Many people believe that valuing a property is art. We disagree. A buyer pays in line with what others are paying in that area.

If you own a 3 bed terraced house and the going price for similar properties within the close vicinity of that property is, let us say, £125,000 then the base price of your property will be £125,000. Of course additional features, like a bigger garden or loft conversion will enhance the value, and old and tired kitchen or bathroom may decrease the value, and so on.

Professionals value the property based on these factors. They also have access to certain tools, many of which are available to general public for free. Using this information, potential home buyers ask intelligent questions to the assumptions made by estate agents while valuing their property.

Being realistic is imporant to sell the property, especially of you want fast results. This has other benefits

• It saves time and hassle
• Saves disappointment
• Gives you the feeling of being in control
• Reduction in stress
• Sense of achievement.

But the question is: where do you start?

Start With Research

Gather all the facts before arriving at a realistic price for your property for fast sale. You can try these methods:

1. Using the Internet to find prices of similar properties in your area. Try websites like:
   • Right Move
   • Globrix
2. Looking at House Prices statistics this can help identify the trend over the last 12 months. Look at the stats from:
   • Halifax & Bank of Scotland House Price Data
   • Nationwide House Price Index 
3. Using house price websites to discover exactly the prices that properties had sold for in your neighbourhood. You can use any because they get data from the same source: Land Registry. Soe popular options are:
   • Net House Prices
   • Mouse Price
   • Our Property
4. Look at historic trends. You can use the link below to check your own postcode.
   • Historical price trends
5. Research local paper and estate agents windows to get a sense. By all means call your friendly estate agent around for his opinion of the value of your house. Insist on knowing how much some one will pay rather than how much you should market at. Because these two are 2 different numbers.

With this information, you should get some compartive date which should give you a good idea how much buyers have been paying to buy similar properties in your area. Basing your expectations on that base price will help keep disappointments at bay.