Disaster - HSBC have valued the flat at 20k under what I offered

ACG

Renegotiate.
Pay the difference yourself.
Try a different lender.

Down valuations happen from time to time. The agent/vendor will probably suggest you try a new lender first to see what they come back with.

It is more beneficial for you to renegotiate but the chances of the vendor wanting to take a £20k hit is pretty slim unless they were not expecting to sell for £280k in the first place.

AABreg

Hi there, we experienced something similar. We got an offer accepted below the asking price on a flat in East London. We did an application through the 1st lender who sent their surveyors and they downvalued the flat by 13k. The seller asked us to apply through a different lender who uses a different surveying company so we did that and they also downvalued the flat by 13k. Their reasoning is that there were no comparables as there were no recent sales of 2 bedroom flats in the building. Apparently surveyors have access to a platform with all the valuations so at the end of the day there is no point in going to another lender. The seller had to lower the asking price and we topped it up with a bit more of savings so that we all met halfway.

There's an article online which claims last year 1 out of 20 properties were downvalued and now 1 out of 5 are downvalued. The banks are being very cautious with how much they lend as they are expecting a property crash with Brexit.

Hope this helps!

ForzaFifer

ACG wrote: »

Renegotiate.
Pay the difference yourself.
Try a different lender.

Down valuations happen from time to time. The agent/vendor will probably suggest you try a new lender first to see what they come back with.

It is more beneficial for you to renegotiate but the chances of the vendor wanting to take a £20k hit is pretty slim unless they were not expecting to sell for £280k in the first place.

Thats what I'm thinking there's now way they will take 260.

If I go with a different lender will that not effect my credit score? Two different mortgage applications in the space of a month.

[Deleted User]

AABreg wrote: »

HApparently surveyors have access to a platform with all the valuations so at the end of the day there is no point in going to another lender.

That's not true. There isn't a defined value for every property.

AABreg

Deleted_User wrote: »

That's not true. There isn't a defined value for every property.

I was told they can view reports of previous surveys done on a property but I'm not a surveyor to know

It's hard to understand how two different surveyors from different companies valued it exactly at the same amount.

ACG

AABreg wrote: »

I was told they can view reports of previous surveys done on a property but I'm not a surveyor to know

It's hard to understand how two different surveyors from different companies valued it exactly at the same amount.

That may be the case (I dont know whether or not it is), but we did a Mortgage this time last year with nationwide which was downvalued by £20k. We then went to Natwest who valued it as we said, those valuations were less than 2 weeks apart.

ACG

ForzaFifer wrote: »

Thats what I'm thinking there's now way they will take 260.

If I go with a different lender will that not effect my credit score? Two different mortgage applications in the space of a month.

Probably, but most people can handle 2 credit checks in a short space of time.

You can only go back and discuss it with them. If they suggest trying another lender, that is probably your only option unless you pull out.

dunstonh

In some areas, there is just one valuer. Legal & General do the bulk of the valuations in our area regardless of the lender.

ForzaFifer

Turns out the bank have down valued it because the building is adjacent to non residential properties and on a main road.

The actual flat is at the back of the building, facing houses and not on the main road at all...

Anyway, its back with the vendor now, so I'll just have to wait and see if they are willing to drop the price...

buglawton

Last time I had a flat valued in the context of a mortgage, they sent a real human surveyor to visit the flat. He was pretty thorough. Did HSBC do that with you OP? A real life surveyor can tell the difference between sellable or not at a certain price point.