We’d like to remind Forumites to please avoid political debate on the Forum.

This is to keep it a safe and useful space for MoneySaving discussions. Threads that are – or become – political in nature may be removed in line with the Forum’s rules. Thank you for your understanding.

PLEASE READ BEFORE POSTING: Hello Forumites! In order to help keep the Forum a useful, safe and friendly place for our users, discussions around non-MoneySaving matters are not permitted per the Forum rules. While we understand that mentioning house prices may sometimes be relevant to a user's specific MoneySaving situation, we ask that you please avoid veering into broad, general debates about the market, the economy and politics, as these can unfortunately lead to abusive or hateful behaviour. Threads that are found to have derailed into wider discussions may be removed. Users who repeatedly disregard this may have their Forum account banned. Please also avoid posting personally identifiable information, including links to your own online property listing which may reveal your address. Thank you for your understanding.
📨 Have you signed up to the Forum's new Email Digest yet? Get a selection of trending threads sent straight to your inbox daily, weekly or monthly!

Only getting one ea to value

My house is a typical 30's terraced in one of the London suburbs & I already had a good idea of what it's market value was as it's always been a hobby of mine to keep my eye on the property market.

One agent in particular sells the majority of houses in my road, achieving sales within a matter of weeks. It's an independent family firm & has a good reputation in the area. I had a valuation off them yesterday, which is around what I would have expected for a property in move in condition. Because it's very much a seller's market at the present time with very little for sale in the area, I didn't even have to haggle on fees, 1% was offered as they do need properties like this to sell.

Whereas in the past I've always got 3 valuations because of living in properties of a type that were not so common, my feeling now is not to bother with other valuations. I feel more than happy with this agent, the fact they open all weekend, not to mention the commision, they know the area well & the general local info such as schools & it seems a bit pointless to get another ea in who doesn't have such a presence in these particular surrounding streets.

The only other agent I may have considered doesn't open on Sunday's or Bank Holidays & for me this counts me out as a customer, it's a big no no. I bought this house through that particular agent & found to my cost when they left an urgent message for me the Friday of a bank holiday weekend that I couldn't get to speak to anybody untill the Tuesday morning.

In life I've tended to trust my gut instinct & it has rarely let me down, but would just be interested to hear some opinions from others regarding getting just the one valuation from an agent I feel very confident about.
The bigger the bargain, the better I feel.

I should mention that there's only one of me, don't confuse me with others of the same name.

Comments

  • CB1979_2
    CB1979_2 Posts: 1,335 Forumite
    what's the point?

    normally you get a few valuations to give you an indication on price, well you already had an idea, was confirmed and have basically said it's the best EA in the area, so surely you can't go wrong.

    what are you going to do if a lesser EAs comes out and says it's worth £50k more? deep down you know they're bluffing to try and get you on a contract and would end up reducing the price anyway to the real price.

    just chuck an extra £10k on for the first few weeks see how it goes ;)
  • I would agree with CB. Nothing to gain as I see it from your OP. I think your mind is already made up.

    P.S Don't you mean a sellers market in your area?
  • cattie
    cattie Posts: 8,844 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Amended thank you Romani.
    The bigger the bargain, the better I feel.

    I should mention that there's only one of me, don't confuse me with others of the same name.
  • ellat257
    ellat257 Posts: 53 Forumite
    Personally I would always get more than one valuation. Several years ago I had one valuation, what I expected. Decided not to sell immediately, got a second valuation ten days later.

    The second was very different. 5k difference but also warned me of imminent renovation to the area. He warned me that soon as the houses on the main road were demolished mine would go up further. He said wait for the rush.

    In the end I stopped answering the phone. We did 3 days viewings at 7-8 people per day. Two people didn't even seen the house inside - they just offered asking price.

    After 10 days I had had enough. 20+ viewings, 15 offers (8 over the asking price) letters through the door etc. Even the estate agent said he had never seen anything like it. Eventually got £14k over original asking price which for a small market town was good.

    I now think experience counts when knowing your market.

    Good luck whatever you decide.
This discussion has been closed.
Meet your Ambassadors

🚀 Getting Started

Hi new member!

Our Getting Started Guide will help you get the most out of the Forum

Categories

  • All Categories
  • 352.3K Banking & Borrowing
  • 253.6K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
  • 454.3K Spending & Discounts
  • 245.3K Work, Benefits & Business
  • 601.1K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
  • 177.5K Life & Family
  • 259.2K Travel & Transport
  • 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
  • 16K Discuss & Feedback
  • 37.7K Read-Only Boards

Is this how you want to be seen?

We see you are using a default avatar. It takes only a few seconds to pick a picture.