Surveyor undervaluation has lost us a sale

Natbag

If you haven't already, you can ask your EA to contact the surveyor to see if they will allow you to appeal/negotiate. They don't have to do this, and probably won't, but it might be worth a shot.
Otherwise, there's very little you can do. Just get it back on the market and stay positive for a better result next time, or even better, a cash buyer!

eddddy

I recently had a similar issue. The bank's valuer down-valued by 30%.

The EA that was selling the property was an RICS regulated firm. Their Senior Partner was an MRICS and an RICS registered valuer (probably far more experienced the the bank's valuer).

The senior partner provided a mountain of evidence to support the buyer's appeal to the bank. But the appeal was still turned down.

The best advice the EA could give was that they would refuse access to that valuation firm, in relation to any future buyer - and insist that the valuation was done by a different firm.

(I dunno if that strategy would actually work.)

Thrugelmir

DesWalker wrote: »

For clarification, the 139% sale was in July, the 134% (next door) was in March and the 130% was last October, so there is actually an upward trajectory.

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How long were they on the maket for before being sold?

The slow rate of increase suggests demand isn't great in the area. The surveyor is working for the lender not the borrower. The lenders money is at risk. They are the ones looking at the security the property offers.

Nor are all properties the same. Condition comes into play. Refurbishment can make a difference to values. Being similar is a red herring.

lincroft1710

DesWalker wrote: »

I have a maths PhD so you can be sure that what I am saying is true.

Valuation is an art not a science.

chappers

Natbag wrote: »

If you haven't already, you can ask your EA to contact the surveyor to see if they will allow you to appeal/negotiate. They don't have to do this, and probably won't, but it might be worth a shot.
!

Problem is the buyer probably thinks they have got off lightly, if they really wanted the place they would have pursued these options themselves.

societys_child

I once had a serious undervaluation and funnily enough the surveyor was from over a hundred miles away.
The buyer had to pull out, but I had another who had asked me to contact him if anything went wrong.
We agreed a sale at the asking price a few days later.

So that was three local estate agents, two wannabe buyers, myself, and the second buyers mortgage surveyor all in agreement about the asking price.

I sometimes wonder about some of these surveyors.

do163600

As a seller, there's not much you can do if the buyer has been spooked by the valuation.

A couple of years ago, I was buying a BTL property and the bank's surveyor undervalued it. I spoke to him on the phone and asked how he had arrived at the valuation. He replied that there were five similar properties in the same street which had sold in the previous 18 months, and he had based the valuation on them.

I pointed out a number of significant differences between these properties - having previously viewed all of them, and even bought one of them - and he agreed to up the valuation to the agreed sale price.

chappers

That's the problem with residential deals, there is no legal obligation to get the figure right. The surveyor just acts for the lender.
In a commercial deal it's a different matter the borrower is the client and the valuation is to satisfy the lender and many other commercial factors might depend on that valuation, factors with quantifiable loss, and where there's quantifiable loss there's a lawsuit not far behind

Fiesto88

The house we’re buying divided opinion in the two valuations done in the course of the purchase.

Mortgage valuer visited and appreciated the quirks it has. They gave it a very favourable writeup in their comments and matched the purchase price.

The guy who did our more detailed survey insisted on offering his opinion of the market value - despite us making it clear that wasn’t needed or wanted - and he valued it 30k lower. This wasn’t because he’d identified any issues or repairs, just that in his opinion the purchase price was too high.

It’s just the way the cookie crumbles. It’s not an exact science and there’s no right answer and all sorts of preferences and bias come into the decision making process. It’s no different to fact that one mortgage underwriter might decline the same application that the underwriter next to them would approve. In any job involving judgement there isn’t one correct answer.

ScorpiondeRooftrouser

DesWalker wrote: »

Comms,

Thanks for checking the inflation rates.

Yes we live in a deeply unfashionable part of the country but in a beautiful setting that elsewhere in the country would have skyrocketed.

The numbers are completely accurate. I have a maths PhD so you can be sure that what I am saying is true. We bought in mid 2003 for 215k, asked 295k, received an offer of that price, chose to delay completion for four months so reduced the agreed price to 290k. The valuation came in at 245k, just 30k more than we paid for it !! Gobsmacked and very distressed ...

I find it odd that anyone mathematical would make an appeal to authority over simple artihmetic.