What would be the best way to check...

Pete111

... the realistic value of my house? (apart from selling it!)

I am keen to remortgage in 5 months time and I have a decison to make depending on valuation/LTV.

I'm aware bank surveyors are going in low (or perhaps being realistic!) but am reluctant to pay for the valuation fee and have to walk away as I did earlier on a flat I own but rent out (that situation resolved itself I am staying with my current lender on a good rate) unless there is a decent chance the LTV is in the right range. My plan at the moment is to get a local agent to value the place conservatively in June/July but I wanted to canvass opinon about how effective this approach will be.

Any thoughts? I have already used Zoopla which has come in with a very positive valuation but I'm not convinced by the site. In January the house was apparently worth 430k, in Feb this had dropped to 410 and now it is back up to 450!! (very weird..):think:

Cheers

Pete111

beecher

Phone up your lender and ask them what they have it valued as. 17% down from peak seems to be about right.

Pete111

Called Halifax yesterday and was told it was listed at a smidge under 385k..:eek:

Rather depressing - given we bought in Sept 07 for 477k and have since spend approx 20k and a great deal of elbow grease on modernising/smartening it up a great deal

Suspect it would sell for more as a 3 bed opposite (ours is 4 bed) sold for 450k in August last year and that was an ex-council property....but in this market who knows?!?

Will get a valuation done in June and see where that leaves me - cheers for the initial pointer tho.

Pete111

clairehi

Hi Pete

The only valuation that really counts is the one commissioned by the lender. What an EA says holds no weight with them.

A lender will either give you a "desktop" valuation calculated from a computer model and/or will send out a valuer to do a "physical" valuation. For us there was a £27K difference between the "desktop" valuation we received and the value agreed by a real valuer, so there is hope. (and our house worth a bit less than yours)

A number of lenders will offer free valuation for a remortgage (RBS, Abbey spring to mind) and no upfront fee. if they downvalue your house then you can walk away at no cost.

However these do not necessarily offer the best rates. It may be worth risking a few £100s on a valuation for another lender if you can find a better deal.

Unless your house is in an unusually bad state of repair I believe valuations are derived based on "comparables" ie actual house prices of similar properties in your locality sold recently. Mouseprice is a good source of info on individual properties. Also the LR have a house price index which gives you average prices for your local authority area by month. you could use this to work out the value now, based on how prices have changed since you bought in 07.

www.landregistry.gov.uk/

Pete111

Hi ClaireHi

Thanks for your post - I know an EA valuation won't be accepted by a lender but I was hoping to use it to work out whether it was worth my while getting a lender to value it. I am keen to avoid losing a valuation fee as it would really stick in the throat though I take your point regarding risking a little to get a better rate.

My basic thought process was if the EA valued the property conservatively at say 425k I would hope a surveyor would be more likely to come in the right side of 400k and I would proceed in trying to get a fix arranged. If the EA said it was worth 385k then I would probably give up hope of fixing in as my LTV is to low and instead drop onto the (good) Halifax SVR of 3.5% - the downside being that I expect that to go up in coming years and historically I have always preferred to fix for the security.

Thanks for the info re Mouseprice - I will check that out. There is also a property opposite mine (5 bed) that has just been sold that was on the market for 550k. I'm rather hoping it went for somewhere near 500k which may give my hope of a 400k+ valuation on my 4 bed some chance of becoming reality!

Cheers

Pete111