To want to know the value of a property before I offer on it?

[Chester1980]

I live in Scotland, where you can see a Home Report which tells you the market value of a property before you out in an offer. I am interesting in a property in England where I hope to move. The property has been on the market for 6 months.

This property guide price seems to be waaaay over what I would expect (based on sold prices in the area and its condition). It seems so risky to invest your time and hope into putting in an offer when you don’t get an official value until the mortgage company send someone who is independent to look at it. The guide price can be based on the owner, who clearly is a little unrealistic about it.

Do you put in what seems like a silly offer (although is more realistic to value)....or a higher offer and try and negotiate it down following the mortgage valuation? By then you’re so heavily invested it seems crazy!

@SpringFan my mistrust of Zoopla is more about the estimates than the actual sale prices. For example, the property I live in now has a huge estimated increase and I know that’s not the case. Reviewing sold prices of similar stock 6 months ago would mean we would get approx £100k more, which just isn’t feasible.

It is definitely a business transaction. On the house we said 'no negotiation at survey' on, we knew the buyer was desperate to buy...on her first viewing she said 'I've been waiting for months for a Rightmove alert for a house like this'...so she didn't really have a poker face!! We refused her first 2 offers and she finally came back with her final offer (she was clear it was her final offer), which was £15k over asking price...we accepred. We'd had 2 other offers and she knew this so increased her offer as she was desperate to buy it. Re/ survey we knew the house was in good condition and we knew there probably wouldn't be anything major on the survey that was going to cost a fortune to repair. When we'd bought this house many years previous, it was up for £235k, we offered £212k and got it.
On the house where we did negotiate after survey, the house had been on the market for 9 months and the elderly owner had moved in with family - the daughter was trying to sell it and just wanted rid. It was unique to the road so hard to compare 'value' and it was a 'doer-upper'...so we were comfortable negotiating. Ultimately it is only worth what people are willing to pay....but unless vendor says otherwise, I would always make an offer....they can only say no! If you are not comfortable having the conversation (my husband wasn't, I did all the 'negotiation') ask a relative to so it for you. Write out all your reasons and be polite but clear in what you are saying. Good luck!

We lived on an estate of mixed size houses
Not many came up for sale. We moved in it new and hadn't moved in 25 years. Zoopla had a valuation for our house based on the few small houses which had sold. Way below what the estate agent valued it at.
Also we sold a probate house which one family member insisted on putting up way over the estate agents valuations. They offered that price but we renegotiated after their survey to the price the 3 estate agents had originally valued it at.

I'm in Scotland but have also bought in England. Scotland's system is def more user friendly now they have Home Reports. In the olden days a prospective buyer had to pay for the survey upfront and then still could lose out - it was horrendously expensive when you were buying somewhere like Edinburgh. They charged for the survey a percentage of what the house was going for. I had a drawer full of surveys on houses we lost out on- usually by a couple of grand.

In England the thing is not to get overly attached to a property until the paperwork is complete. An acceptance of an offer is just the start of the process. It's a bit like the old Scottish system- you end up shelling out for surveys etc and then the whole process can collapse for multiple reasons including the survey or valuation bringing up something horrendous or the buyer pulling out.