huge discrepancy in estate agents valuations

Pjgb

We are selling our house, which is an extended ex-council property. We have had 5 valuations from different estate agents, with a £55,000 price difference from £200,000 down to £145,000, with the others floating around between them. Each valuer seemed very sure of themselves, giving us different reasons for their decisions.
This seems a huge discrepancy to us!
As we are completely new to this, we are rather confused and want to make sure we make an appropriate decision. Thoughts? Any advice gratefully received.

SmashedAvacado

You have two decisions

1) which agent
2) which price

You can choose the agent you think will do the best job but another agents price.

In terms of the right price, ask the agents to give you a few lines / links to why they think the property will sell for what they are suggesting. The ones at the upper end might be tactically expecting offers to come in lower and then for you to accept one. Others might expect a bidding war if well priced to push the price beyond asking.

hazyjo

The only 'value' is what it sells for. Look at sold prices nearby for similar properties and work out your own valuation.


I would be tempted to add all 5 together and work out the average and go for that. Maybe the higher end if you're not in a rush, although if you end up dropping several tens of thousands, it ain't going to look great!


I'd also say that 5 EAs is 2 too many to give valuations... Pick one you felt happy with. Don't tie in with them for too long (not more than 8 weeks, pref less), and try to knock their fee down a little - they're usually slightly negotiable.

System

With five quotes, take the top and bottom out, then average the three in the middle, that's probably going to be the best guess

PasturesNew

Did they show you "houses we think are like yours, that've sold around here recently - and for how much"?

Take a look through what's sold recently and find those "similar to yours" and see what's better/worse than yours and what they sold for.

To be "like yours" it'd have to probably be: "ex council, with X beds - and the same parking arrangement, same size garden and with/without other extras such as a conservatory. Also, compare floor sizes.... there can be a huge variance from, say, 650 sq ft to 1100 sq ft that you can't really spot from the photos.

Look at what's sold/price - and compare each and be ruthless when you say "that's better than ours" "that's worse" "that's the same" ....

I'm about to sell and while I could point to houses round my way at £300k, I know they're "not actually quite like mine" at all, due to location or having a garage, or something.... I know the figures I expect the agent to say ... and why they might go to my top range, or head for my bottom range. My guesstimate of price spread for mine has a £10k difference.... and I'll be listening/comparing closely to how they see mine.

Pjgb

This is confirming my thoughts.
Totally agree 5 agents too many! It's just they all gave such very different valuations and we got worried! We did go with the highest quote (yes I know....) and it hasn't been much good. We're trying to take control now and asking on here is part of that.
Because of the extension and position of our house, there are no others nearby to compare it to.
I'm thinking taking an average sounds reasonable...

getmore4less

What does your research say it is worth?

silvercar

The second thread started with the same title has now been deleted.

Crashy_Time

Start at 200k and drop the price slowly in 5k increments until you get interest.

NaughtiusMaximus

Where in country are you? If you're lucky there may be someone on here who knows your local market (I could take a stab at a valuation in some parts of south Birmingham and the Black Country but wouldn't have a clue about the rest of the country).

Pjgb

Difficult to estimate as we are the only ones with an extension. Gut feeling says in the middle of the quotes.