Surveyors Undervalueing

Julfulbub

Don't know what happens now. We are selling our house and buying another and it was all going a bit too smooth to be true. I got a phonecall today to tell me that the survey on our house has come in almost £20k below the agreed sale price.

The lady who is buying from us is contesting this vauation with her lender but what are the chances of this being successful? Anyone have any experience? My EA said if this didn't work she was going to try another lender but there is still no guarentee that the survey will come up with a more realistic figure.

Average sales of properties similar to mine in our postcode in the last 6 months are coming in at £3.5k above the agreed sale price. My EA says the surveyor has probably used the Nationwide Housing Index thing which adjusts prices in line with national averages not by area. If our buyers lender is not prepared to apply common sense this is all going to fall apart.

poppysarah

When it's all your money you decide.

When it's someone elses they do.

pawpurrs

well your Lucky that the buyer is still trying other resources, rarther than coming straight to you for a price reduction.
It could all be ok, if you can gat compaarable evidence together, or if they are willing to get another valuation at extra cost to themselves then, another surveyor may make a different judgement call, I dont see how they can purely go on Nationwide figures, as this wont take in to account houses that have been completely updated.
Hope it all comes together for you.

ciano125

Nationwide's calculator specifies areas, not just nationally. Be thankful that he's saved you a shedload of money because another valuer will be more than likely to come up with a similar figure. If the woman selling it can't accept that, she can only sell the house to a cash buyer who is prepared to pay £20k over the market value. Chances of finding such a buyer are exactly the same as the square root of naff all!!

Oops, sorry, just noticed that it is you selling the house! Same applies though.

pawpurrs

Ciano hes not saved them any money, they are the vendors. I beg to differ, different surveyors are well known to price differently. As are different EA.

ciano125

If the evidence is there and its pointing to the price being £20k below, then no surveyor is going to risk his job by saying its worth £20k more I'm afraid. I also doubt that he just used the nationwide calculator on its own, that would be reckless. But hey, if the buyer is prepared to pay more for another valuer then let them!

Julfulbub

The lady who is buying from us has viewed numerous houses in the area and knows the condition of the houses that are selling for the price that ours has been valued at. There are a lot of them selling locally and are in need of complete gutting, doors, windows, kitchen and bathroom etc. We have been in our house 5 years and worked our way through updating everything. The surveyor even said when he was looking around the house this is definitely sitting at top end of the market.

Ciano, as I said average sales locally in the last 6 months are coming in at £3.5k above what we have agreed to sell it for - how does that suggest we are marketing it too high? Fact of the matter is to sell at price they have valued it at is just not an option - we will have to stay put.

1echidna

Our buyer's survey valued our house at 15k below the offer price. Our EA expressed shock and (to our surprise) managed to get the surveyor to raise his valuation by 10k by providing evidence of actual sale prices of three similar properties in the area. We agreed a price of 5k below the original offer.

Julfulbub

1echindna - Our EA too was shocked at the amount we have been under valued by. I pray we have a positive result like you. i just fear that surveyors will not want to make themselves look stupid by moving on their original valuation.

1echidna

Julfulbub wrote: »

1echindna - Our EA too was shocked at the amount we have been under valued by. I pray we have a positive result like you. i just fear that surveyors will not want to make themselves look stupid by moving on their original valuation.

Good luck in getting the valuation up. Selling property may be enough to make one paranoid but this kind of situation makes one feel that the surveyor is not being objective but just working in the mortgage provider and their client's interest to get the price down. We probably would have gone for the somewhat risky option of ditching our buyer and proceeding with another willing to offer a good price if the surveyor had not shifted.

Julfulbub

Thats the frustrating thing our buyer also thinks we have been undervalued - she is happy with the price we agreed