Help!...What if you think the HomeBuyer Valuation is wrong?

sarahjessica

Hi everyone!

I am quite new to this site so I am not sure if this subject has been covered, although I've had a quick look.

Me and my partner have found our perfect property and have agreed with the sellers a purchase price of £120,000. We were happy to pay this, we think it is worth it and houses in the same street have gone for roughly this price over the last ten years.

Our mortgage has been agreed, subject to the surveyors report. The surveyors homebuyers report has now been completed, and he says that the valuation is £110,000. Therefore the bank will only lend us £110,000 and not what we agreed with the seller (£120,000).

The problem is that the seller won't budge on his price, and we have already agreed on £120,000 anyway.

I think the surveyor has under-valued the house. Going by what other houses in the street have gone for over the last seven years, the average price is £110,000. However, this is only because of one house sold in 2009 for much less than it was worth, bringing the street average down;

Sold prices in the street we are buying in:

22/01/10: £130,000
27/04/09: £ 90,000
31/08/07: £117,000
12/01/07: £115,000
06/10/06: £124,000
17/03/06: £116,995

As you can see there is one house that was sold far less than other ones in the road. As I know the area well, I found out that this particular house was sold for much less than it was worth because the owners had divorced and wanted a very quick sale.

If I take the £90,000 house out of the equation, the average house value of this road is £120,559, which means that the bank would then lend enough money to buy it at the agreed price with the seller.

Can we question the surveyors valuation based on what I have said above? Is it worth getting a valuation from someone else and seeing whether the bank would accept this?

Any advice would be great help, we are first time buyers and really don't know what to do.

Thank you in advance! :):):)

Sj xxx

ukdickie31

The valuation is protecting the lender's interest in a falling market. Other valuations may well come in similar and the vendor will end up reducing the price at some point for a sale to be made.

Sit tight - £10,000 less to pay if you can negotiate down. There are other houses. If the vendor won't budge, move on

aqueoushumour01

without knowing the area, 120 is above the peak prices of 07.

sarahjessica

Thanks.

the thing is we really want this particular house. We cant afford any other area and as we have 2 kids of different sex we really need a 3 bed house.

do you think the valuation could be changed at all?

x

jenhug

why do you want to pay £10000 more than its worth?

sarahjessica

I dont want to, but just dont mind paying what the seller wants as its a good house with enough bedrooms for our kids and is in the same road as two members of our family. Also, it is ex-council, so we are getting more for our money. If we bought a property that wasnt ex-council in the area, we would only be able to afford a two bed property. We have a boy and a girl so they cant really share. Any other ex-authority properties i wouldn't be happy living there as i dont like the area. x

Catblue

sarahjessica wrote: »

I dont want to, but just dont mind paying what the seller wants as its a good house with enough bedrooms for our kids and is in the same road as two members of our family. Also, it is ex-council, so we are getting more for our money. If we bought a property that wasnt ex-council in the area, we would only be able to afford a two bed property. We have a boy and a girl so they cant really share. Any other ex-authority properties i wouldn't be happy living there as i dont like the area. x

This would not be a problem at all if you had your own money to buy the house. Hell, you could give the vendors £50K over the valuation and nobody would care.

Even if you didn't mind chucking £10K away, it really isn't about what you want. It is not your decision to make. It is about what the mortgage company wants. They will own (the majority certainly) of the house and it is up to them what happens. The surveyor thinks it is worth £110K therefore that's the figure that the mortgage company will lend on.

If buyers want to pay over the odds for a house they have to use their own cash to do it. Banks won't allow you to do it with their money these days.

Cannon_Fodder

As its ex-council, the lender is sensible to under-value, as the resale value will be limited by that fact.

In taking the £90k out of the equation you are falsely adjusting reality.

You could just as easily take the £130k out of the equation. Leading to a £112k average...and the other 4 prices were before the crash happened, so £112k is sure to be more than it should be today.

The stupidity of people never fails to amaze me. Wanting to pay £10k extra. Plus 25 years worth of interest on that £10k. Probably another £10k on top...

Doh.

poppy10_2

Exactly. If you are foolish enough to want to throw away £10,000 by overpaying for no reason, then I suppose that's up to you, but when you want to do it with someone else's money, then I'm afraid someone has to apply a reality check.

You can say the seller won't budge on his price, but if he wants to be stubborn he will just come up against the same problem with the next potential buyer. He has to lower his price to a realistic level.

sarahjessica

No need to call me stupid.

I think a house is more about figures and prices, it is a home. And if me and my children will be happy there that is what matters, not paying a couple of grand over what it might be worth. A house is only worth what someone is prepared to pay for it anyway.

I understand what you are saying about falsely adjusting reality by taking the £90,000 house out of the equation. But I know why the house went for so much lower than what it was worth (the sellers had a bitter divorce and wanted to sell asap, therefore were happy taking a lot less). The £130,000 house, which was sold this year, was sold more fairly.

Basically I just want this house and don't want to give up on it.

I wanted to know whether the surveyors valuation could be changed at all.

CloudCuckooLand

sarahjessica wrote: »

A house is only worth what someone is prepared to pay for it anyway.

A house is only worth what someone is CAPABLE of paying for it...

If you aren't using your own money, you can only pay what the lender will supply.