Have different estate agents given your property very different valuations?

[roslet]

We had 3 agents round when selling our last property who gave valuations varying by 15%. We went for the middle valuation and it sold within 3 weeks (London, a few years ago) and were pretty happy. I've noticed that the national agency that gave us the highest valuation back then often seems to price properties highly, and then the property fails to sell for a few months until the market has caught up with the high price listed.

I'm interested in other people's experiences of having their properties valued because a property I like seems to be wildly overpriced for the area (which has had an average price rise of only 8% in the last year). I spoke to the agent after viewing and queried the high price, listing 4 of the identical houses (or identical when they were built in the Victorian era) in the same street that had sold within the last year for 30% less, plus one of a similar square footage (albeit a smaller garden) directly opposite the house I like, that has remained on the market for nearly a year priced at 30% less. The agent sounded astonished that I'd got any clue what other houses in the street had sold for, but he should realise that most people will spend a few minutes on the internet checking this. Have you ever felt that some estate agents pluck a price out of the air when giving your property a valuation, just in order to win the instruction?

I agree, some agents definitely over inflate the price so vendors go with them. Although there can be other reasons too - We had a previous house that 3 agents valued wildly differently - in that instance our house was quite unusual, on a river, much larger than others nearby, really high quality fittings - but at the end of the day it was a 5 bed house on an estate - some people wont pay more for the supposed 'extras'. Another house had PP for an extension - one agent said it wouldnt add to the price, another added 10%. Again if you dont need the PP, you're not going to pay more for it.

Estate Agents do seem quite peeved when buyers do their homework, leads me to think many people dont. Offer what you think is fair, or ask them for a bloody good reason for the price difference.

I have recently sold my late mothers home. I got three valuations and two were similar but one who was very pushy definitely undervalued it. I suspected their bragging at being able to sell houses so quickly was because of that.

I had researched the prices in the area before getting the valuations so was clued up to what was realistic but I guess some people don't. I would have not gone with anyone giving an over inflated valuation either because even though more money would have been nice it doesn't help sell the property if it is above the current market value. However, a high valuation will attract sellers who are greedy or through circumstances can only 'afford' to sell at an inflated price.

Offer what you think is the right price, give your reasons and be prepared to walk away unless you are prepared to pay more than the true value for that specific house.

We had 4 valuations. One overvalues it by £40k and tried to get us to sign a 16 week contract. Arsehole,

We've had 4 over recently and they all valued it at pretty much the same. Well they all said put it on at the same price but expect a bit less.

I have done up a few houses and in my experience the valuations are rarely near to each other, we have had differences ranging from 30 to 40% of the house value.

Setting a house value depends in a multitude of things but it is mostly a comparative exercise on how much it is being asked for other houses in the area and how they compare against yours.

Some experienced agents are good at setting a price because they are able to spot potential selling points and downsides and, most importantly, because they know what the average buyer for the area is looking for.

Some agents may not be very experienced, which may value the property on terms of how much they "like" the style themselves or even worse, they provide you with an inflated figure to ensure you sign up with them. But at the end of the day how much a property is worth is whatever someone wants to pay for it, so if you are in a hurry you need to target a wider audience by lowering thd price or you can put the price upbuntil an unsuspecting buyer falls in love with the property and is happy to pay more than he or she should.

At the end of the day, unless you are dealing with developers, the buyer is looking to "click" with the property, buying a house is a highly emotive process were buyers are looking for love at first sight be it for the house itself, its potential, and or location.

I had three quite different valuations when I sold - 75k apart - although in London so probably not wildly different. It's not an exact science though especially if you are somewhere where the market is shifting. Also at the moment I think there' s a big hope value placed on property because there's so much press about house prices rising. And then some vendors also go along with some agents optimistic pricing. I think there are lots of reasons why a house can be over valued. Today a house went on the market in the village we have just moved to and it's massively over-priced - there's a far better house up the lane with a lot more potential for £75k less.

We felt our property was worth around £180,000. We had three valuations, £175,000, £190,000 and £210,000. We knew we'd never get £210,000 for it and didn't want to deter possible genuine buyers at this price. At the same time we didn't want to start off at £175,000 and then have to come down so went with the middle one. We had three offers within a month £180,000 (wouldn't increase and we wouldn't accept), £184,000 (lady got cold feet so pulled out) and £183,000. You've obviously been doing your homework. It's great if a place can sell at a higher price, but at the same time you could have months of lots of viewers and no one going for it as they feel it's overpriced.

I'm just frustrated by it! I really can't imagine why it has been given an out of proportion price tag, apart from the agent having blurted out a random high figure in order to win the instruction. I think it will stay on the market for ages, but in the meantime the vendor's neighbours will begin to think of their own house's value having increased astronomically.
If it is still for sale in 6 months time then hopefully our current place will sell for more and we will be able to afford the 8% or so extra for it. But then that wouldn't solve the problem of it being a bad investment if it is still overpriced for that area. The vendors were lovely, and are selling up in order to retire to a smaller property and buy another to rent out, so if it does sell at the asking price before then I would feel pleased for them.

We had valuations that were £60k apart (1 bed flat!)

We put it on with the highest value and was sold on the day it went on the market

We refurbshed a small one bedroom flat in a desirable area years ago, first agent valued it by half as much as the second agent. We give signed both agencies up but requested the higher price and asked the agent to add his commission to the asking price. Both agents said it would make it impossible to sell. It sold in 2 days for the asking price.