Range of Valuations - SE London. Confused.

[FridayThirteenth]

So we have had 4 agents round to value.

There aren't really any directly comparable sold properties near by - the closest I can find is v close, but on a much quieter street (no through road), that sold this time last year.

The valuations were as follows: £525, £550, £575 and £600k.

My gut was £550k but we would consider offers, so the top two valuations were a bit of a shock.

I went back to the agent that came out with the top valuation and said it was a shock and we weren't expecting that high, and they are adamant that it's worth more and that they will be able to achieve this. They sold the closest comparable (mentioned above) for £600k a year ago, and also cited a few other recent examples where they have valued higher than the other agents and achieved close to it. He said the other agents value lower as it's a tough market and they want an easy sale. But with work we can achieve higher. I actually spoke to one of the vendors of a recent sale where they achieved a sale at a higher valuation, so it does seem in some cases this tactic works.

The agents with the two lower valuations were scathing of the first and said they over value.

The third (£575) was an online agent with a local rep with a lot of local experience. He said market at £575 to achieve between £550 to £600.

So now I'm thoroughly confused.

What would you go in at? And how would you choose the agent?

My feeling is that a property will naturally find it's value, but how do you know what that is without any other similar properties to compare it to

Hmm. I’m not in London so your market may differ hugely, but we went with the highest valuation received. It put a lot of people off viewing and we eventually reduced a couple of times before we accepted an offer around the lower valuation. I’m convinced that reducing did not look good to prospective buyers and we could have done with selling sooner.

So for me it would depend on how quickly you wanted to sell, how quickly the market generally for houses if similar size and budget is near you, and how much you need the extra funds pricing higher might get you.

Was the highest Foxtons? They usually overvalue but have a higher commission

What are the fees of each? Go for a low one

We are in SE London and had nearly £100k difference but in the end went with the middle as we trusted them more and they gave us the lowest %

No not Foxtons - I’ve just seen them market a 2 bed flat locally at £750k 😂 ridiculous.

It was KFH, if anyone has any experience?

Fees are all in the ballpark -1.25+VAT lowest and rest 1.5+ VAT. Haven’t tried to negotiate yet.

Could you go with the top valuation estate agent (if you liked them) but put it on at 575? Hedge your bets in a way?
Basically you can list it at any price you like, the estate agents valuation is a recommendation only - this is supposed to be using their expert knowledge of the local market but I think we can all agree that’s not always the case...

Yes I agree ESC. I think we’ll be ok to make our next move with £550 (or a bit less) so maybe it’s best to stick at that and not risk it.

That’s an option Gary.

The top valuing agent suggested a ‘soft launch’ where it’s emailed out to their database at a higher price 2 weeks before it hits rm etc to gauge response. If there is not much interest then can put it online at a lower price without it being seen as reduced.

It’s tempting

Hi OP. I'm SW London and around here KFH are known to be just as bad as foxtons for valuing too high. Most properties marketed by them seem to be reduced. We've had experience with them directly when they sold the rented flat we were living in & now we're buying (ftb) wouldn't even view a house on with them! Not impressed. Agree with other poster, as buyers seeing a house with a reduction or that has been on for ages is off putting.

We were first time buyers in SE London in 2014 and our vendors used KFH. They valued it at £275,000, we agreed on £272,500 but our mortgage company (Nationwide) only valued it at £250,000. KFH tried to provide examples of other flats selling for that price to counter Nationwide’s valuation, but all of them were still up for sale with no offers actually made, so I wasn’t too impressed

Se london- kfh also came out considerably higher for us than other quotes. It was a high valuation and we sold at the price we’d expected to- about 60k less.

Ok this is great feedback and confirming my gut instinct. Thank you!

Thins are very slow at the moment. I would suggest that you resist the temptation of the highest valuation.

Also Sydney, the mortgage valuation is a really good point. I’d assuming they are being even more cautious than usual at the moment

I’ve viewed a number of properties marketed by KFH and feel that they overvalue relative to the market - I don’t think it reflects well, particularly as the market is currently quite slow (at least where I am).

Have you checked out the actual sale prices for the local area on Rightmove to give you some context? I know you’ve said there are not many similar properties but I suppose there is always a ceiling on what buyers will pay for e.g. a 3 bedroom terrace/semi etc.

A year ago was very different.look at number of " reduced" on rightmove in your area.

Yes I’ve looked at sold prices - been following the market for a while so tracked anything that’s similar to see what’s happened. I think it would have got £600 pre Brexit but now I think £550 is a lot more realistic.

I'd go with your gut - especially as you have been following the market.

We're looking to sell a similarly priced property in SE London and my thoughts on pricing have been pretty much spot on with yours. I've been looking at it the other way - as a buyer, what would I be prepared to pay for ours?

We sold in SE London nearly 2 years ago. We were just on the cusp before things went a bit stagnant. We had KFH over, they were very shiny and enthusiastic and gave a very high valuation. We also had a small, local agent over whose strategy was slightly different. They suggested we went with a more realistic price and had an open day. We had a lot of people to view it and in the end went to sealed bids, received 6 offers and accepted an offer 15k above the asking price. We were also able to be a bit more picky about which buyers we went with based on their position to move etc. I absolutely hated the process as I felt terribly guilty, knowing that I would hate to be in that position when trying to buy a house myself. However, it worked and we had a smooth sale process.

I don’t know what the market is like at the moment, and whether open days are still the done thing. I agree with pp that reductions in price don’t look good. We were in Hither Green by the way, if that’s any help.

We are pretty close to Hither Green - next postcode along. I think open days have died a death round here and I'm quite glad. We tried to move end of 2013 when market was crazy, and I hated it. We bid over asking on a few properties and were outbid. The sense of having to get in there first was not a great way to make the most expensive purchase of your life!

I think we will go for the agent that valued £550k - they also have the biggest market share locally and also had the lowest fee so seems like a safe option.

I think it's also worth considering the local market and the agent.

I am SW London and we used Keating because they are just so prevalent in our patch, no one else comes close for number of properties currently advertised with them, and that meant buyers just went to them a lot.

Also they were actually nice people to work with.

We liked Pedder when we sold in E Dulwich.

Cross post - just saw you said about market share in your area, I really think this helped us.

I agree Friday, open days are not a nice way to go about spending half a million quid. If it were me in your shoes, I’d go with a reputable local agent for whom a sale like yours would be a really good boost. That way you are supporting local business, they are more likely to put more effort into selling your property and people may be more co fortable dealing with them. IME the massive agents like KFH can be incredibly intimidating and off putting if you are a buyer. A realistic price like £550 may encourage more viewings and you may find you get a slightly higher price in any case.

If I had £550k to spend on a London property, I'd be looking at properties marketed at up to £600k with a view to making an offer. I don't think this moves you into a different price band. Therefore, if you're reasonable confident you're worth around £550, I'd go with the £600k agent (maybe £595k?) and hold them to their claim that they will get this. If they subsequently come back and say, actually, it's too high and you should reduce the price, then ask them to reduce their associated commission accordingly..