Property Downvalued by Surveyor

Paulapudsey

We have had our house for sale for around 18 months and have eventually had two offers of which we took the highest. The property market in our area is pretty buoyant and although we bought in 2007 at the height of the property boom we did get offered what we paid, which we were happy with. The buyers valuation has now come back at £18,000 under the price agreed! Our estate agent says that he has had 4 undervaluations in one week. We are assuming that with Brexit and the current government turmoil the banks/building societies are trying to put a cap on the prices. We have been told that there is absolutely nothing we can do about this and we don't even have the right to see the valuation report as we didn't pay for it.The problem is that we are now going to have problems purchasing the property that we have put an offer on. Is there any way that we can appeal this situation as property in our area of a similar size are all up for sale/sold at around the same or higher prices.

david1951

You can't appeal anything. The buyer might be able to, but I imagine they are quite happy to let you sweat this one out for them. If you are confident of finding another buyer (at the higher price) then you can pull out and start again. If not, then either you or the buyer will have to make up the shortfall.

As for the property you are buying, unless you can convince the present buyer to come up with the £18,000 then it sounds like this will be delayed, at the very least. I would just be open with them about the situation and keep them updated.

toc25

You don't have to sell it to them for that price just because of their valuation. You can stand firm and risk losing them as a buyer. You could ask them to meet you in the middle. They could also go to a different lender and hope to get a higher valuation.

I was worried sick about this happening to us, and had planned to stand firm and risk losing them if it did happen. Luckily it didn't, so not all lenders are down valuing.

csgohan4

toc25 wrote: »

You don't have to sell it to them for that price just because of their valuation. You can stand firm and risk losing them as a buyer. You could ask them to meet you in the middle. They could also go to a different lender and hope to get a higher valuation.

I was worried sick about this happening to us, and had planned to stand firm and risk losing them if it did happen. Luckily it didn't, so not all lenders are down valuing.

But did you have your house on the market for 18 months? That is clearly overpriced to be on the market that long assuming the area is not a slow market

Tiners

Mortgage lenders are down valuing properties almost routinely now... and only today Carney has come out and hinted that Banks may need to make their lending criteria stricter and tighter.

brit1234

paulapudsey wrote: »

We have had our house for sale for around 18 months and have eventually had two offers of which we took the highest. The property market in our area is pretty buoyant .

The strongest most boyant areas last year are in free fall now but there are areas in Birmingham and Manchester still holding off the downturn.

As people become nervous in much of the country so do bankers. The correction is continuning and banks don't want to get burn't. People may blame the genral election, brexit, economic downturn but in reality we had a property buble andit wasn't going to last forever without popping.

Whats happened has happened, time to get on and make the most of it. If you have to sell at a lower price then use that to haggle down the price of the property you are after. Make it work for you.

sheff6107

As always, this is always going to be an issue if you are selling to anyone who is borrowing to fund the purchase. Cash buyers are king.

Crashy_Time

Tiners wrote: »

Mortgage lenders are down valuing properties almost routinely now... and only today Carney has come out and hinted that Banks may need to make their lending criteria stricter and tighter.

Excellent news.

csgohan4

sheff6107 wrote: »

As always, this is always going to be an issue if you are selling to anyone who is borrowing to fund the purchase. Cash buyers are king.

But Cash buyers aren't a charity either and will still want a lower price

ACG

- You could ask the buyer to find a new lender with a different surveyor.
- You could ask the buyer to move up to a higher LTV - ie if the property is £100k and they have £50k deposit, but the valuation has come back at £75k. They would move to a 66% LTV (give or take) instead of a 50% LTV. If your current buyers can not do that, maybe the other buyers can.

Ultimately, there is no magic pill. If the proeprty is over vlued, it is over valued. If the figures do not stack up, there is not a lot you can do.

I did notice a bit of a lull earlier in the year, which ties in with what I have read in the papers. But this is on target to be the busiest month I have ever had, with July looking like it will be just as good if not better. So it could be worth trying a different lender as the surveyor or lender is being cautious.

Crashy_Time

csgohan4 wrote: »

But Cash buyers aren't a charity either and will still want a lower price

Exactly, smart cash buyers will want a much lower than bubble price.