PART FIVE: Pricing, Pricing, Pricing!
By this time, I hope you have built a property that your customer would like to live in and can afford (not too big, not too small and to the right specification). Pricing your scheme to understand your GDV as well as pricing each unit according to views, location, size etc are the basics but vitally important. I’d also suggest that you need to be valuing the scheme quarterly (if not monthly!) to keep up with the current market conditions, and how you can adjust accordingly. Listening to good local agents as well as global firms is something I also strongly advocate. Both will add huge value to how they see the market, and often they have very different views. I have several times over my career launched schemes with both local and global firms and often their approach is different but with equally spectacular results. The trick is deciding which strategy is best. Not an easy task, often very confusing and having someone like us who has worked in agency as well as development can often help.
Once you have pricing locked down, strategising the timing of the launch is your next task. Launching a site two years, one year, six months before or at practical completion are all things that need to be carefully considered when finalising the scheme. Do you sell off plan with discount? Raise prices after a certain amount of sales? Wait for homes to be completed before allowing people to view? I have written hundreds of strategies and no two are the same - taking in current climates such as political issues, tax years or even football games and other sporting events need to be considered.
Another very important area to focus your attention on is understanding your competition locally and when you go to market is paramount to a successful launch – and believe it or not working together often works. I have done this several times to my advantage and each time it has worked well, but this is for another blog!
