Innacurate Valuation

SilverSix

I received the valuation today for the new build I'm in the process of buying.

It's not built yet however the show home is so I would assume the valuation was done on this.

The showhome is a detached build, however whilst my house is the same as the showhome (the same model house) it's not detached as there is a town house with a car port built on to the right hand side of my house to be. (I still have a detached size garden and a drive with garage) We are only joined by the second story as their carport is the other side of my kitchen.

I popped in to my building society to sort out life cover so briefly skimmed the report and checked the valuation was in line with what I was paying, which it was so I pushed it aside whilst we dealt with life cover. However after having read it properly the valuation is for a detached build, which mine is not it's effectively semi-detached. So I expect it to be worth at least £5000 less (agreed sale price of £260,000, down from £275,000 with SD & £1000 legals paid). (It was valued at £260,000 if it were detached) It is shown as a semi on the development plans too, not marked in a particular fashion but by the build directly next to it!

I thought that this might have just been a form filling mistake though in the general comments it does say ' A detached build built 2.5 miles from .... etc'.

Bit of a ball ache really! Initially I had asked for £5000 further off due to it being semi though they were unwilling to budge further, even after a call to headoffice. So I may have a bit of a battle on my hands. For the record I haven't signed anything yet to say I'm happy to go ahead and exchange.

Anybody else had experience of something similar? I'm just venting my frustration that it hasn't be valued accurately, I'd be more annoyed if the valuation wasn't included free with the mortgage and I had actually paid for it! I'll have to give them a ring tomorrow and get them to pull their fingers out.

I'm unsure if I'd be happy over paying for something even if it is only £5,000. My mortgage is only £40,000 of which I will be repaying around £10,000 straight away (no ERC's) so a further £5,000 save is quite a lot in this scenario. So far I'd loose £300 on solicitors fees and £500 of my reservation fee if I were to pull out.

Obviously I need to wait and see what the *actual* valuation is. Depending on the developer I may be faced with the predicament to pull out.

poppy10_2

BennyC wrote: »

I'm unsure if I'd be happy over paying for something even if it is only £5,000.

£5,000 is a lot of money! Not something to to throw away lightly. Remember, anybody else intending to buy the property will likely face the same problem with the valuation - if you pull out,they may not find another buyer at the price they initially wanted

BennyC wrote: »

Initially I had asked for £5000 further off due to it being semi though they were unwilling to budge further, even after a call to headoffice..

The 'call to head office' is usually just a sales tactic, unless you witnessed the call yourself you can assume it never happened, they just disappeared into the back office, had a cup of tea and came back telling you head office said no.

Go back to them once you have the new valuation, which presumably will be lower taking into account the fact that it is a semi, and put a final offer on the table. Be prepared to walk away - the most you have to lose if they call your bluff is £800, and the property will still probably be on the market 6 months from now if they don't lower the asking price.

Doozergirl

If they'd have thought a detached was worth more, they still wouldn't have been able to put it on the paper. They won't value it at more than the price you paid.

You'll struggle with the developer unless you get a revised, lower valuation.

B_Blank

Looks like got ripped off by clever builders.

kingstreet

Did you indicate the property was semi-detached on the mortgage application? If you did, tell the lender and ask them to alert the surveyor just in case...

In addition, most builders get the larger surveyors to value their properties from the plans before they even start building as there's no point building something if they can't achieve the price they need. The surveyor may not have visited the showhome and may have used the advance block valuation, if he did one.

Finally, you bought life cover from a building society? :eek: