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Challenging a Surveyors Valuation

24

Comments

  • VIGILANT22
    VIGILANT22 Posts: 2,516 Forumite
    I guess that is yr answer....
  • JA1000
    JA1000 Posts: 620 Forumite
    I am currently challenging a valuation but know I have a hope in hells chance of success. I have supplied comparisons (sold) at between £40-£80k more and also nationwide index and land registry index all showing a decent rise, the same valuation company valued it at the .bottom of the trough 1 year ago at £10k more!!!! So apparently house prices are still falling yet all evidence shows the opposite?????

    Who did your valuation?
  • DWW
    DWW Posts: 8 Forumite
    I can sympathise. I had an asking price offer accepted on a 3 bed detached for £250000 last month. The vendors bought the house for £240000 in June 2007 and spent in excess of £25000 upgrading it - double glazing, rewiring, new fitted kitchen and bathroom, new boiler and radiators, block paving, landscaping, roof repairs - you name it!

    I arranged for a reputable independant surveyor to carry out a home-buyers survey. Valuation came in on the nose at £250000, which he reported was to a large degree influenced by the 1% stamp duty cut off point.

    Mortgage company surveyor valuation came in today at £235000 based on recent sales of like for like properties in the area. I'm gutted. They won't budge and I don't have the cash to pay the difference.
  • I think this thread raises a question which I have never seen aired in the popular press, or anywhere else come to think of it...

    To what extent do surveyors 'assess' the valuation of a property, and to what extent do they 'fix' it?

    ie - whose 'side' are they actually on - their fees are paid by members of the public, but the people they are most afraid of upsetting are the lenders.

    DC
  • JA1000
    JA1000 Posts: 620 Forumite
    I have been told by a surveyor and not the one which is a waste of time - Esurv, that if they do not agree with the valuation submitted the price difference they submit must be at least 5% different.

    These companies are incosistent and effectively playing god with peoples financial lives.

    They are so scared because of the fall in the prices they are covering their a*ses so they cannont be sued by the lenders should we do anything wrong. What they are not looking at is the real world and what is actually happening, they are now hindering the recovery.

    For those that say house prices were over priced anyway - I don't disagree but market forces sorted that one out, now it's the other way around and prices are going up the surveyors are not following. How many posts have I seen where a price has been agreed and along comes the surveyor to waste the day.

    Challenge every valuation, it means they have to twice as much work for the same price and serves them right.
  • DWW
    DWW Posts: 8 Forumite
    JA1000 wrote: »
    I have been told by a surveyor and not the one which is a waste of time - Esurv, that if they do not agree with the valuation submitted the price difference they submit must be at least 5% different.

    These companies are incosistent and effectively playing god with peoples financial lives.

    They are so scared because of the fall in the prices they are covering their a*ses so they cannont be sued by the lenders should we do anything wrong. What they are not looking at is the real world and what is actually happening, they are now hindering the recovery.

    For those that say house prices were over priced anyway - I don't disagree but market forces sorted that one out, now it's the other way around and prices are going up the surveyors are not following. How many posts have I seen where a price has been agreed and along comes the surveyor to waste the day.

    Challenge every valuation, it means they have to twice as much work for the same price and serves them right.

    This hits the nail on the head - it is causing a blockage and hindering the recovery. And in this case it could (if I can't move) prevent another first time buyer from getting on the ladder.

    This guy spent a short amount of time in the house and yet he knows better than someone who's looked at it in detail and appreciates where the money's been spent etc.

    How many valuations do the lenders surveyors get through in a day, 6-8? There's a tile missing off the roof, that's £15000 grand off and my a*rse covered! Next job.
  • JA1000
    JA1000 Posts: 620 Forumite
    Who was it with?
  • SouthCoast
    SouthCoast Posts: 1,985 Forumite
    The valuation is for the benefit of the mortgage lender.

    Just been browsing Rightmove for my postcodes. A property that sold for £250k in 2007 is now under offer as a repo at £205k.
  • JA1000
    JA1000 Posts: 620 Forumite
    That is top of the peak to a lower point and a repo so that is to be expected
  • DWW wrote: »
    They won't budge and I don't have the cash to pay the difference.

    Well done for finding a way to pay less for a house. Very MSE :beer:
    Despite the rises of recent months, prices are still -9% below June 2007.

    [IMG]http://www1.landregistry.gov.uk/houseprices/housepriceindex/report/default.asp?g=1&gt=1&a=E&W-ALL&s=01 June 2007&e=01 February 2010&t=1[/IMG]
    The averages obviously shift by area/region. Post the first two digits of your postcode if you want a localised figure.

    Did you appreciate this? Do you think that it is *possible* that a professional operating in the field day-in day-out might have insight into local market movements that you might not have?

    Present the survey to the vendor, and agree a compromise. You might save a few thousand £s.

    Until you ask you won't know if the vendor has benefitted from a similar situation, and therefore has leeway in their budget.

    If everyone does this, there would be no "blockage".
    Act in haste, repent at leisure.

    dunstonh wrote:
    Its a serious financial transaction and one of the biggest things you will ever buy. So, stop treating it like buying an ipod.
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