Kicking Myself!

Cliveski2009

franklee wrote: »

You are spending 280K yet refuse to pay a few hundred for a proper valuation. Now that is stupid. Get a valuation and use that to negoiate price. Or just pull out.

I actually think this guy should be applauded for spending out on a full structural survey. Most people are happy to buy a house with only a mortgage valuation which is pants.

franklee

Cliveski2009 wrote: »

I actually think this guy should be applauded for spending out on a full structural survey. Most people are happy to buy a house with only a mortgage valuation which is pants.

Course he should, but a structural survey and a valuatuon aren't mutually exclusive. A buyer needs to know the condition of the property AND it's value!

lincroft1710

The difference between £280K and £270K is around 3%, well within valuation tolerances, get 3 EAs to give valuations and a 5% difference would be a reasonable expectation.

I've forgotten how many times I've heard people say "I paid too much for this house". My reply (and those of colleagues) was "you paid the going rate".

The two questions you should be asking and hopefully answering YES are :

1. Is this the house I really want?

2. Can I comfortably afford it?

superfran_uk

When we first looked round the house we are buying, Zoopla said it was worth 175. We took no notice of this, and in the end got an offer of 187 accepted. Zoopla now says it's worth 190,438, and yet no one has input details to say it's had a new bathroom and kitchen, had a conservatory added etc. No idea where these figures come from, I wouldn't trust them at all.

mustang1

Yes, you should have done your research before you put your offer in! As people say, you're not committed until you exchange contracts BUT you are messing your seller around if you're now getting nervous and having second thoughts.

You need to work out what this property is worth to you. If you are happy to take the risk, then you could put in a lower offer and see what the seller says (although I'm sure they won't be thrilled). You will either get your price reduction or lose the property, it's up to you.

Worth remembering that if you are paying over the odds, you're not just paying more cash up front will be doubly hit by the extra mortgage payments on your overpriced property!

Make your mind up soon though or you are going to really annoy people.

happyhunter

My thinking behind all these house price valuation websites like zoopla, Nationwide calculator etc is they use the previous selling price on that property, and then based on the market fluctuation in your area, apply a discount or markup to the previous selling price to give the current valuation.

So, if I had bought my house at the peak in 2007 for lets say 200k, assume a 20% drop in my area, these websites will estimate the current value as 160k.

But if I had bought the same house for 150k instead of 200k, they will value it at 120k.

i.e. if the previous buyer grabbed a bargain or paid over the odds, these websites will not take this into account and will simply apply the same % (for that post code) to work out the current value.

superfran_uk

I have seen examples this. In the road I am buying in, most houses are exactly the same. However, some years ago perhaps one was bought as a repo for say, 135, and one was sold for over the odds at 155 the same year. Because the prices have gone up so dramatically (and not gone down that much in this area), the difference between them now is even higher and it predicts one is worth say 170 and one worth 230. For the exact same house! And the 170 could have had lots of work done and be much nicer inside! So don't base a decision on this. You HAVE to be sure though, the fact you are having second thoughts is never a good sign.

PasturesNew

The online guesstimate site prices are way off the mark in at most cases.

I am in a block of 16 identical properties, it guesstimates all of them completely differently based on the date they last sold, how much for and the market movement since that date ... although if all of them went for sale they'd all be valued/sell for the same amount within £2k.

Offering just £10k under the asking price though is qualification for being a nincompoop

jaqui59

PasturesNew wrote: »

The online guesstimate site prices are way off the mark in at most cases.

I am in a block of 16 identical properties, it guesstimates all of them completely differently based on the date they last sold, how much for and the market movement since that date ... although if all of them went for sale they'd all be valued/sell for the same amount within £2k.

Offering just £10k under the asking price though is qualification for being a nincompoop

Yes, I know I know, dont rub it in Problem is when you have somebody waiting to jump into your place, it does make you behave a little irrationally!

spuds_2

I have never found these estimates of current house values to be accurate. I certainly wouldn't use them as a way of valuing a property I wanted as a home.

Okay, maybe you could have got it for a bit less, but if it is the house you want at a price you can afford, then stop torturing yourself over 3% of it's value.

I'm the same though. If I buy a packet of chocolate Buttons at Tesco for 38p, I'm gutted if I find the Co-op have them on offer for 32p.

If you can get the vendor to reduce it a bit, okay, though he might think you are gazundering and taking the p. But if it's a good house and you want to live there for a while, don't sweat over £10k.