Has the estate agent undervalued our house?!

katherinegrey

I didn’t think this was a thing really but there we are. A bit of background, we live on a fairly new estate, house will be 4 years old December. We’ve reserved a property on another new estate, but we have to sell in 6 weeks.

We are a semi, and the house attached to ours sold in June for 172,000 with a 175,000 asking price the day it went up for sale. Their garden is nicer, but our drive is longer, we can fit 3 cars and they can fit 2, decorated to similar standards, obviously pretty much identical aside from those minor bits.

Ours has just been valued at 165,000. I can’t understand why such a difference?

We’re wondering if the developers of our new property have told the agent they want the sale as quick as possible in order to shift the last two houses so they can move off the estate. It just seems odd as 165000 was the minimum we told the developer we’d accept.

Is this likely? Or am I being unrealistic? I might have to lower my expectations it seems when considering offers (if we get any of course) 😩

We do have another agent coming tomorrow, but again they are instructed by the developer so unsure if this will be unbiased?

StumpyPumpy

Depends where you are. Plenty of areas have seen drops more than 4% in house prices over the last 6 months and (IMO) a better garden trumps a longer drive every time.

There is also a possible red flag raised with your neighbour and now you selling houses that are both less than 4 years old. High turnaround area?

SP

somethingcorporate

£165k is pretty close to the selling price of your neighbour - think you may be being paranoid on this one. See what the next agent says.


Is the £172k showing up on the public records? i.e. can the agent see this? You could go back and ask why yours has been valued at £165k and not closer to the sold value next door.


Depending on how much nicer the garden is then I wouldnt expect much difference due to this.

Slithery

Why are you believing what an estate agent says?

katherinegrey

Totally possible I’m overthinking it, but a 10% drop in 6 months seems excessive? The roads have been repaired since then too. I agree, a nicer garden is more value adding, but it’s astroturf and we’ve got regular turf, I wouldn’t have thought that would add that much extra? If so I’ll invest in some for sure!

Yes the 172,000 is publicly available on right move. They’re started homes really so there is generally a high turn around, does this make a difference? I hadn’t even considered that to be honest. I’m obviously very new to this!!

Thank you both so much for your input

lookstraightahead

House prices fluctuate based on all kinds of things. The market in many areas has changed over the past week, let alone few months. House prices don't just go up. Especially if you want to sell in six weeks, I wound say with Christmas looming that's nearly impossible.

C_Mababejive

Maybe the estate agency business is quiet? They still have costs and need to drive business so they are quite happy to through houses on the pyre to generate sales and income. Thats how it works. The stranglehold that EAs have on peoples most important asset is verging on criminal.

Anyway where is it written that house prices must move inexorably upwards? Houses are a bubble just like so many assets these days.

lookstraightahead

It's not a 10% drop either

NicNicP

Try asking an independent estate agent for a valuation.

lookstraightahead

Nearer 4% I think

Cakeguts

If it is a starter home there aren't going to be many people who need a drive that can fit 3 cars. So I think we can safely discount that completely as a comparison. So what we are left with is a house next door that has a nicer garden. By nicer do you also mean bigger? Or a more conventional shape. We have had examples on here of houses where there is more garden at the side than at the back or houses where there is a garage from next door at the bottom of the garden or the side of a house at the bottom of the garden. Lots of things can make a difference to prices of properties. How did the original selling price of yours compare to others on the estate? Was it cheaper?