Survey says 20k repair, estate agent says it's only 2k

ladyellyria

Mr.Generous wrote: »

You are taking FAR TOO MUCH notice of stuff the estate agent says, his off the cuff remarks to try and get the sale through are based on nothing.

You don't need to have any answers to his comments.

You don't need to care what the EA or the vendor think to some extent.

Make an offer based upon the value of the property, the cost of necessary repair work, the likely future value and how much you want the property.

Personally I'd be coming in with an offer more like £170k, it would get rejected and I'd keep looking. They might come back with a counter offer, but you've had a close escape thanks to the survey. The vendor and the EA were happy to try and get you to overpay. They are not on your side.

Yes, you are right. I think 185k is reasonable though. 170k would be for an unextended property so I think it'd be unfair. It's good to have people tell me that I shouldn't be swayed by EAs because they have a way of making you feel like you are being ludicrous with your offer.

trex227

ladyellyria wrote: »

This is really interesting -- does this configuration affect valuation on your house compared to your neighbour's, say, beacuse yours is a 2 bed, while theirs is a 3 bed? In reality I'd prefer 2 good sized bedrooms over 3 small bedrooms, but I worry if that's going to affect the valuation later on.

Its really difficult to say as they've not been sold at the same time and all other identically built properties are now wildly different with extensions, different layouts etc. Next door paid £165k compared to the £120k we paid, however we did buy 4 years before they did and the market was much more competitive when they bought. Zoopla (taken with a pinch of salt) has theirs as now being worth £9k more than ours, so less than 10% of the overall value.


However one thing to consider is selling a 3 bed is almost certainly easier. So for example we only found our house by accident as we had been looking at 3 beds, so had a filter on Rightmove. It was only when I searched without the filter that I came across this house. It has worked out for us though as we love living here and have no plans to move. Its on a lovely street in a great location.


Although I mentioned issues we have come across with the house, all of them (with the exception of the boiler) were either cosmetic or have come up because we've had work done. I'm not sure we would have bought this house if there were major issues that needed resolving ASAP like holes in the roof.


Another thing I thought of (which might have been mentioned by others) is given what you have said regarding valuations etc is that I would be reading "finance problems" with the other buyer as the property got down-valued when the valuation was carried out for the mortgage lender and the buyer did not have sufficient deposit to make up the difference in what the lender was willing to lend vs the agreed price.

ladyellyria

trex227 wrote: »

Another thing I thought of (which might have been mentioned by others) is given what you have said regarding valuations etc is that I would be reading "finance problems" with the other buyer as the property got down-valued when the valuation was carried out for the mortgage lender and the buyer did not have sufficient deposit to make up the difference in what the lender was willing to lend vs the agreed price.

That's what I suspect too, though EA and vendor would deny it. I'm just surprised that EA would overvalue the house so much, it's almost a 20k difference between their marketed price and the mortgage/survey valuation!

Thanks for your comments on renovation and reselling, all very informative, lots to think about now...

trex227

ladyellyria wrote: »

That's what I suspect too, though EA and vendor would deny it. I'm just surprised that EA would overvalue the house so much, it's almost a 20k difference between their marketed price and the mortgage/survey valuation!

Thanks for your comments on renovation and reselling, all very informative, lots to think about now...

Apologies if you have mentioned it and I've missed it, but is the estate agent a high street one or online? The reason I ask is around here theres a certain online estate agent that wildly overvalues properties, I think to get the instruction from the seller.

ladyellyria

trex227 wrote: »

Apologies if you have mentioned it and I've missed it, but is the estate agent a high street one or online? The reason I ask is around here theres a certain online estate agent that wildly overvalues properties, I think to get the instruction from the seller.

It is a local high street one, not PB if that's what you are thinking. But this local EA does monopolise the sale in the area (even though they themselves have marketed other 2 beds as 170k, and sold a 3 bed extended for 190k last year, so I really don't know why they value this one so high. When I asked them they cited the location, garden and kitchen, all of which can be found in surrounding properties, if in slightly lesser extent, so...)

lisyloo

ladyellyria wrote: »

That's what I suspect too, though EA and vendor would deny it. I'm just surprised that EA would overvalue the house so much, it's almost a 20k difference between their marketed price and the mortgage/survey valuation!

Thanks for your comments on renovation and reselling, all very informative, lots to think about now...

I don’t know why you are surprised.
The EAs job is to get as much money as possible for the seller and they are financially incentivised to get more as they get a %.

This is their job so it’s unsurprising if they are somewhat accomplished at making you feel you should be paying more.

You should pretty much ignore their remarks on what you should pay and they may well outright lie about what the seller will accept to push you up.

I’m not sure what kind of valuation you had done but thats different to a survey.

AdrianC

ladyellyria wrote: »

I'm just surprised that EA would overvalue the house so much

Woah, hold on a sec...

The EA merely said to their customer "You could ask £x for it"
YOU - yes, you - came along, viewed it, and said "Yep, I think that's well worth me paying £x".

The value is what somebody is willing to pay. You were that somebody. Did the EA somehow put you up to it?

trex227

Hmmmm... it might be that the seller wants that much and the agent (who after all is working for the seller) is sticking to their guns. Maybe they themselves overpaid? Can you see on Zoopla how much they paid for it? Or if they are buying on maybe they need that much for their next property.


This property, would you be planning to put in a new kitchen and bathroom at some point? The reason I ask is in your original post you mentioned a completely refurbished property for £190k. Our kitchen cost £11k but I'd be very surprised if it increased the value of our house anywhere near this amount (though it would probably make it easier to sell, after all I don't think early 2000s spaceship looking kitchens were ever in fashion!),



Before becoming a homeowner I thought people who paid over the odds for houses that have been completely redone were fools. However having lived through the experience of having a new kitchen we have sworn if we ever move the kitchen has to be perfect. Never again do I wish to be washing pots in the bath and only using a microwave for 2 weeks!

ladyellyria

lisyloo wrote: »

I don’t know why you are surprised.
The EAs job is to get as much money as possible for the seller and they are financially incentivised to get more as they get a %.

This is their job so it’s unsurprising if they are somewhat accomplished at making you feel you should be paying more.

You should pretty much ignore their remarks on what you should pay and they may well outright lie about what the seller will accept to push you up.

I’m not sure what kind of valuation you had done but thats different to a survey.

No I mean if they want to get as much as they can, surely they'd overprice all properties, rather than just this one? All the other 2 beds (little extended) they have sold are marketed around 170, 175, and the 3 bed last year was also sold by them, 190. If they consistently overvalue then I wouldn't even be surprised, but they can't even explain why this one is higher priced than the others.

ladyellyria

AdrianC wrote: »

Woah, hold on a sec...

The EA merely said to their customer "You could ask £x for it"
YOU - yes, you - came along, viewed it, and said "Yep, I think that's well worth me paying £x".

The value is what somebody is willing to pay. You were that somebody. Did the EA somehow put you up to it?

Well, I'm wondering now why the EA told this vendor you could put in 200k for it, while telling other vendors of similar properties you can only put 170k for it. That's really what I'm wondering.