Overvaluation

SussexRob

Hello all, 
Hoping you may be able to advise.  We bought our current property in 2017 for £380k, which was also the valuation provided on the Home Buyers Report. We were first time buyers.

Last week we had a local agent over (not the one who originally sold it) to value the property, as we were thinking of moving on to a larger property.  He stated that he remembered seeing the sale and it being a shock among other local agents that the property had sold at such a level as there was no comparable property locally that had been close to that price.  He said that we should have been paying £340k to £350k tops, and that we would now be very lucky to achieve £380k.  He then went on to state that we have every reason to feel seriously let down by the surveyor conducting that valuation.  

As you can no doubt guess, there was more than a little naivety here on our part, and ultimately I take full responsibility for this.  However, when I asked why the surveyor would have done this, the agent implied that the surveyor would have been aware of the size of our deposit (£90k), and therefore the bank would have been comfortable with you paying over the odds because they would still be protected as the deposit took away any material risk in the event of a repossession and would also benefit from interest payments of course.  Again, possible naivety here, but I was under the impression that a valuation was precisely that, a valuation against the local market conditions relevant to the size and type of property in question, and although for the lender primarily, was also a form of safeguard for the borrower.  Is this not at least morally neutral at best if it actually represents a form of potential collusion between lenders and valuers where the deposit influences the valuation?  Not suggesting this was the case here, and I have no evidence of it.   I don't believe there is any means of recourse in our case, except cathartic complaint emails perhaps, but I wondered if this was common practice as when searching online there are only really stories relating to undervaluation scenarios?

I should state that one of the reasons why I believed what the agent was saying was that he was so obviously uncomfortable when telling us this, and was even reluctant to go ahead and market the property on our behalf at the 380k level.  We live in Sussex as the username suggests, and a comparable property would have gained c.£40k in value in his estimation over the time-frame in question.

Many thanks.
 

SussexRob

Forgot to mention - the property was not a new build.

SpiderLegs

Well that’s a real load of horse****.

The agent wants to keep you onside by blaming someone else for the fact that your property is only worth what you paid for it four years ago.
It’s pathetic really, but since you now have a new friend who you trust, well I guess the lovely little story has had the desired effect 😂

amandacat

This is just one persons opinion. Get some other agent around. I’m in the process of buying a house and have a 45% deposit so by that reasoning the valuation would’ve been higher but the mortgage company have valued it at 9k lower than I’ve agreed to pay for it. 

I recently sold and have since realised the EA undervalued my house for a quick sale (based on recent compatible sold prices). I stupidly didn’t get enough agents around as they offered me a good deal, I now know why as they got a very quick sale by undervaluing my house and I was foolish enough to listen to them and believe my house wouldn’t achieve more.