“Price it low, watch it go; price it high, watch it die” (real estate adage)
“Quote it low, watch it go” and “Quote it high, watch it die” are popular real estate adages in Australia and New Zealand, where real estate is sold at auction. If a price is low, people will buy it and the property will “go” (sell). If a price is high, people will not buy it and the property will “die” (not sell). “The old industry adage goes: ‘Quote it low, watch it go. Quote it high, watch it die’” was cited in the Sydney Morning Herald (Australia) in 2009.
The adages have also been used in the United States, usually as “Price it low, watch it go” and ““Price it high, watch it die.” “Another favorite saying among push strategists is, ‘Build it high, price it low, watch it go!’” was cited in The Essence of Marketing (2006) by Bob Kimball. “Price it low & watch it go” was cited in a 2008 blog article about real estate in Pasadena, California. “Price it low—watch it go. Price it high—watch it die” was a 2010 comment on a website about real estate in the Oakland/San Francisco Bay Area of California.
Google Books
The Essence of Marketing
By Bob Kimball
Fremont, CA: Jain Pub. Co.
2006
Pg. 174:
Another favorite saying among push strategists is, “Build it high, price it low, watch it go!” Many firms employ a combination push and pull strategy using both consumer and trade promotions.
up2dateRealEstate.com
PASADENA REAL ESTATE BLOG FEATURES “PRICE IT LOW & WATCH IT GO”
September 4, 2008 By Doug Willis
Update: This home closed a few days ago at the end of August. As you recall the property featured two units on a lot and was listed for $399,000. The final selling price was $500,000. As we continue to see more and more bank owned properties, lenders are opting to “fire sale” their inventory. Listing a property at a very low price creates a lot of interest, allowing the bank to choose from several different offers, finding a buyer in a very strong financial position and one who is also eager and can close in a short time.
Gathering Dust
November 11, 2008
She Shoots, She Scores- Vintage Christmas and Lots of Buttons
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I kind of base my pricing on how much of an item I have- I have lots of Christmas, so I price it to sell. “Price it low and watch it go”
Auntie Kate The Resale Expert
Carolyn
on June 22, 2009 at 9:51 am
Another great discussion on this on going dilema! I like Deb’s view that the employees were thinking like consignors when checking in items, very perceptive! We continue to streamline and look for quality and sellability, price it low and watch it go. Our volume has increased substantially because we are turning over so many great items. It’s a lot of work, but it is really paying off. Don’t overprice….it’s more fun to sell it than mark it down!
Sydney (Australia) Morning Herald
The buyers’ guide to underquoting
August 16, 2009
Chris Vedelago
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Underquoting in practice
So why underquote? It’s done to ‘‘bait’’ potential buyers to a property, both to increase interest and inspection numbers and potentially generate more bidding at auction. The old industry adage goes: ‘‘Quote it low, watch it go. Quote it high, watch it die.’‘
Underquoting, in its classic form, occurs when an agent deliberately advertises or quotes a price that is below their own estimated selling price (or the vendor’s reserve, if provided) on the sale authority.
Redfin—Bay Area (Oakland/San Francisco, California)
elt1
Re: Do low list prices to generate multiple bids screw over local homeowners?
09-02-2010 04:03 PM
It doesn’t matter what the list price is. It only matters what a buyer is willing to pay. $10-$20k in the Bay Area is chump change.
If you want 90% of potential buyers to bid on your house price it 10% under market.
If you want 10% over market price it will just sit with out any showings. Most people are afraid to lowball(they are worried about insulting the seller for some reason) and won’t even look at over priced property.
“Price it low—watch it go. Price it high—watch it die.”
Empower Wealth (Australia)
December 15, 2014
Underquoting: Is it a Myth or Does it Exist?
“Quote it Low and Watch it Go”
This is the term used by some real estate agents in the past but is now becoming extinct with updated legislation from the REIV coupled with large penalty fines. The truth is, many people buying at auction and within the general public are not aware of the relevant authorities and peak bodies that are trying to stamp out this practice.
customsbank (Australia)
Quote it Low Watch it Go, Quote it High Watch it Die.
January 30, 2015
There is a common expression amongst real estate agents: “quote it low watch it go, quote it high watch it die”. This refers to auction sales campaigns and this thought process leads to frustration on the part of property buyers. Talk to any buyer in an auction area and they will be able to regale you with many tales of woe, where an agent underquoted the expected sale price and the property ended up selling for more than they could afford.
Property Observer (Australia)
18 MARCH 2015
What will it take to eradicate underquoting for good?
Edwin Almeida
“Price it low, watch it go” is another real estate industry (REI) mantra. It’s a saying that is more prevalent among real estate agents (REA) that heavily promote auction campaigns.
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The Age - theage.com.au
March 29, 2015
#COMMENT Price-it-low, watch-it-go mentality - has become the culture of the real estate industry.
Iron Bridge Property Group (New Zealand)
10 August 2015
Selling property at auction: Quote it low, watch it go?
by Paul Foster
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A saying you often hear from agents using this bait price strategy sums up this misleading practice: “quote it low and watch it go”.
Agents often use the excuse that they had no idea of the property value. Of course they don’t know the exact price a buyer would be willing to pay, but by law they should have provided a written estimate or appraisal of the property to the seller, based on recent sales… so how could they have “no idea”? You would also hope any competent agent should have a fairly good idea of what a realistic value range might be. This estimate, as well as market feedback, is often used as the auction reserve price too, so agents should know very well the ball-park they’re playing in.
774 ABC (Melbourne, Australia)
Quote it low: Real estate auction underquoting not going away, The Block’s Greville Pabst says
By Simon Leo Brown
Updated Thu at 2:50am (October 8, 2015)
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Melbourne-based buyer’s advocate Greville Pabst — known to television audiences as a buyer’s jury judge on reality show The Block Triple Threat — said underquoting was an issue that was here to stay.
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“There is another old adage in real estate: ‘quote it low watch it go, quote it high watch it die’,” he said.
“If you get to a situation where you are quoting too high, you will just kill the auction system.”