Where are EA's getting valuations from??

keith969

Unfortunately if its in a desirable area, and there is demand in that area, then you are likely to find that prices are still holding up. There is a shortage of places to buy - I found this last summer, in my area there was just 2 pages on rightmove compared with 5-6 a couple of years previously.

If you really, really want the place, offer a bit more but tell the EA that is your final offer. Oh and arrange some other viewings with other agents and then tell the EA you have some others you are thinking of offering on, so he's worried he may not get a sale.

Welsh_Totster

I reckon that in the areas youre looking at (I know Cardiff quite well) youre probably on the money for whats being asked. A freind of mine moved in November to Rhiwbina, 3 bed semi, nice area, good school for her little girl. The house needs a lot of work doing to it but she managed to knock the price from £219k to £207k. They have lots to do with it though. So Id say if youre looking for something similar in similar areas that doesnt need a lot of work (new wiring/ plumbing/complete redecoration) then youre not going to knock much of the price theyre asking.

clairehi

We used to live in Llandaff North as we optimistically thought it was up and coming when we bought, well our street wasnt!
we moved away before secondary schools were an issue for us, but this is a much harder nut to crack that finding a decent primary. check the inspection reports would be my tip.

Milliewilly

In my experience houses in desirable areas for schooling and living have been unscathed by the property crash.

For example I sold a house in S11 (desirable postcode of sheffield for living and schooling) in November 2008 in the midst of the Gloom and Doom and did very well out of it. I could have sold it to 3 different people but went for the cash buyer.

If its as desirable as you say it will sell regardless of number crunching on what it should be on at versus 2007.

princeofpounds

Back on topic - estate agents do not have any magic formula for valuations. They will go look at land registry data for the street/area, supplemented by their own database of transactions which will give them an idea of very recent trends from time to time.

Then they will go to the property and judge the properties that have transacted, see if the one they are valuing is better or worse in any way, and come up with a figure.

They may add on a premium to try to win business from greedy sellers.

Very few EAs have any real valuation expertise. Sometimes you get surveyors who are also EAs (who will basically just do a slightly more sophisticated version of the process above) and sometimes they just have a lot of experience, which helps. But often it's just a guess - one guy I knew at uni used to do valuations for EAs in the summer, he had no real special knowledge and freely admitted it was finger-in-the-air stuff.

During the crash, many agents (and vendors) took the view that seeing as everyone now wanted a discount, they should just price artificially high and hope someone would take a place thinking they had bargained a deal. You could see this by the masive increase in disparity between the land registry (transacted) and rightmove (asking price) indices, a calculation which produces what I call the 'index of delusion'.

I think there are several agents out there now who are continuing this practice even though prices have recovered.

beccad

jenner wrote: »

so you're borrowing 180k plus ?? its a huge amount

jenner wrote: »

ok, i wasnt suggesting that you havent already looked into whats available or thought about finances, but this is a money saving website and i was trying to offer advice

i feel thankful everyday that i cut down my expectations price wise when we bought this place, in hindsight, the extra 40k that i thought we could afford at the time, would not have been sustainable and would have made our lives very hard

you're (presumably) young and happy, dont tie yourself down with more than you need to is the point i was trying to make

I'm sure the OP appreciates the sentiment, but it does sound like she's done her sums and knows what she's talking about. What's right for you in terms of price/expectations isn't necessarily right for someone else.

To the OP, !!!! knows why prices are like they are - I live in a less than salubrious area of London and our two-bed flat has been valued at £270k :eek: (We won't put it on for that much - it won't sell at that price. £240k would be a realistic selling price...)

PasturesNew

There's only one place in Cardiff if you're a snob. Lisvane. Anything else is the cheap seats.

telfordwhite

We bought our 4 bed detached house on october for £175k.

Just noticed a 3 bed half a mile down the road (not such a nice street and rougher area) with smaller garden on for over £200k.

If that sells I would eat my hat if I had one.