NovWhen another advert shows a lower price
How to compare a cheaper external advert fairly by identifying the actual unit, timing, included items and payment terms before defending or dismissing either offer.
This article reflects the named expert’s practical perspective. See NovAsia’s editorial policy for how material is prepared and reviewed.
A buyer sends me an advert and asks why a similar apartment is cheaper. My first response should not be a defence of the offer I sent earlier. The lower price may be real. First establish whether the two prices describe the same purchase.
“Similar” can hide a lot. Two units in the same project may differ by floor, outlook, furnishing, condition or payment terms. An advert may show a starting price rather than the identified unit the buyer is considering. Even the same unit can appear under different terms at different times. Before explaining the difference, I want to reconstruct what each number actually belongs to.
Is it the same apartment?
The comparison becomes much stronger when the unit can be identified. A unit number, floor, plan, orientation or another stable detail can help. If the external advert gives only a project name and an attractive headline price, we may still be looking at a different property altogether.
A lower advertised figure is not misleading by default. It simply means it cannot yet answer the buyer's question.
Take a hypothetical example. One offer is 120 units of currency and the external advert shows 113. If the cheaper unit has a different floor, excludes furniture and requires a larger payment earlier, the seven-unit gap is not the whole comparison. The lower price may still be the better choice, but it is a different choice.
The reverse is important too. If the unit, timing and material terms really are the same, I should not invent distinctions just to defend the original price. The next question is straightforward: is the lower price currently available for this apartment, and under what conditions?
When was the price valid?
Price screenshots travel much longer than the terms around them. A buyer may receive an image in a chat, see a social post, or find an advert that was created under an earlier promotion. That evidence is still useful, but its date matters.
An old price is not automatically invalid, and a new one is not automatically correct. Establish which moment each offer describes. If an external source is still live, opening it is more useful than debating the screenshot. If only the screenshot remains, it tells us that a price was presented at some point, not necessarily that the seller is offering it today.
This is also why I do not treat a buyer's outside research as an inconvenience. It can reveal a genuine discrepancy. A consultant who becomes defensive too early turns a factual comparison into a loyalty test.
What is included in the number?
The purchase price only makes sense beside the contents and obligations attached to it. Furniture, finishing works, appliances, fees or another included item may explain part of the difference. So can a different payment schedule.
A forty-line spreadsheet is unnecessary for every comparison. I want the few conditions that actually move the decision. If three items explain the entire difference, those three are enough. If the difference remains unexplained after checking them, that is also a useful result.
Predictions are a poor way to justify a higher current price: easier resale, better rental demand, future appreciation. Those may be separate questions, and they need their own evidence. They should not be used as filler because the present-day price difference is uncomfortable.
A lower asking price is not yet a completed deal
Even a confirmed cheaper advert does not prove that the buyer can complete on those terms. Availability may have changed, conditions may apply, or the source may need further verification. But the same standard works both ways: the original offer is not superior merely because it came through our shortlist.
What I want to avoid is a contest of confidence. One salesperson says the cheaper advert is outdated. Another says their number is the real one. The buyer is left deciding who sounds more certain. A better comparison makes each claim visible and asks for the missing evidence.
Sometimes the correct answer is that I cannot explain the difference yet
That is a legitimate professional answer. If the property appears to be the same, the date is current and the terms look comparable, but the reason for the higher price is still unclear, that uncertainty should be stated and the seller asked to clarify.
The result may be that the external offer is genuinely better. It may be that an important condition was omitted. Either outcome is more useful than manufacturing a reason before checking.
At the end of the comparison I want a short record the buyer can understand without trusting anybody's tone: same unit or different unit; current or earlier date; same or different included items; confirmed reason for the price gap, or no confirmed reason yet.
An outside advert should not threaten the relationship with the consultant. It should improve the question. If it leads us to a better offer, that is useful. If it reveals that the cheaper price describes something different, that is useful too. The buyer's job is to choose the property. My job is not to make the first shortlist impossible to challenge.