When the owner of Stretton Garage came to me, he had a number in his head: £200,000. That was the figure he needed to satisfy his investment objectives. He wanted a quick sale, and he wanted a realistic price.
The question I asked was not "how do we achieve £200,000?" It was "what is this site actually worth, and who would pay it?"
Those are different questions. Most agents don't ask the second one, because the answer creates expectation you then have to deliver on — and delivering on it is harder than agreeing with the owner's number.
Why the Owner's Number Was Wrong
The owner's figure of £200,000 was based on his investment objectives. Not on what the market would pay for the site. An agent who accepts that anchor at face value might achieve the target — but they leave significant value on the table.
My assessment, based on the site's development potential and the profile of likely buyers, was that £400,000 was achievable. That is twice the owner's target. Telling a client his figure is too low is a harder conversation than agreeing with it. But it is the right conversation, and the one most agents avoid.
The Strategy
The marketing targeted buyers who would recognise the development potential of the site specifically — not just the general market. The price was set to attract serious interest quickly rather than to open a long negotiation from a higher starting point.
This is important. Pricing a property to generate competition produces a different outcome from pricing a property to leave room for negotiation. The former compresses the timeline. The latter extends it.
What Happened
Within two weeks of going to market, I had secured an offer of £425,000. Contracts were exchanged. The sale completed.
The owner's target was £200,000. The final sale price was £425,000. The difference was £225,000.
That gap exists on more commercial instructions than most owners realise. It exists because agents accept the owner's number rather than doing the work to establish the right one. The conversation about price is the most important conversation an agent has — and it should happen at valuation, not three months into an instruction that isn't moving.