disparity in valuation & repossession

virgin_moneysaver

helping my little sis with hopefully moving - had 3 EA out today & each one valued the house 10K more than the previous one - large 3 double bed terrace with large bathroom with separate shower cubicle & big rooms downstairs - £114, £124 & £134 - I expected a couple of thou difference but not £20K!

also the last EA who has been in the bus 40 years says that he seen the rearing ugly head of repossessions lately

silvercar

Have a look on nethouseprices.com to see what similar homes have actually sold for.

cattie

About 4yrs ago When I sold my last property I had 3 estate agents in & the lowest valuation was £170,000 which I knew was way off mark, the 2nd valued at £190,000 & the third, who I sold through quoted £197,500. I sold with the third agent within 3 weeks & achieved £195,000.

It pays to know your local market, so do check out what other similar properties that are moving fairly quicklyare going for & go with the agent you feel is suggesting a realstic value that is achievable.

ManAtHome

Some under-quote in the hope of a quick sale - £10k will only cost them a hundred or so but does wonders for cashflow.

Some over-quote to get the business - if you check your local papers, some agencies always seem to be having 'sales'.

Some ask you want for the property and/or try find out other valuations in conversation then add a few £k on.

virgin_moneysaver

thanks everyone - I just couldn't believe the difference when they are all established businesses in this town - I did have a look at nethouseprice website but the last one that sold was a year ago for inbetween the bottom & middle price

Astaroth

I very much agree with what ManAtHome says but in addition to this there is also a lot of subjectivity to it... the valuers try to be independant but if they particularly hate something they are going to knock the price down for it.

When I put my house on the market the 3 valuations I got were £190,000, £210,000 and £130,595 - the estate agent with the lowest price said they had a cash buyer ready for it too (I am sure they did with that valuation). Went on the market for £199,950 and sold 2 weeks later for £222,501 (it went to sealed bids so think the person added the £1 to make sure )

courtjester

Part of the problem here is that agents would have you believe that their valuations are in anyway professional or scientific. This is probably due to the (mis-)use of the word valuation.

What these really are are guesstimates of what the agent might hope to get for your property according to the agent's own situation (how many buyers on their books looking for this sort of property, whether they need to boost their sales figures this month or reach a target on new instructions), coloured of course by any psychology going on to 'tempt' you into taking their contract by suggesting a higher than likely price.

Not suprising then that agents values differ so widely when you get three in.

The only proper 'valuation' is based on a survey of the property and analysis of comparable real prices of properties actually sold - which is what mortgage surveys do and is why they are rightfully called mortgage valuations. This also explains why the mortgage company's valuation often differs from the agents 'valuation' when it comes to getting a mortgage on the property at the asking price....

Jorgan_2

Did any of the agents show you comparables of similar properties that they have actually sold recently? A good agent will alway use comparables to show how they have achieved the suggested marketing price.