Surveyor Undervaluing my property?!!

JohnB2007

Hi i've just registered and new to all this forum stuff but looking for some advise from some pros that may use this site.

I'm selling my flat and cant wait to move into the new place i've found. We're weeks away from completing but we're waiting on the surveyor who valued my place at £185,000 when ive sold it for £198,000!! Needless to say the buyer has lost some confidence and the longer it drags on the more likely they are to withdraw their offer.

My estate agent seems confident that the comparables will make the valuer increase his valuation but from reading some of these forums it doesnt seem like they do that often!

Is there ANYTHING i can do??? Surely the future of four groups of people all waiting to make a move in the chain cant only be in the hands of one man!!! There must be something i can do, i just need the advise.

Does anybody have a central telephone number for bribing these people?! !

Thanks
John

PoorDave

Just because someone who might have more money than sense has put in an offer of a certain level doesn't mean you've sold it for that! The surveyor is protecting the lender.

Do you know if it was a local surveyor who knows the market (often each nationwide lender will still use your town's local surveyor, but not always) or someone from further afield who could have made a mistake?

You need data on comparable properties that have completed including the price they have actually sold for (not the price your agent had them on for, if different).

How did you find out about the low valuation? I ask as the buyer doesn't generally get that info!

JohnB2007

I know that the purpose of the surveyor is to protect the lender but they have to be realistic and cant go around undercutting everything to protect themselves.

As far as i know the surveyor lives about 15miles away which isn't local in my opinion.

Interesteing that you say the buyer doesnt usually see the valuation though... everytime ive bought ive seen the valuation report in full, where have you got that info from?

EA is working on comparible that have been sold or STC.

Everybody that i've spoken to has said that valuers usually work off a bsic formula which is square footage x location and not taken into account all the internal work that's been carried out, i.e. new kitchen, new flooring, brand new heating system. Surely such big life changing decisions couldnt be based on simple formulas?

silvercar

Normally valuers look at comparables befor deciding on a figure not after!

Are your buyers going for a 100% mortgage? This often makes valuers cautious.

A house is worth whatever someone is prepared to pay. Your buyers were prepared to pay £X before the survey, the lower valuation is to protect the lender rather than guide the buyer.

JohnB2007

the buyers have 5% deposit, problem is - what are the comparables that these surveyors look at? you cant just tell from looking at previous sold prices because they dont tell you what the internal condition was or is.

I completly agree that a house is worth whatever somebody is willing to pay... that's why im so bemused that it's not the case. Properties only seem to be worth what a lender is willing to "risk" lending the applicants.

EA is now bombarding survayor with recent sold properties that are of similar spec and same cost. How likely is it that a surveyor will incerase the amount by £13k?

olly300

Do your own research using http://www.upmystreet.com or http://www.nethouseprices.com.

What have other similar properties sold for in the area in the last 3 months?

If they all sold for around £175- 180K then even with your newly installed kitchen the valuation would be about right. This is simply because properties on certain streets have a maximum value to the lenders, so putting more expensive stuff in a property doesn't necessarily make it sell for more.

By the way I was reading a Times article today that was stating in certain areas particularly central London, outdated properties sell for nearly the same price as modernised ones. This is because the buyers want to put in their own decoration and not be left with the sellers taste.

PoorDave

JohnB2007 wrote:

Interesteing that you say the buyer doesnt usually see the valuation though... everytime ive bought ive seen the valuation report in full, where have you got that info from?

D'oh. Meant seller, oops. Wouldn't be much point having it if the buyer didn't see it, although if it's just the valuation, as long as it's OK, nobody cares!

"By the way I was reading a Times article today that was stating in certain areas particularly central London, outdated properties sell for nearly the same price as modernised ones. This is because the buyers want to put in their own decoration and not be left with the sellers taste." Quote from olly300.

My theory is that an unmodernised property has the potential to "make money" by modernising it, so when you add this to it's unmodernised value, you get the same price as a modernised one.

Doesn't help the OP though...

The surveyor must base their final figure on something (i.e. other than how nice their wife was to them that morning), but the problem is i don't think you're obliged to know what. For instance, i don't think there's much scope for a "free and frank discourse" especially if you can "prove" them wrong.

A member of the public proving they know more about property value than a surveyor doesn't leave us with a good feeling, true of not!

JohnB2007

Its a fair point but what theyve valued my property at is crazy. Problem is with looking at the street prices is that there arent many flats on the street. The houses are a minimum of £500,000.

It just doesnt seem right that all these people in the chain are being held up by one little man. If somebody is willing to pay £198,000 then why doesn't the lender accept that.

So the question that i would like answered by anybody with past experiance is............................Have you ever know a surveyor to increase his valuation by £13,000 after looking at numerous comparables that prove his valuation is wrong?

olly300

PoorDave wrote:

"By the way I was reading a Times article today that was stating in certain areas particularly central London, outdated properties sell for nearly the same price as modernised ones. This is because the buyers want to put in their own decoration and not be left with the sellers taste." Quote from olly300.

My theory is that an unmodernised property has the potential to "make money" by modernising it, so when you add this to it's unmodernised value, you get the same price as a modernised one.

Doesn't help the OP though...

I thought it was odd as well but the article was blaming property !!!!!! programs and stated where central London goes everywhere else eventually follows. (It's in the timesonline property section.)

Back on topic-
By the way the I have a school friend who was caught out with this 7 years ago. She made an offer on a flat and then it was valued at £10K less. The seller had a cash offer for 10K more however that buyer was nasty. So he rejected him. So she negotiated and paid 3K more than the flat valuation. A year after she moved in she got the price of the flats of two of her neighbours who moved in a month and two months earlier than her. The price they brought them for was 5K and 10K cheaper than her valuation price. The flats though identical in layout had different standards of decoration. (I meet the neighbours and babysat for one of them, which is how she got to ask them. )

So it's likely the surveyor is using previous prices in that area.

JohnB2007

i have a horrible feeling that that is the case. Unfortunatly the last flat to sell in my block was sold for £165,000 due to ongoing damp and the sellers desperate position to move abroad- the surveryor wouldnt know about the reason for the low selling price and would only take into account the amount rather than being a normal human being and looking outside the box. Considering that there may have been more than one influence on peoples decisions to sell.

No offence if any of you are surveyors but they just seem like jobs worths to me. It proves that they do just work on the simple formula of sq footage x location. My 5yr nephew does harder calculations at school.

I just hope these people dont get paid lots for doing a bad, at best a very average job!

devils_advocate

It just doesnt seem right that all these people in the chain are being held up by one little man. If somebody is willing to pay £198,000 then why doesn't the lender accept that.

I'm more than willing to pay £300,000 for you flat, sight unseen. Only condition is that you have to lend me £300,000 to do it.

I'm perfectly willing to pay £300,00 so are you as a lender going to agree? Or are you a little man?