surveyor undervalued our home

striker44

Hi,

Any advice appreciated - home valued by local agents 250 - accepted 242

Surveyor of national company spent 10 mins walking through our 4 bed 2000 square ft immaculate home. He lives 25 miles away. valued at 230, said by comparing other similar properties nearby.

With the help of estate agent compiled comparison list of nearby sold properties in price range 240 - 260. Our home stands out as being really undervalued at 230 compared to the 6 listed properties.

Sent letter to national company with documentary evidence suggesting their agent had perhaps made a mistake in his valuation of our home.

Short reply - as you are not our client we are not able to discuss this matter with you.

As above any advice to what I can do next to complain about what I and others believe is a wrong valuation and to rectify the mistake this surveyor made will be appreciated. Many thanks in anticipation of any help forthcoming.

Regards

Dave

phill99

Maybe the estate agents over valued it?

TonyMMM

There is nothing you can realistically do about the valuation.

You can of course insist on not selling for less than the 242 you accepted and see whether your buyer is willing to proceed.

SmashedAvacado

You could ask your buyer to send the same letter that you sent - as they are the surveyor's client.

AdrianC

SmashedAvacado wrote: »

You could ask your buyer to send the same letter that you sent - as they are the surveyor's client.

Are they? Or is the lender?

lookstraightahead

Why do you think the surveyors valuation is wrong and an estate agent, who wants your business, is right?

What if the surveyor had valued it at £280,000? Would you want it down valued?

Estate agents always over value in my opinion. And at the moment they are desperate for business.

You can either reduce the price or ask the buyers if they still want to buy, if they have the cash of course.

lookstraightahead

Also have the other six been sold very recently? We're just going through probate of a property that has really seen a reduction in value in the last six months

kinger101

You're not in a position to challenge the valuation. But are you sure the EA hasn't cherry picked the comparable homes? The surveyor would have likely selected sales by how recent they were, how similar, and how close. Things like shiny new kitchens usually have little effect on mortgage valuations as well.

10 mins in the property is a lot more than some valuations. No bank-appointed surveyor visited the property for the two houses I purchased. It was all done online.

diggingdude

Your problem is your buyers would be fools to pay more than their survey, by a professional, values it

capital0ne

diggingdude wrote: »

Your problem is your buyers would be fools to pay more than their survey, by a professional, values it

Unless of course they really like the area, and it fist in with their criteria. Then it's worth it.

Basically a valuation is just an opinion, it doesn't take into account desirability

Robinette

My bugbear is that the valuation seems to depend on the loan to value; for example, we bought a house in 2017 for £321,000 with a very small loan to value, whereas our buyer had a high loan to value and the valuation came in at £300,000 less than two years later.

I know that the mortgage company has to protect its loan, but surely the value should be the same regardless of the circumstances?