Buyers surveyor

grayson

The buyers surveyor is coming round next week. The house was valued at 200,000 by our estate agent in September. It was on the market for a couple of days before we were offered 195,000. We accepted. The buyers lender surveyor will be coming in a few days. My question. As the housing market has changed considerably since September what happens if they under value the house and how much could it be under valued? Could we still stick with the asking? If so what's the best way to do this?

Thanks

welly_59

If it's the mortgage valuation that is being carried out, and it's lower then the agreed price, then the potential purchaser will either have to pay out of his own pocket, or you agree to sell at a lower price.

Your can of course refuse to lower your price but that could leave your looking for a new buyer

diystarter7

grayson said:

The buyers surveyor is coming round next week. The house was valued at 200,000 by our estate agent in September. It was on the market for a couple of days before we were offered 195,000. We accepted. The buyers lender surveyor will be coming in a few days. My question. As the housing market has changed considerably since September what happens if they under value the house and how much could it be under valued? Could we still stick with the asking? If so what's the best way to do this?

Thanks

Hi

Your house, your choice.

The values can be BS ie all they are doing is safeguarding their money.
If they come in lower, do your research etc but i would not budge too much if at all unless the buyer was chain free. If buyer has little deposit i am guess they will come in low - so be aware if its quiet low, consider a no but the risk is the market conditions

Thanks

DullGreyGuy

grayson said:

The buyers surveyor is coming round next week. The house was valued at 200,000 by our estate agent in September. It was on the market for a couple of days before we were offered 195,000. We accepted. The buyers lender surveyor will be coming in a few days. My question. As the housing market has changed considerably since September what happens if they under value the house and how much could it be under valued? Could we still stick with the asking? If so what's the best way to do this?

Thanks

It depends... presumably they are buying with a mortgage? If so it's the mortgage valuation that's important not the surveyor (though it may be the same person). 

The impact will depend on what LTV they were at... if the valuation is low then the Loan to Value goes up. This may still be fine and they get the offer they were expecting or it may mean the interest rate for them goes up. The ball is very much in their court... they may reduce their offer, withdraw their offer etc. It's then your decision if you accept or not. 

MikeJXE

A lot depends on what the buyer is looking to borrow 

SprostonGreenHead

welly_59 said:

If it's the mortgage valuation that is being carried out, and it's lower then the agreed price, then the potential purchaser will either have to pay out of his own pocket, or you agree to sell at a lower price.

Your can of course refuse to lower your price but that could leave your looking for a new buyer

This very much depends on the LTV level the buyer is pitching at and the max LTV of their intended mortgage product. The higher the LTV and the closer the buyer is with their intended deposit to the max LTV of the mortgage product, the more a down-valuation will require the buyer to adjust their offer (or their deposit level) to obtain the same product.

To answer the original question, yes, you can stick with your asking price. As the seller, you set the price, but you do need a buyer to sell it, and if the bank significantly down-values it, then likely other lenders and surveyors will too. You may find a buyer so in love with the property they'll pay over valuation level for it, but it may take you longer whilst the market slips further, so it's all a gamble.

MikeJXE

I live in a rented flat and the landlord is getting a new mortgage on it.

I showed the building surveyor round and asked what he thought it was worth.

He said i am only here to ensure the value of the property covers the mortgage that the landlord wants to borrow, it's just a formality 

So depending on what you buyer wants to borrow will decide if he can buy it or not.

logically speaking if you are selling for say £200,000 and the buyer wants to borrow £100,000 where is the problem ?

Stop worrying what will be will be 

youth_leader

Be prepared for anything to happen.  The question is whether you can still move to a house/flat you want to live in, if you decide to accept a reduction.  

My buyer had already knocked a huge £50K off using the surveyor's quotes after the structural survey, and the EA was negotiating with him to increase his offer. He said he was going to withdraw the morning of the mortgage surveyor's visit, but the EA persuaded him to continue with it, I'd taken the morning off especially to be there.  The mortgage surveyor then valued my house at £0 until a damp/timber report had been carried out.  

housebuyer143

MikeJXE said:

I live in a rented flat and the landlord is getting a new mortgage on it.

I showed the building surveyor round and asked what he thought it was worth.

He said i am only here to ensure the value of the property covers the mortgage that the landlord wants to borrow, it's just a formality 

So depending on what you buyer wants to borrow will decide if he can buy it or not.

logically speaking if you are selling for say £200,000 and the buyer wants to borrow £100,000 where is the problem ?

Stop worrying what will be will be 

The problem is the buyer might not be willing to over pay for a house, especially in this market so if the surveyor says it's worth £160k, they will only want to pay that and the seller will need to reduce or lose the buyer. 
I personally would not overpay on a house regardless of how much deposit I had. 

grayson

The buyer owns other properties in the area. He is buying so he can renovate and rent it out. Not sure if this makes a difference. 

MikeJXE

grayson said:

The buyer owns other properties in the area. He is buying so he can renovate and rent it out. Not sure if this makes a difference. 

It could well do

It's not someone looking for their dream home the buyer is looking on it as a business.