Valuations: is it a conservative, low end amount?

AllyMac

Hi all - experience and opinions greatly appreciated here!

My ex wife is remortgaging to buy me out of our house, and the free valuation from mortgage company has given a value which I think is quite low. Not ridiculously low - but low.

My thinking is that a mortgage valuation will be a conservative number - the lowest end of a range of potential sale value. For example, if the mortgage company repossessed and wanted to sell quickly. Not the best - but still realistic - sale price.

I want to propose instructing an independent surveyor who is aware that the purpose is to assess best realistic sale price, not worst case scenario. But perhaps my assumptions about mortgage valuation are false!

My ex wife previously forged financial documents during divorce, so I'm also in the position of needing to ask for a copy of the valuation and checking it for tippex marks. Seriously :mad:

csgohan4

Your ex wife seems lovely.


You could also phone the surveyor to confirm the valuation your Ex wife instructed.


But an independent one is also an option.

AllyMac

To be fair, in any divorce situation either party is going to have an opinion that is biased in their favour!

But the bank statement for financial disclosure that was doctored can't really be spun any other way... it actually wasn't tipped - she typed out new lower numbers, sellotape than across the true amount, and photocopied it. A different font, a clear ghost line of the small piece of paper - oh and the small issue that she forgot to make the number on page 1 tally with page 2. My solicitor and I actually laughed! I wanted to keep the tension out of things, so I never accused her of lying. Simply asked my solicitor to write saying number 1 and 2 didn't tally, please check with bank for error. Two weeks later "oh bank said they made a mistake". <rolls eyes>

The remortgage is with Barclays and it is their surveyor - so I suppose I'd have no right independently to ask them?

The valuation isn't a laughably low number, and there is a new boyfriend involved now which I think would limit the forgeries! But obviously I want the highest possible valuation, and she will want lowest. That's why I'm wondering if a mortgage company valuation is a lowest possible number - would make a common sense to me if it were.

AnotherJoe

You should get three independent valuations and average them. I would not use the mortgage surveyors as you say they do have any vested interest in slightly low balling..
The cheap way would be paying three local estate agents for a valuation maybe £50-£100 each ( if you just ask them to value thinking they are selling they may high ball to get your business)

davidmcn

Pretty much any residential valuation* should be on the same basis (there's a RICS manual explaining it all), so while there may be differences of opinion, and any surveyor may be inclined to play safe, it is basically a mid-range price assuming that the seller isn't particularly desperate to sell and the buyer isn't especially entranced by the property. There isn't a "mortgage" valuation assuming that the property has been repossessed.

* those by proper surveyors I mean, not the non-professionals in shiny suits trying to sell you their estate agency services

exiled_red

When we bought our flat privately from our landlord, we got a good deal, identical flats in the development were selling for £20-30k more than we paid for ours but the valuation by the guy who the bank sent valued it at only £5k more than we were paying (IMO undervaluing it by more than 10%). Based on a sample size of one I thought that the bank valuation was on the conservative side.

Based on your ex-wifes track record I would ensure that I got my own valuations because I wouldn't trust any information that came via her or her solicitors, but I assume you are doing that anyway.

Thrugelmir

AllyMac wrote: »

My ex wife is remortgaging to buy me out of our house, and the free valuation from mortgage company has given a value which I think is quite low. Not ridiculously low - but low.

My thinking is that a mortgage valuation will be a conservative number - the lowest end of a range of potential sale value. For example, if the mortgage company repossessed and wanted to sell quickly. Not the best - but still realistic - sale price.

That's the basis on which the mortgage offer will be made though.

Money is important. However from personal experience when matters get acrimonious. I'd prefer my sanity and the lack of stress every time. Until the clouds lift you won't realise how it's got to you.

ACG

Normally when a surveyor goes out, they value the property at whatever the valuation was put down as - rather than what they think it is valued at. The onlyexcpetion to that is if it is ridiculously high or low.

So there is a good chance yur ex put the value down intentionally on the low side on her mortgage application and the surveyor just agreed.

Edit: Sorry, I have also just thought some lenders use an index linked system. So the value of your property is computer based. But again, your ex could have just thought it sounds in the ballpark and happy to proceed with it.

AllyMac

Thanks all.
Thrugelmir, your advice is wise and noted! I completely agree. We're 4 years in from divorce now - the repayment is now due. So I know exactly what you mean by clouds lifting!
Money isn't everything. It's why I took a settlement that was so low (at my proposal) that my solicitor warned that the judge could actually call me in to explain it!
What I want now, is a fair valuation - and if this is, then OK.

ACG - that's helpful, thank you. At this stage I haven't seen the valuation and don't know if the surveyor actually went to the property. We bought it over 10 years ago and although many works don't impact value too much (all new windows, modern kitchen, solar panels) we did add a 30m ground floor extension and large garden room - so I think anything done on indexing would be on the low side.

The remortgage is with Woolwich - any idea if they have a tendency towards office based valuation, please?

Thrugelmir

AllyMac wrote: »

We're 4 years in from divorce now - the repayment is now due. So I know exactly what you mean by clouds lifting!

I have enormous empathy for the situation you find yourself in. :beer:

napu2400

When you buy a house with a mortgage, the surveyor often values it at exactly the amount you are paying, unless they think it is completely wrong. I don't know about remortgaging, but as ACG said, your ex-wife may have just written a number and the surveyor thought it was ok.

You could ask a local estate agent or two for a valuation. They don't look at the house as carefully as a surveyor, but they know the area and the market better. Also, they often do it for free or at a low cost.