You can have the best house in the development and ruin its sale with a single mistyped number. These are the mistakes when pricing a property that we see repeatedly every week — and why listing high doesn’t make you earn more: it makes you sell for less.
Mistake 1: the sentimental price
“I paid X, I put Y into renovations, so it’s worth X+Y+something.” The market doesn’t pay for your memories or for every renovation (a good kitchen adds value; marble chosen to your taste doesn’t necessarily). The only real price is what buyers are paying today for comparable homes to yours, in your area and condition.
Mistake 2: copying your neighbours’ listings
Portals show what people ask for, and many of those listings have been on the market for months — precisely because they ask too much. Anchoring your price to a neighbour’s listing is inheriting their mistake. What matters are the closed sales: how much and how quickly properties actually sold for.
Mistake 3: “I’ll list high and then lower it”
The most expensive mistake of all. Your listing gets its maximum attention in the first two or three weeks; if the price scares off buyers during that window, they won’t come back. Then follow staggered price reductions, which the market reads as weakness (“there must be something wrong,” “let’s wait for another reduction”), and the property becomes burned. Statistically, homes that come to market at the right price sell faster and for more than those that list high and slip down in price.
Mistake 4: leaving a giant “negotiation margin”
A reasonable cushion is healthy; a 15% “for bargaining” margin pushes you out of your real buyer’s search filters (they search up to €200,000 and you appear at €230,000) and instead attracts professional bargain hunters. Margin is negotiated in the offer, not hidden in the listing.
Mistake 5: ignoring your likely buyer
In Torrevieja and the Costa Blanca, your buyer is very often international: they compare your property with the entire area’s supply within their budget, decide after few viewings and punish out-of-market prices without even negotiating — they simply don’t ask. The right price is also a tool to attract viewings.
How to set the right price
With method: comparables from real sales in your development, adjustments for condition, aspect, floor and extras (the factors that raise and lower price), active demand for your property type and a launch strategy designed for the first three weeks. That is exactly what we do at Mayrasa with our free valuation — and afterwards, if you wish, we execute the sale so that a well-set price turns into offers. The best deal of your sale happens the day you set the price.
