Help with House Valuation

pleasehelpfirsttimebuyers

Can someone please help us get an idea of the value of a house we are seriously considering buying?

The house is for sale for £120,000 and the seller will not accept an offer lower than this. We will be stretching to pay for it, but it is just about possible for us. This means we are being extra careful before buying, and wondering if someone can please help us have an idea if the house is worth it at this price.

The property is in Whitefield Manchester, 18 Balmoral Avenue.It is a semi detached house, freehold lease. It was sold in 2010 for £102,500. It has 2 reception rooms, 3 bedrooms (one of which is a very small box room) , a drive way, a garden at the back. it has the tram running behind the house (right behind the garden) and the M60 motorway is very close to the house. You cant see the motorway, but outside the house, you can hear the hum of traffic.

Since the property was last purchased in July 2010 for £102,500 , the seller has put in a new kitchen, cooker, boiler, basic new setup in the bathroom - white bath, sink and toilet. the 2 reception rooms have had a very quick coat of paint and wallpaper to freshen the place up, and new carpets. The doors need fixing as they don't close properly but that is minor. On of the reception rooms has a french door that leads to the garden. The neighbours on one side have 2 very noisy dogs and their property does not look to be in the best of conditions. Luckily, they are not the neighbours the property is adjoined to.

The house is on Rightmove, Unfortuately i cant add a link but anyone can just google it.

Please PLEASE can someone help us. If we have a proper valuation done and dont go for the house, it will eat into our limited money for the house we buy. If there are any valuers out there that can help us, we will be very grateful.

[Deleted User]

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-26744490.html

tHomBleached

A scientific way to calculate fair value is to take sold prices for the street, then run those prices through the nationwide HPI calculator for your area to give you a sense of current value (roughly what zoopla does).

For the same properties then take the internal space square ft from the EPC website (assuming they have EPC certificates). Divide (weighted) sold prices by square footage and for all properties you've looked at you can determine an average £/squareFT.

Apply that weighted £/square foot to the square footage found on your property of choice and you have yourself a fair idea of what that property is 'worth'.

Although during this exercise you'll see how widely your £/squareFT will differ, illustrating a property is only worth what two parties agree to at some point in time, which can have so many variables it's like chaos theory in action.

Tools you'll need for the above: (as a new user I can't post links so just google)

1) zoopla (to check sold for prices)
2) Nationwide HPI calculator (to weight the sold price for what is current value). The reason I don't trust zoopla for this is that 'editing' the current market value is a little too easy for my liking - if I was selling a house I know exactly what I'd be doing.....
3) EPC square footage checker by postcode

Dan-Dan

On the other hand , if the vendor will not accept lower than 120k and you love the house , and can afford it , and its a `long termer` , whack your asking price offer in!

pleasehelpfirsttimebuyers

Thanks everyone. I was wondering if anyone knew what difference the proximity to the M60 would make to the house value. Its great thats its so close, but you can hear traffic a bit from the house when stood outside the house. I am wondering if this seriously knocks the value down? Or is it all relative as we would be working the value out from the sale prices of other properties on that street?

tHomBleached

It will contribute to the price no doubt about it. I'd use not only that street, but others that are equidistant to the M60 nearby.

pleasehelpfirsttimebuyers

Ive just seen on Zoopla that the house next door ( the one that this property is adjoined to ) sold in Feb 2012 for £80,500 and is a similar property. I am seriously baffled! And according to HIP calculator, if the property sold for £102500 in 2010, then it should have gone down in value and should be worth less. - Take into account that the seller has made a few cosmetic changes, maybe that will increase the value a little so he wont make a loss on the property. Is the seller trying his luck at selling it to us at such a price> The agency selling it did use hard sales techniques to push our offer up from £112,000.

Im confused!

tHomBleached

I'd try and be as pragmatic as possible with the agent. Say what you've just said, that you understand next door sold for x, and want to understand the difference. If there's a genuine reason for the difference they'll tell you there and then, if not they'll feel backed into a corner and you'll be able to tell instantly.

pleasehelpfirsttimebuyers

Thanks, that's really good advice. To be honest, we have had a few issues with the agency already as the seller is actually a director there and not at all willing to speak to us to answer some of our questions. We have had to chase them up sever times just to get basic answers such as the lease type of the property etc.

I_have_spoken

The neighbours on one side have 2 very noisy dogs

Walk away. Location, Location, Location!

we have had a few issues with the agency already as the seller is actually a director there

He's stitching you up like a kipper.

This 3-bed semi along the road in Glendevon Place is on at £105k - http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-36466285.html

pleasehelpfirsttimebuyers

Hi

I saw that house on Glendevon place. Even though its on the next street, it looks a bit rough, where as Balmoral looked a bit better. Although, the next door neighbour and her dogs made me think twice and have doubts ....