Selling house - issues due to buyer survey

LoopyLoops

silvercar said:

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.

Lenders only do a valuation though, no survey. They also used a large chain.  We chose our own surveyor as we wanted a local surveyor and added the valuation to our L2.

Tracet74

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 can on rare occasions (I've worked with surveyors for 20+ years) as we have to value the property in accordance with RICS regs, not just support the agreed purchase price.