“Your Home Is Worth What Someone Is Willing to Pay For It”

These two sentences are:

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“A property can only sell for what someone is prepared to pay for it.”

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And:

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“A property will always find its true value within the current market when viewings and offers happen.”

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Two simple sentences. Two absolute truths. And they’re worth repeating, because when it comes to estate agency, people often make the mistake of thinking we are dealing in the trading of bricks and mortar; but that description falls short.

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What we are actually dealing in is the currency of dreams, memories, emotions and expectations.

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And sometimes those expectations might need a little gentle resetting…

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The market is not about ‘what you want’. It is about ‘what is’

When I meet with homeowners, whether they are just starting to think about selling, or are already on the market, or who knows, maybe they are on their second or third
agent, I often hear a variation of these three same remarks:

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"We want to get ‘X’ for our home."
"We need to achieve ‘X’ to make our next move."
"The house down the road sold for ‘X’ two years ago, so ours must be worth more now…"

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The thing is, that I get it, entirely. Not only is it natural to hope for the highest possible price, as your agent, I want to get you the highest possible price, also.

But there’s a rub, and here it is: the market doesn’t care what we want or need.

The market is the market. It is made up of buyers with budgets, options, and their own set of wants and needs. No amount of wishing can persuade a buyer to pay £1.5m for a home if the market says it’s worth £1.25m today.

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And that’s why I say: you can only sell your property for what someone is prepared to pay for it. That’s the price that matters, not what it was worth in 2022, or what a homeowner has spent on it, or indeed even what it may have been ‘valued’ for by Zoopla.

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The power of excellent property marketing (and pricing)

Of course, brilliant marketing makes a difference — and this is where we excel at Bartlett and Partners. We won’t just sling your home on Rightmove and hope for the best.

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We launch it with beautiful photography, punchy videos, and in fact a social media campaign that generates real buzz and gets people through the door before our advertising on the big portals like Rightmove and Zoopla even kick in.

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But even with the best marketing in the world, a property will always find its true value within the current market when viewings and offers happen.

That’s why we launch our marketing with all the confidence in the world, but nevertheless track viewing levels and listen closely to buyer feedback, so that we can make sure – as your chosen property professionals – that we properly manage the marketing process to its conclusion.

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If we launch our Bartlett and Partners advert for your home, well-presented, well marketed, well-written up and with a top quality video to boost the property online, hitting tens of thousands of people across our social media channels, you will know very quickly, as will we, whether the price is hitting the right spot — and the offers
that come in will reflect that.

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The dangers of chasing an imaginary price

The single biggest pitfall when it comes to marketing your home for sale is over- pricing.

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Sometimes sellers wish to “test the market” at a higher price and see what happens. I am honestly more than willing to have that conversation with a seller – as long as
we can base the price on some sort of evidence or strategy. Because the problem is, if you do overprice a property, what usually happens is… nothing.

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And that can kill your chances – especially as days slip into weeks, ‘testing the market’.

The buyers you wanted to attract haven’t even come through the door – despite the mantra that you might tell yourself: ‘surely, if they like it, someone will make us an
offer!’.
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The reality is, as attractive as property in Richmond Borough is, if your home looks expensive compared to the competition, its chances of sale can die a slow, silent death. The listing starts to age. Interest wanes. You drop the price, having ‘tested the market’, but by now you’ve lost valuable momentum.

This is why it’s crucial to price correctly from day one, especially in this environment. Property prices in Richmond upon Thames have increased around 4.5% in the 12
months to March 2025, according to data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), but over the past 24 or 36 months they have dropped by similar amounts at times, and in general over the period have probably, realistically, crept up roughly in line with inflation – much in line with the picture across London and the South East in
general.

I really can tell you, though, from my experience at the coal face, that when we price accurately – maybe with a little ambition, yes, but not overegging the pudding – we
create urgency, generate competition, and ultimately we turn up the best price the market is prepared to deliver – not just that though, we do so in a timely fashion.

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The sweet spot: realistic price + exceptional marketing

At Bartlett and Partners, we deliberately work with a small number of clients at any one time – only up to around 15 or so. We do this precisely so that we can give each
one of them the focus and the full attention they deserve.

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We’ll be honest with you about pricing. That doesn’t mean we will be negative, not at all. But what we will do is to show you what the market is doing today… not last year, not predicting next year, but looking at the right-here and right-now.

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And then we’ll put our marketing machine to work: video, photography, social media, all the bells and whistles; literally everything possible, every trick pulled and every
stone turned over, to ensure your home reaches exactly the right buyers.

Because when that happens, viewings turn into offers. And offers show you exactly where your home sits in today’s market.

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So if you hear me saying those two sentences again — well, now you know why. They’re not clichés. They’re not cop-outs. And although they might well be Darrenisms, what they do represent is the foundation of a successful sale.

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This is what will get you moving – with a broad smile on your face, having done a deal you can feel great about.

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Darren Bartlett