Selling house - issues due to buyer survey

FreeBear

Pat38493 said:

FreeBear said:

Pat38493 said: Also - giving a valuation to a house is partly based on the location and market conditions.  Is a surveyor really more expert than an estate agent in that topic?  I have to admit up to now, I've never seen a house survey where the quoted valuation was not the exact same number that the house is being purchased for.

My understanding of valuations - An estate agent will base the valuation on what they think they can sell it for. A RICS valuation looks at the price similar houses in the immediate area have sold for in recent years. A few fudge factors applied (which an EA might not do) depending on condition, and a figure is decided upon. A surveyor valuation will carry more weight as it is backed up by membership of a recognised organisation, where as an estate agent is just a glorified salesman.

Does it every happen that the surveyor reports the value of the house higher than the agreed price?  Must admit I've never seen that before.

It isn't uncommon for a surveyor to give a valuation lower than the agreed price.

m0bov

Tell them it's priced to sell and get it back on market 

Pat38493

FreeBear said:

Pat38493 said:

FreeBear said:

Pat38493 said: Also - giving a valuation to a house is partly based on the location and market conditions.  Is a surveyor really more expert than an estate agent in that topic?  I have to admit up to now, I've never seen a house survey where the quoted valuation was not the exact same number that the house is being purchased for.

My understanding of valuations - An estate agent will base the valuation on what they think they can sell it for. A RICS valuation looks at the price similar houses in the immediate area have sold for in recent years. A few fudge factors applied (which an EA might not do) depending on condition, and a figure is decided upon. A surveyor valuation will carry more weight as it is backed up by membership of a recognised organisation, where as an estate agent is just a glorified salesman.

Does it every happen that the surveyor reports the value of the house higher than the agreed price?  Must admit I've never seen that before.

It isn't uncommon for a surveyor to give a valuation lower than the agreed price.

Really?  And in these cases is the seller supposed to automatically reduce the price to the one stated by the surveyor?  How much of an science is this vs an art i.e. might a different surveyor give a different valuation?

Hoenir

Have you relisted the property yet?  This is the time of the year to start marketing it again. 

Your buyers might even be looking at other properties. 

youth_leader

So sorry you are going through this. I had an offer of £355K, reduced to £305K following the survey.  The buyer sent the EA a long email detailing the ridiculous quotes his surveyor had given him for the 'work' - apparently 17 out out 23 'reds' - and suggested that the 'seller' - ie me, could choose to carry out this work.  He suggested his lender would then 'inspect' my work and if it was satisfactory, he'd increase his offer to £330K.  I left the EA and withdrew from the sale with him - I didn't think he could afford the house.

I went to auction and had to sell to him as his was the highest offer, I just had to steel myself and settle.  On completion day, he turned up in a new BMW.  It was all a big act and I still regret paying for his damp/timber survey, the girls at the EA 'felt so sorry he'd already spent so much on his survey'.  

FreeBear

Pat38493 said:

FreeBear said:

Pat38493 said:

FreeBear said:

Pat38493 said: Also - giving a valuation to a house is partly based on the location and market conditions.  Is a surveyor really more expert than an estate agent in that topic?  I have to admit up to now, I've never seen a house survey where the quoted valuation was not the exact same number that the house is being purchased for.

My understanding of valuations - An estate agent will base the valuation on what they think they can sell it for. A RICS valuation looks at the price similar houses in the immediate area have sold for in recent years. A few fudge factors applied (which an EA might not do) depending on condition, and a figure is decided upon. A surveyor valuation will carry more weight as it is backed up by membership of a recognised organisation, where as an estate agent is just a glorified salesman.

Does it every happen that the surveyor reports the value of the house higher than the agreed price?  Must admit I've never seen that before.

It isn't uncommon for a surveyor to give a valuation lower than the agreed price.

Really?  And in these cases is the seller supposed to automatically reduce the price to the one stated by the surveyor?  How much of an science is this vs an art i.e. might a different surveyor give a different valuation?

It is up to the buyer to either renegotiate or make up any shortfall if they need a mortgage.

A different surveyor might give a higher valuation, but I wouldn't expect more than a 5% or so difference. You'd need to ask them what methodology they use.

Bigphil1474

I'd trust a RICS surveyor's valuation more than an EA. I expect they are often guided by the agreed sale price or marketed price, but they are professionally qualified surveyors. Some EA's are brilliant, but they are sales people at the end of the day. The surveyor is likely to be using the same methodology as the banks surveyor as well, so if you need a mortgage the house has to be worth what is being paid for the bank to lend if LTV is high. I expect if a house was valued by a surveyor for more than what was being paid, the buyer would keep that to themselves.

My understanding was that L3 surveys meant you had to pay extra for valuation, but it came standard with a L2 survey?

LoopyLoops

Bigphil1474 said:

I'd trust a RICS surveyor's valuation more than an EA. I expect they are often guided by the agreed sale price or marketed price, but they are professionally qualified surveyors. Some EA's are brilliant, but they are sales people at the end of the day. The surveyor is likely to be using the same methodology as the banks surveyor as well, so if you need a mortgage the house has to be worth what is being paid for the bank to lend if LTV is high. I expect if a house was valued by a surveyor for more than what was being paid, the buyer would keep that to themselves.

My understanding was that L3 surveys meant you had to pay extra for valuation, but it came standard with a L2 survey?

No, level 2 doesn’t come with a valuation. It’s an optional extra you pay for.  We had one just 2 weeks ago and chose to add on valuation.  Don’t think any of the RICS surveys come with valuation as standard. 

silvercar

LoopyLoops said:

Bigphil1474 said:

I'd trust a RICS surveyor's valuation more than an EA. I expect they are often guided by the agreed sale price or marketed price, but they are professionally qualified surveyors. Some EA's are brilliant, but they are sales people at the end of the day. The surveyor is likely to be using the same methodology as the banks surveyor as well, so if you need a mortgage the house has to be worth what is being paid for the bank to lend if LTV is high. I expect if a house was valued by a surveyor for more than what was being paid, the buyer would keep that to themselves.

My understanding was that L3 surveys meant you had to pay extra for valuation, but it came standard with a L2 survey?

No, level 2 doesn’t come with a valuation. It’s an optional extra you pay for.  We had one just 2 weeks ago and chose to add on valuation.  Don’t think any of the RICS surveys come with valuation as standard. 

It is usually bundled together as you need the valuation for a mortgage.

donutandbeer

We had a L2 survey and opted put on the evaluation. We didn’t need a mortgage. We were sure that the evaluation would come in lower than our offer, as it was during the crazy bidding war period in 2022.