Mortgage valuation completely wrong, refusal to revaluate! Help!

kBHX

brit1234 wrote: »

2013


House improvements in a falling/stagnant market rarely recover full costs when reselling. New valuation seems fair.

Although I agree house improvements don't always recover full costs when selling. I do feel that valuations should be based on the current condition of the property, local market conditions, recently sold prices of comparable properties etc. Basing it on the price the seller paid when the property was brought doesn't always reflect the true value as the circumstances under which it was sold / brought aren't always clear or known. In this case it seems like a lazy valuation.

KittyKat13

I'll ask a mod to merge

newsgroup_monkey

Tancred wrote: »

Surveyors are nothing but pain in the hindquarters. They will nitpick on every little thing and make a mountain out of every molehill. The asinine legal situation has a lot to do with it - as long as surveyors can be sued for the slightest error they will paint every house in the worst light possible. This sitiuation is destroying the housing market and needs urgent attention.

I'm not sure I agree with this.

It may be destroying the seller's market, but house prices are still ridiculously high. The real cost of building a property and land prices are so far apart that no-one can explain them.

The house I was living in was recently sold for £160k (asking price) without even being released to the market. The next door neighbours house (which has an extra bedroom) sold for £145k 2 years ago.

All I can say is that I hope that the purchaser doesn't need more than 80% mortgage because otherwise they are going to get a helluva shock!

Problem is, there is a distinct shortage of 3 bedroom properties in this particular area. 95% of them don't even hit the open market any more.

I appreciate that the market is driven by what people are prepared to pay for them, but the government, the general public and indeed the whole world blames the current recession(s) on banks.

You can't blame them for being wary of lending on overpriced houses.

Tancred

newsgroup_monkey wrote: »

I'm not sure I agree with this.
It may be destroying the seller's market, but house prices are still ridiculously high. The real cost of building a property and land prices are so far apart that no-one can explain them.

The manufacturing cost of something and its market value are two very different things. I agree that prices are very high, but when you are trying to sell your property and buy another one you have to make sure you can afford the cost.

newsgroup_monkey wrote: »

The house I was living in was recently sold for £160k (asking price) without even being released to the market. The next door neighbours house (which has an extra bedroom) sold for £145k 2 years ago.

All I can say is that I hope that the purchaser doesn't need more than 80% mortgage because otherwise they are going to get a helluva shock!

Prices can and do change a lot in two years. And there is also the internal condition of the property etc which affects the price. It's not an automatic calculation.

newsgroup_monkey wrote: »

Problem is, there is a distinct shortage of 3 bedroom properties in this particular area. 95% of them don't even hit the open market any more.

I appreciate that the market is driven by what people are prepared to pay for them, but the government, the general public and indeed the whole world blames the current recession(s) on banks.

You can't blame them for being wary of lending on overpriced houses.

Fair enough, but in that case it would be better to have a level playing field and valuations done only by the seller's surveyor (approved by lenders) before the house goes on the market. In this case everyone would be in the same boat. The HIPs would have done that, but this moronic government got rid of the idea.

GDB2222

The seller has absolutely no control over the buyer's surveyor. End of story, really. Complete waste of time to ring the surveyor up, and I'm amazed his office gave out his number to the seller. He was right to be livid, but it should have been with his office not the OP.

phoebe1989seb

kBHX wrote: »

Although I agree house improvements don't always recover full costs when selling. I do feel that valuations should be based on the current condition of the property, local market conditions, recently sold prices of comparable properties etc. Basing it on the price the seller paid when the property was brought doesn't always reflect the true value as the circumstances under which it was sold / brought aren't always clear or known. In this case it seems like a lazy valuation.

I also feel that valuations should take current condition etc etc into account, but have to agree that from past experience *improvements* are more likely to make a property more saleable than add value.

We sold in 2011 and the market in that area (Essex/Suffolk border) was extremely slow, coupled with the fact buyers in that location tended to want small retirement bungalows as opposed to larger period houses........seeing them as requiring more upkeep apart from anything else.

We had taken on a rundown house in 2007 (paid a bit too much, I admit as coming from a different part of the country had not researched thoroughly) and restored it. Our *improvements* included rewiring, replastering, two new traditional high-end bathrooms, painted solid wood kitchen with granite worktops, redecoration throughout and garden landscaping.

Our EA confirmed that works done had made our house more attractive to potential buyers and therefore more saleable. We accepted an offer within two weeks at £40k less than we paid almost four years previously. The mortgage valuation and survey report valued it at the agreed sale price.

We lost money, but very fortunately unlike other sellers we could afford to do so.

I completely sympathise with the OP though and do find it very hard to believe that a renovated property could have so low a valuation - for them to say it needs repairs seems very odd. The surveyor that did the Homebuyer's Report for our buyers did make some obvious schoolboy errors and it does make you wonder if being under pressure, mistakes are being made.........

ETA - to StrawberryTwist re buyers wanting to change kitchens etc - yes, this is often true, but in our case our buyers loved the kitchen we'd put in and actually got the cabinet maker to build extra matching units for the breakfast room......it was one of the things that 'sold' our house to them.

motch

KittyKat13 wrote: »

I'll ask a mod to merge

parkas and vespas?:)

Thrugelmir

KittyKat13 wrote: »

No, just told me over the phone. I could probably ask to see it.

Not yours to see.

Was it the estate agent that informed you?