Part Exchange and Newbuy Miller Homes

Itsallgoodinthenorth

Thought i would give you all an insight to the how this has all panned out. Which for me wasn't what we wanted to hear but when we where looking we couldnt find any info or anything that was helpful.

The story starts by explaining that we had decided to sell up and move to a different area.

6 estate agents out with values all advising £155k-£160k so we have started the thing at £159,950 and have had 3 viewings in as many weeks. All waiting to sell up but very interested, nothing firm other than talk.

Property found on a Miller site which looked like exactly what we are looking for, decent plot for a new build (views / position on the site / size of the property / layout). Their value is £299,950

Checked on the NewBuy deals and sounded interesting... Checked on the NewBuy and Part Exchange.. Sounds very interesting..

Decided, no, convinced by the sales rep to go through the process. To be fair it didnt take much, we had nothing to loose other than our own time.

The Process

1 x Estate agent instructed by Miller Homes - Agreed with the current price it was up for sale for, and said thats what he would report back on.

1 x Surveyor instructed by Miller Homes - Esurv Ltd, who arrived on Saturday and didnt really want to know about the property just the measurements, seemed to be in a rush as he had 6 more appointments to get to (his words).. in and out within 8 minutes.

Miller Homes reported back that there report states Esurv Ltd advised £135,000 as a market value that's a c15% reduction / undervalue. They seemed to take no notice of the Estate agents comments. I suppose they only sell houses so what do they know!!

Also I think he missed that 2 other properties had sold recently that effectively had the same specs as ours (4 bed, semi-detached but with a smaller footprint, bad positioning, main road etc etc) for £160,000. Both within a 1/4 mile of our property.

The whole process took about 1 1/2 weeks to sort.

Of course this wasnt going to work for me but at the end of the day you never know unless you try do you and I thought my writing would give you an idea of how they undertake there part exchanges.

Positive was that the sale rep in the sales office was very good and apologetic.

We have decided that our property is correctly priced and will report back once/if it sells or if we decide to just live in it.


ps if we sell it ourselves we are still going to put an offer in but it will be the £249,999 to see if they would accept that.

Result

Dont expect that they will pay the full market value, they wont!

Expect if you see or hear Esurv Ltd that you are about to have your property undervalued. From what an unnamed source has commented on why they do this, its because they are worried that they will be claimed against should they get it slightly wrong, so under is always better for them. Apparently it effects their capability of getting Professional Indemnity Insurance and as a result can put them out of business if this was to happen!!

I suspect they get paid either way so its better for them to undervalue than to give market value and potentially get it wrong or leave themselves open to criticism. When asked they (Esurv Ltd) didnt have a formula they worked from they just looked on Rightmove and Land registry and made it up from there - worrying considering they are qualified..