House Valuation: surveyor or estate agent

[shrewdasserpentsinnocentasdoves]

I'm separated at the moment, and we are looking at options for one person to buy the other out of the house. We have some estate agent valuations, and have now got a surveyor's valuation. The surveyor's valuation has come in at around £65k lower than the estate agent valuations. Which one is likely to be correct? How do we do this fairly without selling the house. Selling at this point will be tricky: 2 children, 1 school year apart and we are in the middle of the GCSE/A Levels so will have one of them doing exams every year until they leave home.

Does anyone have experience of selling the home after getting a surveyor's valuation, and how much lower was the surveyor's valuation than the actual sale price?

My solicitor advised to just get regular estate agents in and say you are just looking for a rough price if you were to sell in a few months..
I got 2 agents in.. both said the same price so we used that on the forms..
don't say it's for a divorce case as they will then charge you for a document you many need if you have to argue it out in court..

Whats the 65k against Market value because % against 200k and 2m is relevant

Did the estate agents get paid on the basis of it being a valuation for a divorce?
Who paid?
I would expect the EAs to be current on market values.

What report did the surveyor give as I would expect a breakdow of what created the drop from market value.
And replacing cosmetic items can also drop value are they are saying it needs a new roof or its of an ages with asbestos etc

use the average of 3 estate agents, less around 5% as most sales accept offers within around 95% of asking.

use rightMove to see whatever is on in your area, what prices, what condition, size etc and look at what’s selling and what is not. Also look at recent sold prices. This will give you a very good view of what you could get if you put it on the open market

personally I’ve always found surveyors to be on the low side vs the price actually sold for

Estate agents tend over value to get business and they often over estimate the buoyancy of the market. Their job relies on the market being fast moving. But in a fast market they have the best insight. Especially into specific areas.

Surveyors take account of condition but relie on stats for market condition. These can be out of date or not take account of certain market drivers, like proximity to schools. But they are professional and trained and they do use data to back up their valuation. They can be conservative. However hidden faults that the new owner will need to address are factored in.

A property is worth what someone will pay for it. That’s our system and markets are very locally sensitive and often volatile.

Getting estate agents quotes to understand the approximate value is ok at certain stages of the divorce. It’s ok advice if the value will be split by %. It can be the wrong advice if one party is getting a fixed amount and there is no independent buyer and if this is going to court.

If one of you is buying the other out then you are most likely remortgaging and the surveyors report is being used. That adds weight to it being the default value. But it doesn’t mean someone couldn’t show it is wrong. I mean you can appeal mortgage panel decisions based on the survey price.

If you house is atypical or unique and there aren’t many comparables the valuation can be unreliable no matter who does it. If you house is identical to every other house in the area and in standard condition then recent sales data will be a good indication.

The bottom line is that estate agents and surveyors have conflicted interests. As do you and your ex. Unless you agree it is a judge you will need to convince. They will look at valuations from both and any information either party presents to challenge these. Then it is up to the judge.

Yous should both do you own research and then present it to each other. It is easy to establish market price v sold price for the estate agents. It is usually about 5-10%. Surveyors are usually about the 5% behind the market. If you have very recent comparables in your immediate local area use them.

Thanks for this advice, will have a think

To answer @AnSolas, £65k represents about 12-15% of the overall value so quite a significant amount

As LemonTT pointed out you should go back to the surveyor