Buying - Valuation estimate online?

HellieCopter

Hello!

FTB and FTPoster too! Done quite a bit of reading here though, so be gentle with me

As FTBs with a reasonable deposit and mortage agreed in principle, we're in a good spot to buy. Obviously we're cautious of potenial market changes (I'm not going to go on about the correction/crash because that's a whoooole different thread!) but we could do with moving within the next 3-6 months.

We have seen a house we like in an area on the edge of Manchester. It has been on the market since November. It's vacant and the vendors have moved away from the area. They dropped the price by £10k around the start of March.

Now, finally getting to the point of my query! We checked a value estimation online using www.mouseprice.net . Now, I know that it's not necessarily that reliable, but the valuation range it gave was £88,470 to £108,130. The propery is currently on the market at £139,950.

Given the mahoosive difference in these prices, and considering the wibbly wobbly market...what should we do? My feeling is to offer low (around £120k) then if accepted (which I doubt it would be) negotiate on price if the actual survey/valuation report comes in as low as the online tool. How much attention should I pay to the online thingy? None? A bit?

Thanks in advance!

H

JoJoArmani

Check other houses in the area see what they are on at and then check the sold prices to see how much houses have sold for recently.

This might give you an idea of values in your area.... however I would then make a daft low offer and see what they say!

Good luck!

Dr_Moe_2

I'm not sure how accurate these websites are. I used Mouseprice and Propertypriceadvice last week to check a property I was interested in buying. The house was on the market for £240k and went for £235k. Mouseprice valued it at £202k with a range of £182,000 to £222,500. Propertyadvice valued it at £230-270.

Don't rely on internet websites. Go to see the property yourself, check what similar properties sold for, etc. Then assess your own situation (how much do you want to buy/risk?) and that of the seller (is he desperate to sell?, etc). Some sellers don't want to believe that their house is really only worth 150 when the house next door sold for 200 two years ago ("and it wasn't as nice as ours"; others will sell to avoid losing out if prices drop further. Some are desperate to sell and will negotiate if you make them cheeky offer, others will tell you to p-off.

geoffky

have you checked what prices in the street fetched recently?

HellieCopter

According to nethouseprices.com:

Over the last 6 months, houses (terraces only - 11 sales) in a 300m radius from the postcode of the property we like have sold for between £90k and £184k with the average of that being £121,870.
There have only been 2 sales of terraces in the last 3 months. Only 7 sales of any type of property.

Hmm.... I am not quite sure what to make of that!

HellieCopter

geoffky wrote: »

have you checked what prices in the street fetched recently?

It's a very short street - there is only a row of 3 terraces on one side of the road, this being the middle one!