buyer's surveryor valued my flat at 21k less than agreed price. GRRRRRRR!

[ZombiePlanB]

is there anything I can do?

It's a lovely flat and I think the buyer is getting a good deal.

If we don't drop the price I guess we'll face the same issue with the next buyer.........

any ideas?

In London BTW.

They can try and negotiate the valuation upwards. You can help them by supplying details of what other similar properties in your area have sold for (asking prices don't count - it's evidence that the true market value is higher than their valuation that you need). If you can't find these yourself on the net, ask your estate agent to give you details of sales they've made - it's in their interest that the sale goes through, so they should be keen to help you. That said, the buyer will also want to use the low valuation to try and get themselves a better deal. You don't have to offer to knock the whole £20k off the price, but if you wantted to try and keep the sale on track, you could kick off re-negotiation by offering to reduce the price by, say £7k, with a view to eventually meeting them halfway? If you are prepared to do that of course and can afford to reduce the price. Good luck!

Often these valuations are done on very flimsey evidence. The valuation has been paid for by the buyer so you are not entitled to see the information.

You think the buyer is getting a good deal, the valuation shows him that he is getting a bad deal.

This is the last weekend for viewings before christmas IMO - do you want to keep your buyer or not. That will determine if/how much you are willing to negotiate. Don't offer a price reduction until they ask of course, thats saying you agree with the valuation of the property.

The valuer is working for the Bank. Bank's get huge critism when they lend too much against property. Flats are generally considered difficult to shift in a poor market (unless in very prestigious area) so the valuer is right to be cautious. Sorry.

When it comes down to it, it's worth what you can sell it for. If the buyer wants to pay what you are asking and can find the cash another way, they can still buy it.

If it is truly a good price, you would have other buyers lining up.

Same thing happened to us - valued at 32k under agreed price, was negotiated up to 17k under and we grudgingly accepted 13k under after a lot of angst.

We figured we could go through it all again and get less in a falling market (in a popular area of London, but flats always a bit less predictable), plus had just had DC2 so was in no mood to keep flat spotless of viewings!

Still waiting to exchange while we go through process of buying a house but while it still rankles, no regrets yet!

Hummmm, that's it isn't it? We are up against bloody Christmas. The offer came in after the flat was on the market for less than two weeks, which I think is a good sign.

The asking price is a good one, the valuation is laughably low. We have an amazing garden, but valuations don't seem to take that into account. It,s long and for London, very private.

I really don't want to drop price, next spring we'd get 20k more than asking price I reckon.

Thanks for the replies, will go and make some plans about finding new buyer if we have to.

Zombie

Why would you get £20k more next year? What is asking price?

RICs survey came in yesterday at -49! Dreadful number. Thats April 09 levels. Transaction volumes are also collapsing. London was bad in survey and even Savills (ultimate bulls) are talking about house prices stagnant or falling.

You may think valuation is laughably low but flats do drop more than family houses in London bear markets in since there tends to be more supply due to selling from BTL investors.

Oh coz the garden is main selling feature and will look lovely in spring, not shit like it does now. Plus we are basement flat so the flat will be lighter. Flat will look nicer as the summer goes on.

I saw the Savills thing (glum).

We haver stayed 8 years as it is a lovely flat in nice (ish) area. Plus a freehold. Good primary schools!

Bums

Any sensible buyer will be able to see through the fact that the garden looks bad in winter and better in spring.

In all probability the next valuation will be the same or worse as this one. Now if the flat is worth £200k then a 10% variation is a problem. If the flat is worth £400k+ then a sub 5% difference really isn't an issue and well within margin of error.

If you don't want to sell I reckon you're best chance will be very early next year (1Q) when the investment bank bonus round hits. It's not going to be a good year (don't believe the papers about massive bonuses) but people will have stock vesting from prior years and some may use that to do BTL since rental yields are decent vs deposits.

ZombiePlanB - think very carefully before rejecting the offer - you might be kicking yourself by next Spring when the "bounce" doesn't happen.

update - well the offer fell through. The surveyor totally slagged our flat off and buyer got cold feet.

So we've decided to rent it out! yay! That's what I always wanted to do, but the figures haven't worked out before but now they do.

Off to read the 'sell london flat thread'.

Will be on a renting thread soon.

Thanks again, you were right. I was being too optimistic about the market. The garden is the clincher but no survey really takes that into consideration.