AAARGH!!! Surveyor massively downvalues flat

losgiganteskid

Although you are frustrated at the down value of the flat as a potential purchaser - the vendor will be equally frustrated and must worry that he/she will find it difficult to sell the property at the price he/she is asking as presumably any other potential purchaser will have to go through the same excercise as you have done and possibly the figures will not be too far short of the one provided by the surveyor - with the obvious solution being either no sale, reduced price, or finding a purchaser with a larger deposit to bridge the gap.


Have you looked to see the price the current owner paid and how that differs from what he is now expecting ?

Tim_Bisley

harrys_dad wrote: »

You keep saying the market says it is worth......". the valuer clearly has a different view of the market, and maybe you are overpaying.

Fair comment, but we've done a lot of research and looked at enough flats to know what stacks up. £220k puts it £5k less than the sold price of a similar style property that is about half as small, has a much smaller terrace, is further out of town on a busy road and has no communal gym/pool.

losgiganteskid wrote: »

Have you looked to see the price the current owner paid and how that differs from what he is now expecting ?

He paid pretty much what the valuation has come back at, but since buying he's put in two high spec bathrooms and a high spec kitchen. He also got some extra outside space.

All I can say is that we have a budget, we've been looking at flats to that budget for 6 months, and this is the best one we have seen...

tomtontom

Are you in Nottingham Tim? Unless you're looking at The Park or a really nice conversion then £295K is a lot for a city centre apartment. Also keep in mind that the gym/ pool etc would be seen as by many as a burden - repairs could lead to a hefty major works bill. Plus of course many people will choose to have gym membership where they can get classes/ bigger pool/ better equipment.

Mortgage_Mark_2

Halifax can't/won't refuse an appeal as they merely forward the appeal to the surveyor to reconsider.

In order to do this, you need several comparable sold properties from the last 6 months.

Tim_Bisley

Mortgage_Mark wrote: »

Halifax can't/won't refuse an appeal as they merely forward the appeal to the surveyor to reconsider.

In order to do this, you need several comparable sold properties from the last 6 months.

Yeah, I think it was just his wording. We are getting comparables together for them to go back to the surveyor, and we'll send service charge info too.

Tim_Bisley

Thought I'd better update this!

So, no dice on the valuation. We thought Halifax were our only option as we had been out of the country, we managed to get another offer from RBS pretty quickly. Surveyor went in and spent less than 5 minutes looking around, and on leaving told the vendor that it was the best flat he'd seen in town - we are in Nottingham. After thinking all was well we then got the report the next day, which downvalued it £45k to £250k!! :eek:

Mathematically this one does actually stack up based on what the vendor paid and what the average market has done, so I was less annoyed than the sheer fantasy of the first one - I won't go through the stories I heard about that particular surveyor... Anyway, I was fortunate that when I called the agent the next morning she had already seen the 2nd surveyor, who explained that the flat was great and he wanted to value it higher but there just weren't the comparables, as at least they knew the exact reasons.

Again, I thought this would be the end of it, but it was the same day that George Osborne changed the stamp duty which gave us, and the vendor on his onward purchase, some more flexibility. We fiddled around with the figures and agreed a price not far off the 2nd valuation. Exchanged just before Christmas and get the keys on Thursday!! :T

It's interesting that surveyors here are a long way behind asking prices - the flats on the market now for what we paid are considerably smaller. There have been similar properties sell for the original agreed price or higher, just not within the last 6 months as stipulated for providing comparables - understandable as there aren't that many of these larger flats coming to the market.

Not complaining as it feels like a bit of a steal - just a stressful time getting it sorted!

ruggedtoast

A £4k a year service charge?

Jeez.

martindow

Tim_Bisley wrote: »

Exchanged just before Christmas and get the keys on Thursday!! :T

It's interesting that surveyors here are a long way behind asking prices - the flats on the market now for what we paid are considerably smaller. There have been similar properties sell for the original agreed price or higher, just not within the last 6 months as stipulated for providing comparables - understandable as there aren't that many of these larger flats coming to the market.

Not complaining as it feels like a bit of a steal - just a stressful time getting it sorted!

Well done - I'm glad you've got there in the end. It sounds as if the surveyors have done you a favour here. The owner and EA seem to have been asking for an inflated price.

shortchanged_2

I was more shocked by the fact of adding a new kitchen and 2 new bathrooms added £75k to the value!

missprice

ruggedtoast wrote: »

A £4k a year service charge?

Jeez.

I really really would have cut off my arm to live here

http://www.greenhouseleeds.co.uk/welcome

But for the 3 bed pent house that I wanted was over 3k service charge.
Now for what it covers its good value, until the solar panels/wind turbine/ground source heat pump/etc need repairing or worse replacing. Then the big bills will mount up. Its a lovely place and they have everything you may need, but its still in a bad area and only one parking space per apartment.
Still if it was only me I would buy a one bed and live out my days there.