Glasgow, advertise at 'offers over' 'fixed price'

jm2926

You have to have a home report in order to put it on for sale. The estate agents can give you an idea what the home report will be. This has replaced the old system where the buyers get a survey, the same companies provide the home report who used to do the survey.

Be aware that the standard clauses in an offer state that only one home report was obtained prior to offering the property for sale, so you can't get several and pick the best.

ellie27

jm2926 wrote: »

Be aware that the standard clauses in an offer state that only one home report was obtained prior to offering the property for sale, so you can't get several and pick the best.

So how can you make sure you get the highest possible home report valuation? Our home is only 7 yrs old, we just make sure everything is in working order/no cracked tiles, no cracked windows .... is there some kind of formula that they use?

I know the direct neighbours report valuation 3 months ago, is it likely to be exact same?

Many thanks for your advice!

jm2926

ellie27 wrote: »

So how can you make sure you get the highest possible home report valuation? Our home is only 7 yrs old, we just make sure everything is in working order/no cracked tiles, no cracked windows .... is there some kind of formula that they use?

I know the direct neighbours report valuation 3 months ago, is it likely to be exact same?

Many thanks for your advice!

They are chartered surveyors, they measure up to find the square meter age of the property, and calculate from that. Different areas have different price per sq/m. That's the theory anyway, sometimes I think they just look at the recent sold prices and think up a number.

I certainly got the impression that the estate agents could influence the home report value when they instructed the surveyor. That was part of the reason I went with an agent rather than selling ourselves or using an online agent. We also agreed a sliding scale for their fee, so the % dropped if they got less than expected! and they got a 5% bonus on the amount over the home report value.

Some estate agents seem to have high home report values and end up selling the property for less, like this one -

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-45383537.html?premiumA=true

ellie27

How common is it for a house to sell at over the home report value?

And when I say over it, I am just meaning if the home report valuation is £160,000 and we put our home at 'offers over £159,999' I assume any offer would be under the £160,000 as folk may think along the lines of 'why would we pay over the home report value'

davidmcn

jm2926 wrote: »

They are chartered surveyors, they measure up to find the square meter age of the property, and calculate from that. Different areas have different price per sq/m. That's the theory anyway, sometimes I think they just look at the recent sold prices and think up a number.

It is largely based on comparables i.e. recent similar properties which have been sold on the open market. Minor outstanding repairs etc probably won't make much difference to the valuation, though will be noted in the survey and might put off the fussier buyers if they see the HR before viewing the property.

I certainly got the impression that the estate agents could influence the home report value when they instructed the surveyor.

To an extent, yes - valuation isn't an exact science and there is the concern among many buyers that the HR valuation might be at the ambitious end of the scale.

Some estate agents seem to have high home report values and end up selling the property for less, like this one -

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-45383537.html?premiumA=true

...which might be an example, as I presume they're not really expecting to get 25% over their asking price.

davidmcn

ellie27 wrote: »

How common is it for a house to sell at over the home report value?

And when I say over it, I am just meaning if the home report valuation is £160,000 and we put our home at 'offers over £159,999' I assume any offer would be under the £160,000 as folk may think along the lines of 'why would we pay over the home report value'

As I said above, pretty common at the moment for the more popular properties. Depends what supply/demand is like for properties like yours.

Recent example I was involved with from a few weeks ago - Edinburgh flat, seven offers at a closing date, all of them above the HR value. But I would say asking price is typically 5-10% below HR value unless you think there's likely to be a problem selling reasonably quickly (in which case you're more likely to see the fixed or "Offers around" asking prices). Have a look at properties on the market (and get their home reports) and you'll see what the competition is doing.

jm2926

ellie27 wrote: »

How common is it for a house to sell at over the home report value?

And when I say over it, I am just meaning if the home report valuation is £160,000 and we put our home at 'offers over £159,999' I assume any offer would be under the £160,000 as folk may think along the lines of 'why would we pay over the home report value'

There are a couple of hotspots just now where properties are going over. When I was looking last month properties were going to closing dates or selling for over home report in the West end, Newton Mearns and Bishopbriggs. One person I spoke to offered over in Newton Mearns without viewing (her husband went alone) as she had missed out on previous houses. Some other areas the same houses are still for sale now.

You can order by oldest listing on rightmove, Zoopla shows the date first listed wich is useful too. Also if you install property bee in Firefox you can then see all the Rightmove amendments.

ellie27

We have the propertybee in Firefox, have been browsing the houses for sale in our area for the last year so I do know what has sold and what price it got too.

popularfurball

We had the same quandary when looking at houses.

We put an offer in on an "offers over" house - we love the house, we haven't found anything else similar for our money and as a result didn't even consider going under the asking - we offered 5k over, but probably would have offered more as its the only house that has nearly ticked all the boxes.