Advice on list price vs zoopla evaluation

[perrita]

I've just seen a house that I love the look of, it was just listed on Right Move today. It looks like it's been kept nicely but it's very old fashioned so would need completely modernising. The list price is £230000, but I've had a look on Zoopla and a more modern property with an extra bedroom with very similar specs otherwise sold for just £160000 last December. Couple of other sales in past three years between 140-180.

I'm torn because the house is lovely but in general don't want to pay over the odds for something, we would look to live in this property for 5-8 years and would like to make a bit of a profit on it if we sold it.

Does anyone have any advice?

[Karcheer]

A house is only worth what people will pay for it.
Offer what you think it's worth.

[perrita]

How can I get them to accept that offer though? I really don't know where they can have got such a high valuation from. Can I ring the estate agent and outright ask them why it's so expensive compared to past sales on the street? Would it achieve anything? Or is it best if I leave it for a few months so as not to seem too keen?

[OreosOreosOreos]

Is there anything that could make a difference price wise - bigger / different facing garden? Slightly better road? Better adjacencies? Garage? School catchment?

Definitely worth a phone call to chat to the EA - they're very different, some will be very honest with you as to reasons why (e.g. The vendor thinks it's worth that much and is prepared to sit on it), some not so much, but worth a try!

Are you in a good position? If you are it's definitely worth letting them know that - someone who is ready to go offering a slightly lower price might be worth more to them than a higher offer of someone in a large chain.

If you like it, you have nothing to lose by offering what you think it's worth... The worse they can do is say no, and if you really want it then you pay more!

[perrita]

Thanks Oreos. We are in a good position, we're not in a chain ourselves so hopefully that would work for us. I've managed to find the last two houses that sold on Right Move to see their listings and they are very similar specs - look the same externally, same floor plan, similar size gardens and all on the same road but those two both had an extra bedroom. One sold for £160k and the other £180k and they were both more modern. I think I will ring the EA tomorrow.

[OreosOreosOreos]

Definitely worth a chat then I'd say.

The market is definitely slowing down for Xmas now too, so if they want to sell before spring then they may be more inclined to accept an offer!

[Karcheer]

Definitely worth a chat with the ea but you can't make the seller accept your offer however good it is. I've known of one half of divorcing couples to increase the price because they didn't really want to sell, weird things happen...

[gabbybaby]

I think (only from having looked at Zoopla prices in my own area) Zoopla take the last selling price and then add a % average area increase to that based on average increases for the area. It won't take into account any improvements that may have been done in the meantime.

[perrita]

Thanks gabby. I think you're right but actually I suppose zoopla evaluation I actually meant the past sale price. My mistake.

[talkinnpeace]

Also remember that the Zoopla data set excludes around 10-15% of all property sales so does not accurately reflect how much money changes hands for every house in an area

[AdmiralSnackbar]

We recently used Zoopla estimates & previous sold prices on Rightmove to decide whether or not to leaflet houses in a local roads (with a view to buying) The Zoopla estimates were way off - one house was estimated at about £240,000 but has sstc for £365,000! So, totally useless really 😁
We also looked at a Nationwide online house price pedictor based on previous sale prices etc and that has turned out to be fairly accurate.

[perrita]

Thanks for your response Admiral, what other website was it that you used can I ask?

[talkinnpeace]

All of them get their information from the Land Registry
BUT
the list of excluded transactions from the set is substantial
landregistry.data.gov.uk/ppd-documentation.html

[AdmiralSnackbar]

Hi perrita,
it was this Nationwide calculator www.nationwide.co.uk/about/house-price-index/house-price-calculator
We checked rightmoves list of sold prices/dates sold on a particular road and put the information into the calculator. As I said, it seems to have provided fairly accurate predictions - we also looked at some random properties currently for sale just to see if their asking prices matched the nationwide predictions and they were also pretty spot on.
Good luck!

[lighteningirl]

My dh ex wife put their house on the market for £100,000 more than ea valuation

[OreosOreosOreos]

The NW one doesn't take into account any work done on the property though, or local variances- it's just valued ours at £189k.... We've just sold it for £360k.

Even properties the same as ours near us that haven't had any improvements are going for at least £240k.

[WhoTheFuckIsSimon]

I would ignore Zoopla, ime it's often way out.

Look at other houses in the area of a similar price, then stuff a bit cheaper, stuff a bit more expensive. Does this house fit in the range in the right place?

If you see cheaper houses, similar decor, same area, same size which is cheaper then offer less and tell the EA why. With specific examples of cheaper houses. Then they know you've done your homework.

But remember some stuff really does make a difference, slightly quieter road, better school catchment, log burner, downstairs loo, bigger garden, newer kitchen.

And sometimes it's stuff you can't put your finger on. We were once torn between two houses with a 5k price difference. The cheaper one was bigger, had bigger bedrooms and was on a quiter street and better decor, newer carpets. We bought the more expensive, smaller one on a busy road as I loved the character, felt the layout worked better from us and the garden wasn't overlooked. Other people might have thought we were mad.

[Goingtobeawesome]

If you wait a few months so as to not appear keen you run the risk of cutting your nose off to spite your face if it sells, and who are you appearing less keen too when the seller doesn't know you're interested?