible price, then we are in fact making the buyers’ job easier in helping them to decide to pick it as their highest priority and consideration over the competition!
Simply put, presenting an accessible price enables us to attract as many buyers as we possibly can (particularly from our likely buyer pool), including the buyers that we might have otherwise missed out on if we had chosen to price our home at fair or market value instead.
Attracting lower price bracket buyers
It’s worth pointing out that although the most obvious buyers for our home (particularly from our likely buyer pool) will be those who are looking in the price bracket where our home belongs; potential buyers (also from our likely buyer pool) can also be found among those whose maximum price that they’re prepared to pay for their next home is below the market price of our home, in other words, the buyers who are looking in the lower price bracket below the market price of our home.
As far as those lower price bracket buyers are concerned, if our home is priced at fair or market value; either they will consider it to be priced too high for their budget if they indeed come across it, or our home will not be visible to them at all in their search results if it falls outside of their search/price criteria. Simply put, the fair or market price of our home will be an inaccessible price for the lower price bracket buyers, meaning that they aren’t likely to form part of, nor be able to further strengthen the buyer engagement for our home.
For example, if the fair or market price of our home is £1,000,000, this will be an inaccessible price for buyers whose maximum price is below that figure, and so those buyers aren’t likely to form part of, nor be able to further strengthen the buyer engagement for our home.
However, if we presented a more accessible price; for example, a price below £1,000,000, say £900,000, then we’d have the opportunity to also attract the lower price bracket buyers that we would have otherwise missed out on.
IMPLEMENTING AN ACCESSIBLE PRICE TO ATTRACT LOWER PRICE BRACKET BUYERS
Why would we want to also attract lower price bracket buyers?
Simply put, the more buyers we are able to attract, the stronger the buyer engagement, and in turn, the stronger the level of interest, competition and demand there is for our home! As mentioned earlier, each and every buyer we capture only serves to strengthen the buyer engagement, as well as strengthen the interest, competition and demand for our home.
In a lot of cases, a buyer’s maximum price is merely their starting point. Generally, buyers seeing a property priced above their maximum price are likely to ignore it and move onto other properties that are more suitable to their budget. Many of those buyers do not presume that there’s a chance of being able to secure the property due to the price and so choose not to pursue it (at least not without being given a reason to presume otherwise).
An accessible price gives those buyers that reason. So rather than be deterred by a price that is too high for their initial budget (even if the price is at fair or market value), an accessible price allows for lower price bracket buyers to engage further, meaning that there’s a chance that they’d also form part of, as well as further strengthen the buyer engagement for our home, and end up coming through our door for a viewing.
AN ACCESSIBLE PRICE ALLOWS FOR LOWER PRICE BRACKET BUYERS TO ENGAGE
A buyer may not be able to fully appreciate the appeal of one’s home until they are through the door and seeing it in person. And it’s only when they are through the door and appreciating the appeal in person are they then more personally invested in the property. And at that point, they are more willing to participate and compete with other interested buyers.
In other words, it’s very possible that even lower price bracket buyers can decide to participate and compete with other interested buyers once they are through our door and able to see the appeal of our home in person and become personally invested. Otherwise, if we were to stick to the fair or market price, then those lower price bracket buyers aren’t likely to come through the door at all!
To better understand this, let’s consider the following scenarios.
In one scenario, our home is priced at fair or market value at £1,000,000. A lower price bracket buyer seeing this price is more likely to simply ignore our home and move onto other properties that are more suitable to their budget, presuming that there’s a little or no chance of being able to secure the property due to the price, and so chooses not to pursue it.
In an alternate scenario, our home presents a more accessible price at £900,000. A lower price bracket buyer seeing this price (and understanding the true market value is £1,000,000) is more likely to be excited over the price and our home, and therefore compelled to pursue further and end up coming through our door for a viewing. Only once they are through the door and able to see and appreciate the appeal of our home in person is the buyer then more personally invested in the property. And at that point, the buyer is then more willing to participate and compete with other interested buyers.
Are lower price bracket buyers able to meet the market price?
As mentioned, a buyer’s maximum price is merely their starting point. Once a buyer becomes more personally invested in a property, there’s always a chance that they’re prepared to pay more than they initially expected. In fact, according to Rightmove, 70% of buyers pay up to 20% more than they initially expected to pay. And interestingly, according to an article published on the Hamptons website, approximately 13% of viewings conducted across England and Wales in 2023 were of homes above the purchaser’s budget. In London and the Southeast, this number was 17% in the same year. Click here to read the full article.
So even if a buyer initially set out to pay no more than say, £900,000 for their next home, they may feel more inclined or compelled to meet the market price (or even above) of say, £1,000,000, if a) they have become personally invested in the property from having seen and appreciated its appeal in person, and b) there is strong enough interest, competition and demand in the property.
Another thing to consider is that, even the participation of lower price bracket buyers further strengthens the level of interest, competition and demand for everyone else, compelling every interested buyer to make offers that are stronger and more competitive than the offers they otherwise would have made if the lower price bracket buyers did not participate!
In other words, even the participation of lower price bracket buyers further strengthens the level of interest, competition and demand for our home, further pushing up the price even higher than it otherwise would have been if the lower price bracket buyers did not participate!
PARTICIPATION OF LOWER PRICE BRACKET BUYERS
Achieving the best price with accessible pricing
Accessible pricing is not too dissimilar from an auction
In essence, accessible pricing is not too dissimilar from an auction, in that we present a price point that encourages buyers to engage, with the aim of fostering strong interest, competition and demand in order to achieve the best price.
Let’s consider for a moment how an auction undertakes to achieve the best price with the help of the image below.
Let’s assume that a painting at auction is valued at an estimated £1,000,000 - this is the market value and target price that we want to achieve.
As you are no doubt aware, auctions do not start the price at around the estimated price. Instead, auctions start the price somewhere below the estimated price. In other words, auctions do not start the price at the fair or market value, but somewhere below it.
Why is this?
A starting price at around the estimated price is not the best way to encourage strong buyer engagement, as buyers aren’t usually excited over fair or market price.
A starting price below the estimated price is a lower barrier to entry, presenting buyers with a more accessible and attractive price to engage, thereby creating excitement among them and stimulating their interest for the painting!
Excitement and interest among buyers is what encourages strong buyer engagement, which in turn, fosters the strong level of interest, competition and demand that creates bidding wars, pushing up the price to meet or exceed the market value/target price!
A fierce and competitive environment instils a sense of urgency and a fear of missing out (FOMO) among those interested buyers, which are powerful catalysts for bidding wars.
The starting price is usually decided at a price point that is just enough to encourage strong buyer engagement, yet enables the seller the best chance of achieving the best price (the ‘sweet spot’ price).
If the starting price was at around the estimated price (i.e. fair or market value); then this wouldn’t excite buyers (at least not excite enough buyers), meaning that too few of them would engage, leading to uneventful competition and demand, and as a consequence, uneventful bidding. Under such circumstances, the bidding isn’t likely to be competitive enough to achieve the market value/target price!
Auctions are perhaps the best example of accessible pricing in action. The very premise of an auction is to present a lower barrier to entry, i.e. the starting price, to encourage strong buyer engagement, with the aim of achieving the target price or above. It would certainly be to our benefit to adopt a similar approach with regards to the selling of our own home!
Receiving offers below the target price
One may be wondering - ‘if I list my home at an accessible price and only receive offers that are below my target price, do I have to accept any of them?’
The short answer is: no you do not.
We have no obligation to accept any offer that doesn’t meet our target price.
For example, if our target price is £1,000,000 and our accessible price is £900,000, we are not obliged to accept any offers below £1,000,000.
Even auctions allow for a reserve price, which is the minimum price that, for example, the painting’s owner will accept as the winning bid. If the winning bid is lower than the reserve price, the owner is not obliged to accept this bid.
Rather than listing our home at a fixed price, if we want to make it clear to the buyers that we are expecting to sell for a higher price, then we can certainly list our accessible price as ‘Offers Over’ or ‘Offers in Excess of’ (OIEO); for example, ‘Offers Over £900,000’ or ‘Offers in Excess of £900,000’.
Accessible pricing can be a litmus test for value
It’s worth noting that accessible pricing can be a litmus test for value, in that rather than listing a fixed asking price and waiting for a buyer to meet that price, an accessible price allows for buyers to come in and put forward their best offers, showing us how much they’re prepared to pay, without the knowledge of our target price.
Why is this a good idea?
If interest, competition and demand for our home is strong, yet the offers aren’t strong or competitive enough to meet our target price, then this may be a sign that our home is overpriced.
Thanks to the wealth of property resources and data that are readily and freely available, buyers are informed and savvy to the market and are able to understand and recognise the true value of a property. And when spurred by strong enough competition and demand, buyers are prepared to contest against one another, resulting in the winning buyer, more often than not, paying a fair market price or above.
However, even in a fierce and competitive environment and as mentioned earlier, 70% of buyers pay up to 20% more than they initially expected to pay, many buyers aren’t prepared to pay considerably ‘over the odds’ above the market value. So if our target price isn’t met despite strong interest, competition and demand, then this may be a sign that our target price doesn't necessarily accurately reflect the true market value, and will need to be adjusted to a more realistic target price.
Accessible pricing lowers the barrier to entry
Throughout this discussion, I’ve made mentions of an accessible price offering a lower barrier to entry for buyers to engage and to encourage strong buyer engagement.
In order to achieve the best price, it’s crucial to have buyers through our door, because as discussed earlier; a buyer may not be able to fully appreciate the appeal of one’s home until they are through the door and seeing it in person. And it’s only when they are through the door and appreciating the appeal in person are they then more personally invested in the property. And at that point, they are more willing to participate and compete with other interested buyers. Although the point was made in the context of lower price bracket buyers, it does apply to any buyer who is interested in our home.
No matter how good our property listing’s photos, description or video may be, they may not be doing our home justice, and there’s no substitute for experiencing the appeal of one’s home in person!
The problem is, the price (even fair or market price) is usually the barrier to entry that stops some buyers from engaging. And so, unless we give buyers something to be excited about, i.e. an accessible price, those buyers aren’t likely to come through the door at all!
PRICE AS THE BARRIER TO ENTRY
Accessible pricing is simply a strategy whereby we lower the barrier to entry for buyers who would have otherwise not engaged if the barrier was in full force (in other words, if the price was kept at fair or market value).
LOWERING THE BARRIER TO ENTRY
This type of problem is well known to be addressed, particularly by freemium services, most notably Netflix and Spotify as two obvious examples. The barrier to entry relevant to freemium services is the paywall, in which those services break down to encourage strong engagement.
Breaking down the paywall to encourage strong engagement
Let’s consider for a moment how freemium services deal with their barrier to entry. As mentioned, the barrier to entry relevant to freemium services is the paywall. A paywall is usually a digital barrier in which customers have to pay to get past in order to access digital content or other services.
Netflix and Spotify, as two notable freemium examples, generally tend to proactively market their content, benefits or services to potential subscribers. As part of the marketing and promotion, these services are usually offered at a lower price or even for free for a limited time as an incentive to subscribe.
Why would they offer this?
Potential subscribers are not able to fully appreciate nor be invested in those services until they've experienced them first-hand. And when people’s time and attention are valuable amidst competition, Netflix and Spotify need to give them a reason to be excited about their services and to encourage strong subscriber engagement. And so, a lower price or a free trial is offered in order to break down the paywall to allow easier access for individuals to subscribe to those services.
In the case of Netflix, rather than charging the full monthly subscription fee upon signing up; the service offers signup promotions such as ‘Starting at £4.99/month’ or ‘Free for 30 days’, to break down their paywall, presenting a lower barrier to entry to encourage strong subscriber engagement, allowing subscribers easier access to experience the content and service first-hand.
The ‘£4.99/month’ and ‘free for 30 days’ are of course Netflix’s accessible price.
The real value to Netflix is of course the full monthly subscription, and for some subscribers, they are only willing to commit to the full subscription long term once they’ve sampled and experienced the content and service first-hand.
If Netflix simply marketed the full monthly subscription fee and offered no promotion or incentive, then their subscriber engagement would be less eventful, as individuals would be less incentivised, inclined or motivated to subscribe; meaning that there would be less subscriber traffic accessing and sampling the content and service, and therefore, less subscribers eventually committing to the full subscription long term.
Spotify in a similar fashion, offers promotions and incentives to break down their own paywall to encourage strong subscriber engagement for their own content and service.
Breaking down our own perceived ‘paywall’ for buyers
Although our home doesn’t have a ‘paywall’ in the same sense as Netflix or Spotify, or other similar services, our asking price can nevertheless be an obstacle that stands in the way of some buyers wanting to engage. In other words, our asking price can act almost like a perceived figurative ‘paywall’ for those buyers.
Pricing our home at fair or market value can reasonably attract buyers and offers without a doubt, but it wouldn't necessarily encourage the strongest buyer engagement. For some buyers, our home being priced at fair or market value is in a similar vein to Netflix or Spotify marketing their full monthly subscription fee without promotions or incentives. Those buyers, perceiving our asking price as a figurative ‘paywall’, wouldn’t be able to experience or fully appreciate the appeal of our home first-hand, and in turn, wouldn’t be able to participate and compete with other interested buyers, because they aren’t likely to come through our door in the first place!
An accessible price would break down our own perceived figurative ‘paywall’ in a sense that our asking price would become less of an obstacle and is now a lower barrier to entry for those buyers. So instead of those buyers being unexcited, indifferent or discouraged over our asking price, we’d now be capturing their excitement and interest to want to engage!
BREAKING DOWN OUR OWN PERCEIVED FIGURATIVE ‘PAYWALL’
Breaking down our own perceived ‘paywall’ helps to make social proof affirmation work in our favour
Naturally, each and every buyer’s excitement and interest we capture only serves to strengthen the buyer engagement, and in turn, strengthens the interest, competition and demand for our home!
From a social proof affirmation standpoint, buyers won’t be able to fully gauge nor appreciate how popular our home is and the level of buyer interest and engagement it receives simply from seeing our property listing alone.
Breaking down our own perceived figurative ‘paywall’ would benefit us tremendously, as a more accessible price would encourage as many buyers as possible to attend; to not only view and appreciate our home in person, but also to see first-hand the level of buyer interest and engagement it receives, in particular, the level of competition and demand, and the buyers whom they will be competing against.
BUYERS SEEING WHOM THEY WILL BE COMPETING AGAINST
And naturally, the more buyers we are able to bring into our home, the heavier the competition and demand becomes, and the more appealing our home is perceived by the buyers, thanks to social proof affirmation working in our favour!
After all, it’s only natural to perceive something as being more valuable the more people that want it!
Attracting strong buyer engagement, not just attracting buyers
Ultimately, we should aim to be attracting strong buyer engagement, not just attracting buyers per se.
The best price is achieved as a result of strong interest, competition and demand, which comes from having strong buyer engagement. And to receive strong buyer engagement, we have to give the buyers something to be excited about!
Determining an accessible price
Now that we understand the importance of presenting an accessible price to buyers, the question is - how do we determine an accessible price for our home?
I have discussed in great detail the ways in which we can determine an accessible price from the perspectives of saleable pricing, buyer enquiry pricing, and band pricing, all of which are forms of accessible pricing - click the links to jump to those sections.
Getting in touch with me
If you would like to discuss any of the above points with me further, or if you need help or have any questions in general, click here to get in touch with me.
Throughout this section, I’ve touched on who the obvious and potential buyers are for our home. Those buyers make up our likely pool, which I cover in the next section. I also cover in the next section, buyer enquiry pricing - a pricing strategy that puts accessible pricing into practice.
So if you are interested in knowing more about our likely buyer pool and buyer enquiry pricing, come join me in the next section.
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Credit goes to Netflix and Spotify for the images used in this section