How much is my house REALLY worth?

timmoff

Hello - I'm seeking some impartial advice please.

I'm in the process of transferring my half of my mortgage deeds to my brother's girlfriend. I bought a property with him for 125k and have an existing mortgage of £120,649.

I have had the house valued by several different estate agents to get a fair representation of the market.

Sharman & Quinney £134,995 (market price) £127,500-£130,000 (realistic selling price)
Taylors: £130,000
Woodcock: £120,000-125,000
Graham Jones : £120,000

I know it's a pretty difficult question to ask, but what would you think to be a fair purchase price for my brother's girlfriend to pay me?

Many thanks in advance

cheers

rumbaba

Meet halfway - 125k.

Doozergirl

I'd say £125k as the SDLT threshold still exists and anyone who is not genuinely a FTB would have to pay this and it will hold the value down.

If you have a look at https://www.nethouseprice.com you can see all the selling prices in the street.

Also, I take it with a massive pinch of salt but if you paid a fair price and haven't done any improvement works to the house then a zoopla estimate might help as well.

Vincenzo

When did you purchase the property? It sounds as though it is worth what you paid although you never know until you put it on the market. Why did you buy with your brother and why are you happy to walk away now?

In a case like this I would suggest she pays all your costs (purchase and sale costs) so effectively you walk away with the purchase being cost neutral to you.

On the other hand she can't buy unless you sell - ask her to make you an offer.

timmoff

Hi thank you all for your replies (very helpful!).... I'm happy to walk away now, as it is simplifies things for my brother. I would have preferred to hold onto the property long term, but I wanted to keep everything as friendly/simple as possible - certainly not wanting to fall out with anyone. I purchased the property 5 years ago.

My brother's girlfriend has paid for all of the sale/purchase cost. My biggest problem is then getting back onto the market since I will need a minimum of 10% deposit.

Oh - I've just done a Zoopla search and it comes out at £132K - thanks for that website!

cheers!

googler

Get an RICS surveyor who routinely does house valuations in your area to give you a basic valuation.

Advantage 1 - he won't be influenced by the prospect of getting the house to sell.

Advantage 2 - his valuation is more likely to be accepted for legal purposes than an EA's

tawse57

In the current market, bite their hands off and run to the bank with the cheque IMPO. Obviously, do your own research.

googler

When I wanted a house valuation as part of an estate valuation for Inheritance Tax purposes, I got an RICS surveyor.

Another advantage; the surveyor will give you a written report on his valuation.

If HMRC had come to me a year later and queried the house valuation, possibly because the estate value happened to JUST be below the IHT threshold, and possibly because the market had changed, I would just copy the report to them, and say "Here. The surveyor says so. Take it up with him".

Try doing THAT with an EA's (verbal) estimate.

Paul_the_Painter

Did you put a deposit down?

If not I would go with -

Bought for £125k
It's worth somewhere around that now
We've got about £5k equity
We could sell, but you'd never get a mortgage for 120k on 125k place these days.
Cheque for £2500 please

timmoff

Thank you for your posts - starting to get my head around it now!

Cheers!:beer: