How do you determine how much a property is worth?

PJD

Looking at similar properties in the area, only paints an "asking price" picture.

Looking at what similar houses sold for on "nethouseprices" is difficult because you dont really know what state the properties were, and plus, when there are only a small handful listed which were sold in the last couple of years...?

What else can I do? Any help much appreciated.

BitterAndTwisted

This is a falling market, so any realistic price an agent may give you might not be very accurate for that long.

googler

Look at sold prices for similar styles of houses or similar areas within a wider area, and see if that suggests any trends

Try sold prices on zoopla and ourproperty as well as nethouseprices, as some sales appear on one site, but not another - so this may help build up a better picture.

ChrisEvanson

Ask several agents to give you an appraisal of value. They will come and give a valuation, and you can discuss what to market at and what you might settle for. If you ask 3 or 4 and ask how they made their valuation, what similar properties they have sold in the area etc.

theartfullodger

How do you determine how much a property is worth?

You put it on the market & see what it sells for: ANYTHING else is just speculation (valuations, Zoopla, RightMove, etc, etc etc.. it's just speculation..).

Until you find a punter prepared to pay £xk you really really don't know what it's worth...

Cheers!


Artful

ChrisEvanson

theartfullodger wrote: »

You put it on the market & see what it sells for: ANYTHING else is just speculation (valuations, Zoopla, RightMove, etc, etc etc.. it's just speculation..).

Until you find a punter prepared to pay £xk you really really don't know what it's worth...

Cheers!


Artful

That's really just being clever but not answering the question satisfactorily. The house could be 'worth' £200k, put it on the market for £100k and sell same day to the first viewer doesn't mean that is what it is worth. Put it on for £400k and don't sell it doesn't help at all.

PJD

By the way - I (the OP) - am a buyer, not a seller

I don't want to wait and see what the property that i'm actually interested in sells for, - i want to check whether I offering is fair...

I have seen a lot of properties, so have a very good idea about what people are asking.... - but what places are actually selling for is another matter.

I have checked zoopla, and it speculates that the property that I am interested in is pretty much what I have valued it at, which is a good sign....

How accurate have people found zoopla to be however?

missjy

Zoopla etc all cannot be 100% accurate because the value of a property is based on several factors however as others have pointed out if u look a several websites and properties of similar size etc and then make an offer - u can't be too far out. Secondly if the offer is accepted ur valuation should pick out the value of the property. I suppose it's worth asking a surveyor what they base their valuation on.

KateLiana27

A lot of detective work is needed.

Start by looking at the SOLD prices on Zoopla and similar (I didn't find their "valuations" much use at all). Doesn't need to be recent - look at everything, you will get used to adjusting for the market. Look in nearby streets. Get lots of numbers in. Then examine the prices of each and try to work out why they were priced like that. The old EA adverts are often still available - so you can see whether it was an under-priced fixer-upper or a very done-up type, and adjust for this.

Then look on street view at each house (or have a wander through the area if it's near you) and get a feel. This will help you adjust the price for area.

Call round your EAs and try to find out which houses sold within weeks of being on the market, and look at these adverts in detail. These are generally the well-priced houses.

Then, viewings and more viewings.

zappahey

ChrisEvanson wrote: »

That's really just being clever but not answering the question satisfactorily. The house could be 'worth' £200k, put it on the market for £100k and sell same day to the first viewer doesn't mean that is what it is worth. Put it on for £400k and don't sell it doesn't help at all.

Well, not really. I strongly suspect that, if one advertised a "£200k" house with an asking price of £100k, there would be a flood of interest and a strong chance of a bidding war, which would drive the price up to its market value.

Market value would be the best offer, not the first offer.

Caveat_Mortgagor

PJD wrote: »

By the way - I (the OP) - am a buyer, not a seller

I don't want to wait and see what the property that i'm actually interested in sells for, - i want to check whether I offering is fair...

I have seen a lot of properties, so have a very good idea about what people are asking.... - but what places are actually selling for is another matter.

I have checked zoopla, and it speculates that the property that I am interested in is pretty much what I have valued it at, which is a good sign....

How accurate have people found zoopla to be however?

You chose a very appropriate word when you typed 'speculates'. Zoopla's house value tool is not a reliable indicator. I'm sorry, but you might as well ask my cat.

Often Zoopla can have identical houses next door to each other but with values 20-30% apart.

Type the post code of the house you are looking at into Rightmoves price comparison report. This will show all houses for sale in that post code, previous listings as well as previous prices achieved. This may help you to get an inkling of a suitable price.

Better still, use real information from nethouseprices or Zoopla (sold prices) to check previous sale prices. Where Zoopla is good is the sold price history goes back to 1995, nethouseprices only goes back as far as (i think) 2000 / 2001.

Using the sold price data, find a number of comparator houses in the same post cose as the house you are looking at. Then check any of the land registry 'custom reports' to see what has happened to prices locally since any of those houses sold.

In summary then, If you see a house that sold in 2002 in the same postcode, then check LR to see what has happened to prices locally since that date. The LR report is published monthly, so you can track what should have happened to the price of each house since the month it was sold.

Interestingly, LR says that prices in the postcode area I am looking at are now back at the same level they were in Aug 2004!!!!

Good luck!!