Mortgage valuation - advice / help needed

posterfan

Hello

We have just had a property we wish to buy valued. We agreed £305k even though we thought that the valuation would come in lower as it wa sprobably only worth £300k max. The valuation has just been done and has come in at £305k. However, the problem is that the surveyor said that the whole roof needs to be replaced but has not factored that in to the price. This was quite a surprise.

Secondly, i asked the valuer what comparables he used:

1. spoke to an estate agent in the area - he actually spoke to the actual agent selling the property we want to buy- this sounds wrong to me as they have a vested interest in over valuing?

2. he compared it to a house that is very simlar but 3 beds (ours is only 2) that sold for £325k - surely ours woudl be less - this other one was actually in better condition.

3. Compared it to a three bed house that sold for £350k 2 years ago. That house is 3 beds not 2 and is on a far superior street (location and beauty of building).

I dont mind agreeing to a fair valuation - but this chap seems to have done a poor job on valuing it.

What do you advise?

Could i say to the owners that the valuation came in £6k less to try and get a fairer price or should i perhaps get a new valuation / second opinoin?

Any ideas would be great (for the record I am not trying to chip the sellers price for the sake of it, they are nice people, but the estate agent overvalued to start with and now the surveyor seems to have done a bad job)

Thanks

ess0two

Perhaps you should have agreed a lower offer in the first instance,as for turning the surveyors decision round,doubtful.

Pull out?keep looking?or grin and bear it.

DaddyBear

posterfan wrote: »

Hello

We have just had a property we wish to buy valued. We agreed £305k even though we thought that the valuation would come in lower as it wa sprobably only worth £300k max. The valuation has just been done and has come in at £305k. However, the problem is that the surveyor said that the whole roof needs to be replaced but has not factored that in to the price. This was quite a surprise.

Secondly, i asked the valuer what comparables he used:

1. spoke to an estate agent in the area - he actually spoke to the actual agent selling the property we want to buy- this sounds wrong to me as they have a vested interest in over valuing?

2. he compared it to a house that is very simlar but 3 beds (ours is only 2) that sold for £325k - surely ours woudl be less - this other one was actually in better condition.

3. Compared it to a three bed house that sold for £350k 2 years ago. That house is 3 beds not 2 and is on a far superior street (location and beauty of building).

I dont mind agreeing to a fair valuation - but this chap seems to have done a poor job on valuing it.

What do you advise?

Could i say to the owners that the valuation came in £6k less to try and get a fairer price or should i perhaps get a new valuation / second opinoin?

Any ideas would be great (for the record I am not trying to chip the sellers price for the sake of it, they are nice people, but the estate agent overvalued to start with and now the surveyor seems to have done a bad job)

Thanks

If you thought it was worth less than £305k then why did you offer that much?

silvercar

Surveyors value what a property is worth in its current condition. So they do take account of any repairs like roofs.

I don't understand your complaint. You offered 305k, its been valued at 305k.

As it needs a roof replacement, you will now need to decide if that is something you can afford.

No-one is going to reduce the price to reflect work without seeing the valuation.

Cazza

If you try blagging the survey has come in less than it has, it's s*ds law it'll come back and bite you on the bum. I agree, that you should't have offered £305k if you weren't happy to pay that and I would suggest that by the sounds of things, the surveyor has taken that into account when valuing the property.

Given what you want to do, I'd get a roofing contractor in to do a report and estimate (should be free), then go back to the vendor with those figures and try to get the price down by the equivalent amount.

Debt_Free_Chick

Agree with Silvercar. A valuation is normally based on the condition of the property "as is" and not the condition assuming certain work is carried out.

Are you sure that the surveyor has valued the property on the assumption that the roof is replaced?

posterfan

thank you for all the replies so far.
Just to clarify regarding the price i offered, it was on the basis that the hosue was in excellent order. The roof needs to be replaced accoridng to the surveyor. The quote i just received for this is £6k to £7k.

The valuer has definately used inappropriate comparables, in term sof house size, locationa nd decorative order.

I asked him whether the value reflected teh roof and he stayed silent as though i had caught him out.

I offered £305k on the basis that it was of a certain standard - however, he has revealed that it needs work but has not refelcted this properly.

i like the property so dont want to walk away, but at the same time do not have the spare £7k for the roof.

ess0two

You need to get the roof assessed,a knackered roof comment from a surveyor may just require the roof has some extra suppport.

posterfan

Apparently the external elements of the roof need to be replaced, but the woodedn strcuture / inside is fine.

sounds like the slate need sto ebe replaced along with all the other external elements

lovethymini

posterfan wrote: »

Hello

We have just had a property we wish to buy valued. We agreed £305k even though we thought that the valuation would come in lower as it wa sprobably only worth £300k max. The valuation has just been done and has come in at £305k. However, the problem is that the surveyor said that the whole roof needs to be replaced but has not factored that in to the price. This was quite a surprise.

Secondly, i asked the valuer what comparables he used:

1. spoke to an estate agent in the area - he actually spoke to the actual agent selling the property we want to buy- this sounds wrong to me as they have a vested interest in over valuing?

2. he compared it to a house that is very simlar but 3 beds (ours is only 2) that sold for £325k - surely ours woudl be less - this other one was actually in better condition.

3. Compared it to a three bed house that sold for £350k 2 years ago. That house is 3 beds not 2 and is on a far superior street (location and beauty of building).

I dont mind agreeing to a fair valuation - but this chap seems to have done a poor job on valuing it.

What do you advise?

Could i say to the owners that the valuation came in £6k less to try and get a fairer price or should i perhaps get a new valuation / second opinoin?

Any ideas would be great (for the record I am not trying to chip the sellers price for the sake of it, they are nice people, but the estate agent overvalued to start with and now the surveyor seems to have done a bad job)

Thanks

The above poster obviously hasn't read the entire thread. Offering 305k was based on not needing to replace a roof.

Dont Lie, would be my initial advise!

Ask the surveyor to reconsider the value (although in my experience surveyors don't like to change valuations), get his response, then renegotiate.

I would be entirely honest and take the approach you have on this thread; ie your offer of 305k was not based on re roofing the property, thus you need to adjust your offer accordingly. Simple as that!

Good Luck

cattie

If the roof was of major concern then the lender would want to hold back a portion of the mortgage untill the necessary work was done.

What kind of a survey did you have done? Was it full structural? This is the only kind of survey that is qualfied enough to give you an opinion as to the state of the roof & even then you can only be certain a roof is in need of replacement by getting a reputable roofing company to look at it.

If you have concrete evidence that the roof does need replacing then you need to have this backed up with an estimate or 2 from decent roofing companies & try to renegotiate the price. Most vendors would want to see valuation if you are hoping to say it came in less & most ea's would know whether surveyor intended do downvalue or not.

As others have said, offering a figure on a house, expecting the valuation to come in lower just doesn't make sense. It's perfectly normal for a surveyor to check prices of similar properties that have recently sold with the ea that has the house on their books, so nothing amiss there.