Valuation below offer, anyone has this before?

[Shahlalala]

We put in an offer for a house, all good and mortgage approved. However Countrywide have then come and valued it 10K lower! Nothing untoward in the report regarding the house. The price is only a bit higher than close by properties (new kitchen, bathroom and landscaped garden just done.)

Has anyone else experienced this? They say they’ll look into it, but seem pretty set. The seller won’t lower the price...

Do I just have to let the property go really? I can’t afford the 10K difference.

This isn't unusual to be honest. If the vendors are not prepared to renegotiate based on the survey, you may need to let it go. How likely is it that they'll reconsider the asking price?

We had a similar issue but for a much smaller amount (£900 from Nationwide). Luckily we were able to absorb that but I remember being quick shocked at the time and I wonder how many property sales fall through at this hurdle. Good luck, I hope you can get something done but I don't know how flexible it is.

Yes this happens now and again.

They have said absolutely not, no negotiation which I don’t get as these houses don’t always sell that fast and he wants a quick sale.

Have you looked at the house's value on zoopla?

We would absorb it if it wasn’t so much.
I just don’t get why the valuation is so low! No indicators on the report.

Our house value on Zoopla is close to the offer, 2k less.

You yourself say the price is higher than other local properties. That's probably why it's received a lower value. I would walk away. (If he wants a quick sale and you are proceedable then he will come back to you. There is no guarantee the same thing won't happen with the next buyer.)

Vendors are stupid - if one valuer is £10k under the others probably will be too, so unless they are willing to limit their viewers to cash buyers only they won't sell. Estate agent might be worth talking to though - they won't want the sale to fall through and won't be happy with the attitude of their client. But stick to your guns - don't pay more than it's worth.

I guess so, I have told him we cannot proceed and why. Just annoying as I loved it.

It's more usual for a surveyor to point out structural remedial work like repointing a chimney stack, or advise that an extension hasn't been built correctly even when your original offer price has been accepted "subject to contract" but it seems very odd that someone from Countrywide has rocked up and said the house is worth £10k less than the asking price but not qualified that.

In your vendor's shoes, I'd want to know how qualified the Countrywide person is, are they an estate agent - zero qualifications required - or do they have a surveyors qualification like RICS/ARICS/FRICS and I'd want to know exactly how they have come to that decision before I even looked at it.
Without that information I'd tell you to jog on, because it looks as though you're just messing around.

If I've understood this correctly, from your vendors pov, you've agreed a price, made an offer, got a mortgage for that amount and now you want a £10k reduction for no reason.

Yep..by 30k!!!

Is it worth trying another lender?

It's a mortgage valuation so it's more about what they are prepared to lend on it rather than what you are prepared to pay for it.

We went through this 2 years ago. It was up to the estate agent acting for the vendor to challenge the valuation. The mortgage company defended their valuation and the vendor refused to budge so it fell through.

It's not uncommon for vendors to want more for their property than the market thinks it's worth.

We were in this situation (years ago), walked away, and the vendors came back to us later, because they couldn't sell it, but it was too late by then!

Countrywide is known for doing his, which is why many banks no longer use them as their approved surveyor. Their focus should be on the structure of the house and not the accuracy of the valuation as Countrywide surveyors are ferried in from outside the Local area and will have no idea of a property’s worth. You should be able to complain to your mortgage provider and they can arrange a re-valuation.

Definitely do not approach the vendor until you have spoken to your mortgage provider (and solicitor) if you want to keep the house.

Their focus should be on the structure of the house and not the accuracy of the valuation

No, you are confusing the two professions. A surveyor will do the structural report, whereas the valuer only values the house on behalf of the mortgage lender.

If you are buying you should always get a structural survey done. Do not rely on the valuation alone OP.

We bought our house in august, on at 210k, offered 200k, valuation 180k - we were reliant on a 95% mortgage so said that we were only prepared to offer 180k after the valuation.

They took it as the estate agents told them that theyd have the same issue with all the buyers.

I had competing bids on a house I was selling after renovating it and eventually agreed a few thousand over asking. BUT the agent did warn me that the price (two bed house) was more than what any house (including three beds) on the street had sold for and this might be an issue for mortgage valuation. Sure enough the valuer came in £6k lower than agreed price. We compromised in the middle. Interestingly I had put the house on for over £10k more than the agent recommended and got it!

Not that unusual for a mortgage company valuation to come in under the offer amount. If the seller really won't budge and you can't afford to pay the difference yourself then time to walk away. Sorry!

We have used Countrywide twice.

The first time it took them 6 months for them to process our mortgage.

It took so long that a lot of things like certified bank statements became out of date and we had to start again.

The vendor was ok with it as he was selling 360 other properties.

The 2nd time they valued a property at £0 because there was a tree in the garden and it might cause settlement.

Tiny 6 ft high tree planted away from the building

Would never use them again

Its pretty normal IME (ex Buiding Soc Manager). A mortgage valuation is often lower than the asking price as it reflects the price the BS should be able to achieve for a quick forced sale if you defaulted on your loan. So,whilst the property might seem worth 300k (for example) to you the valuers obviously don’t think the factors you mention warrant a higher than average local price and have adjusted the valuation down a little. At the moment when everyone is concerned about the effect Brexit might have on property prices I think we will see a lot more of these situations where they are erring on the side of caution.

Yes, happened to us. I think they had valued (and we had offered) a price reflecting a sea view, but the particular flat didn’t have it as it was the other side of the building, and so didn’t justify the premium.

Vendors refused to budge. Part of the problem with us was they advertised it for sale and to rent at the same time so clearly weren’t that bothered about selling - otherwise it would have been ridiculous as any other valuation would come back with the same thing.

Vendors are eejits not to negotiate as this will happen to their next purchaser as well...