Differing Estate Agents' Values - Who to go with?

Dizz

Hi there guys

I bought a conversion flat just over two years ago for £94,000 in Dartford. I've had it valued by several Estate Agents and their valuations range from 105k to 117k!

I definitely think it is worth more than 105k as it has a lot of benefits, ie share of freehold and off street parking which is very sought after in this area. I mean, a rise of 11k doesn't seem an awful lot in more than two years, considering I still had to pay stamp duty etc when I bought it. However, I am a little concerned about the higher valuation. When I mentioned it to the Estate Agent who had valued it at that price, he said he definitely believed it was worth putting on at the higher price as it had so many benefits, and he would not bother to overprice a property just to get the business as it would be wasting his time....

What do you guys think, and have you had any experience of this...?

Cheers x

pawpurrs

Try it at the higher price and see if you get any viewings, if not you can allways drop the price, somewhere in the middle is proberbley about right, have any of the other flats sold recently and if so what price did they achevie? Also depends if you are after a quick sale or not.

nickyc_2

check to see how much the fees are with the estate agents...sometimes the ones that values it at the most charges the most in fees but thinks you'll go with them to get the higher price..you then up selling the house for the lower valuation but paying higher fees

Dizz

No, actually Nicky, the one who valued it at the most had slightly lower fees than the others - ....... so I am tempted to go with him though I may lower the initial asking price a little.

nickyc_2

never sold before, so no expert..but if their fees were the lowest, I guess you haven't go much to lose by trying the higher price...best of luck

PoorDave

Depends how soon you want to sell!

My favourite strategy is to go just above the average of your valuations, and use the agent who seems like the nicest person/people. I say this because i think my opinion of them will hopefully be the same as buyer's ones, and i've found a buyer with a good opinion of the agent gets you a sale.

If you're in no hurry put it on at just below the max valuation and seem what happens. Don't forget to go for a nice weird number like £116,721. Somehow gets people's attention.

Also, have you haggled on fees? Don't just accept the EA's fees, ask for a reduction, and if you feel confident play one's fees against the other e.g. "so-and-so agent has fees lower than yours, but i want to use you, as you seem to know more about what you're doing - is there anything we can do?"

Dizz

Hi Guys

Thanks for your replies. Yeah, Dave - managed to get him to drop the VAT off his fees, which is worth a few quid!

garbadine

We had exactly the same thing with agents valuing our house (the difference between the highest and lowest valuations was about £25k!!)

We did end up going with the agent with the highest valuation in the end - although this was mainly because her fees were the lowest, and we liked her and her agency better than the other people we saw. We did speak to her (after we said we'd like to go with her agency) to see if she realistically thought that we'd get interest at the value she suggested, and she showed us evidence of houses in the area that had gone at around that price.

At the end of the day, we haven't got a set deadline (although selling sooner rather than later would be good!) so if we don't get much interest at that price (or the general feedback is that it's too much) then we can always drop the price a bit.

Good luck with selling yours anyway!

cuffie

Very similar to above post, We had 3 valuations - difference of £22k, and its not an unusual house - bog standard 3-bed! We ended up putting on at the highest valuation (EA with the lowest fee and nicest approach we felt), and got £5k less than asking which is what we wanted anyway. (sold in 7 days, buyer pulled out for personal reasons, and then re-sold again at same price within 5 days). Go with the highest and see what interest you get. You can always drop the price later. Good luck xx

AndrewSmith

The only problem with going at the higher price is that in today's market it is unlikely to sell quickly.

This then creates the problem of the property going 'stale' having been on the market a while. Despite what other's may think, if your property is on the market a while then people looking will notice and be automatically drawn away from it as they will instantly assume it is overpriced or there is something wrong with it. Similarly if you subsequently drop the price this also casts the same kind of doubts in the minds of potential buyers.

My advice would be to ask the agents for justification of their valuations by showing you comparable evidence of the 'sold' prices of similar properties in your area recently.

If they have none then is this the agent you should be using?

Remember that Estate Agents will currently be trying to undermine public opinion that property prices are slowing. This will be reflected in the valuations they give for suggested marketing prices.

Also do your own research on sale prices by using one of the various available websites which can be used to check your local area. http://www.nethouseprices.com/ for example.

Andy

kenshaz

Interest rates have just risen ,with another in the pipe-line,and autumn is approaching,when sales reduce until spring also consider the higher the price sold the higher commission %.Which maybe why the lower fee one has a higher valuation. Estate agents are open to negotiation ,I advise that you contact other agents ,for valuation and reduced commission fee,telephone calls will suffice inform them of your other offers.In fact Martin has an article on this whole subject of negotiation. Good Luck