EA's valuation varies considerably on our Bungalow...

BertieUK

googler wrote: »

225 against asking of 339 ...? Or was the asking 239 ...?

Without seeing your bungalow, the others that have sold recently, the others that are for sale at the moment, and which will be your 'competition' when you come to market, it's difficult to form an opinion on the EA figures ...

Sorry it was my mistake it should read £325K attained £339K asking.( Senior moment):)

Properties similar to ours on the market at present are asking £320+ in the EA's windows.

May I say that all three EA's that called certainly gave a good account of themselves and had lived in the local are for many years and could recite properties that they had sold in the area in recent months.

I am disappointed in the last EA that called on Wednesday who said that they would give the value etc in writing and send recent sales of similar properties to us and they have not arrived as yet, that was on Wednesday when they visited.

phoebe1989seb

Different area I know (Essex - although originally from Hampshire so know the area as a whole pretty well) but the house we were selling in 2011 had £40k + spent on by us by way of *improvements* (rewiring, two new bathrooms, handbuilt solid wood/granite kitchen, garden landscaping and redecoration throughout) yet according to the EAs we got in to value our house, these works had only increased saleability not value.

Obviously areas do vary considerably - and West Hampshire is IMHO way more desirable than Essex - but to expect an increase in value of around £55K as quoted by the first EA seems a tad unrealistic.

Personally we were keen to move quickly for family reasons and accepted an offer of £20k less than our 2007 purchase price within the first two weeks of marketing.......

olias

mooruk wrote: »

Have you looked on Zoopla for a current price? They're fairly accurate once you put in the changes you made.

"Cough".....Bullsh*t.............

Olias

BertieUK

phoebe1989seb wrote: »

Different area I know (Essex - although originally from Hampshire so know the area as a whole pretty well) but the house we were selling in 2011 had £40k + spent on by us by way of *improvements* (rewiring, two new bathrooms, handbuilt solid wood/granite kitchen, garden landscaping and redecoration throughout) yet according to the EAs we got in to value these works had only increased saleability not value.

Obviously areas do vary considerably - and West Hampshire is IMHO way more desirable than Essex - but to expect an increase in value of around £55K as quoted by the first EA seems a tad unrealistic.

Personally we were keen to move quickly for family reasons and accepted an offer of £20k less than our 2007 purchase price within the first two weeks of marketing.......

This was our thoughts entirely as we were hoping to achieve a selling price of around £315K or thereabouts and would feel happy with that figure, our thoughts are that if we placed the asking price around £329,950 and then adjust accordingly which if the average was, say 4.5% that would then return a selling price of £315K take off other fees of around £9k + and we would love to end up with £305K.

We are located 10m east of Bournemouth near to the coast.

We are moving because of similar family reasons that you quoted.

Hoof_Hearted

Beware of the old agents' trick of over-valuing to get you on the books then asking you to drop the price when it doesn't sell. You may as well have a realistic asking price in the first place.

BertieUK

Hoof_Hearted wrote: »

Beware of the old agents' trick of over-valuing to get you on the books then asking you to drop the price when it doesn't sell. You may as well have a realistic asking price in the first place.

Correct and I agree fully with your comments, my concern was that I thought realistically that the second evaluation was nearer to the mark but the bar could be raised slightly as I thought, like yourself that the first EA was over-evaluating to get the instruction while I thought that the second wanted a quick sale on a property, that even though I say it myself, it has a lot going for it providing there is that type of buyer out there looking.

It is situated on level ground and is very close walking distance to all main shops and Rail Station and Bus routes etc and is in very good decorative order with much of the property of neutral colours.

We just want to decide a realistic price at the end of the day.

barnaby-bear

BertieUK wrote: »

Correct and I agree fully with your comments, my concern was that I thought realistically that the second evaluation was nearer to the mark but the bar could be raised slightly as I thought, like yourself that the first EA was over-evaluating to get the instruction while I thought that the second wanted a quick sale on a property, that even though I say it myself, it has a lot going for it providing there is that type of buyer out there looking.

It is situated on level ground and is very close walking distance to all main shops and Rail Station and Bus routes etc and is in very good decorative order with much of the property of neutral colours.

We just want to decide a realistic price at the end of the day.

Bungalows are funny - planning densities now mean they are decreasing in % of the housing stock with time so attract an increasing premium.... plus some buyers because of age/mobility etc *have* to have a bungalow so it can get competitive and these tend to be downsizing cash rich babyboomers.... on the other hand some estate agents will charge commission on the original askign prices and some on the selling price....

lessonlearned

I spent 30 years selling houses, the last 15 on new build developments.

If I had a £1 for every person who asked me if we were going to be building bungalows I would be a very rich lady. :rotfl: Unfortunately most of the major developers just don't build them any more. Land costs make them prohibitive.

Bungalows are always popular and they often represent terrific value for money, especially if they are detached because they were built at a time when plot sizes were more generous than they are today.

I can't speak for house prices in your area, however it is quite common for EA's to give wildly differing valuations, which is why the advice is always to get at least 3.

Nowadays of course we also have internet tools which you can use to acquaint yourself with not only asking prices but selling prices too.

You sound like keen gardeners. The money you have spent on outbuildings, your garden and the watering systems whilst making your property more attractive and therefore more "saleable" will not significantly increase the value of your actual house.

Sometimes a large garden can be a little offputting to less active retirees. However if it is well laid out and landscaped then that should help a lot. A nice conservatory is a lovely bonus, it can add money to a property but usually not as much as it costs to build them. However, a good conservatory, with central heating radiators is a big selling point and will make a house more attractive.

You have floored the loft, but that hasn't actually increased the available square footage for living space, so again, although a floored loft is a nice thing to have it doesn't actually add monetary value.

I would try another couple of agents if there are any more in your area and then do a bit of snooping on the websites that other posters have mentioned.

Good luck.

I am sure that once you have worked out the right price you will find it quite easy to sell your bungalow. They are always at a premium and usually attract a lot of interest.

ognum

Some of the external improvements you have made will suit some buyers, others will consider them a hinderence so I don't think you will make much return on them.

When choosing an EA I would go for a company that provides you with one contact point, I have tried to deal with teams and IMO its difficult to get any help or advice.

As long as they both use Rightmove/Zoopla etc to advertise and I would look at the costs of selling through them and how long Thier contract period is. I would always want an 8 week contract it tends to concentrate the effort.

BertieUK

barnaby-bear wrote: »

Bungalows are funny - planning densities now mean they are decreasing in % of the housing stock with time so attract an increasing premium.... plus some buyers because of age/mobility etc *have* to have a bungalow so it can get competitive and these tend to be downsizing cash rich babyboomers.... on the other hand some estate agents will charge commission on the original askign prices and some on the selling price....

The reason that we purchased this Bungalow was that it ticked all the boxes in 2009, my MIL had Alzheimer's Disease so it had an on-suite as well as a family bathroom and that made it a great choice, sadly my MIL went down rapidly and now has passed away. So this property ticked all of our boxes at the time.

We have an appointment with the first EA on Tuesday morning to discuss a few issues with him.

We will try our best to list a number of questions that we can directly put to him that will be acceptable to all concerned.