How accurate were the valuations you got?

[PowerslidePanda]

I know there are many factors that can influence the valuation an estate agent gives (they might go high to try and wow you and win your business, they might go low to ensure it's an easy sale, etc), and we're obviously getting more than one opinion. But just out of interest - how accurate did your valuation turn out to be when you eventually sold?

We always decided on the pricing ourselves. So far haven’t been off by more than 5k (got paid 5k more than expected but the market was pretty hot at the time).

Eventually sold for 20k less than we went on at, 11 months later

Do your own homework so you know the prices of similar houses in the area as well as the actual sold prices over the last year. That is what estate agents use to estimate the value but dont forget to take into account whether or not houses have been recently renovated and to what standard. Size and state of garden will affect value as well.

Can't remember now as it was a long time ago, but this is why it is worth getting 4 quotes. If one is wildly different, and the other 3 similar, it gives you a clue.

If this is a move some time in advance, then you could do a bit of research over time, looking at asking prices and sold prices for a few local agents and seeing if there is a pattern. Of course, if one constantly seemingly "overvalues" by £40K, and the sale prices if £20 less than the valuation, you'll still have got £20K more than the Estate Agent that values lower, of course.

We sold within 24 hours for asking price

I sold recently and had 2 local agents round. One valued it at £240k, gave me lots of info and comparable backing up her valuation. The other turned up, looked unimpressed and told me a max of £225k.

I went with the first, because she backed up her reasons for her valuation and her agents sell most properties in our town (it may be worth you looking at each agent on rightmove and seeing how many they have on the market vs how many they have sold). We put it on for 240k and sold for asking price in a week.

Not sure if this is relevant to your situation, but we currently live within walking distance of a good commuting station, prices are high so we looked at moving into the next village, which would necessitate driving and parking each morning, all adding to the journey. The house we saw, although detached was very close to a much busier road than we currently are, a similar size, and 100k more, it did have planning to extend to 4 beds, but if we added the cost of the build to the purchase we could buy something similar and in a quieter road and still within walking distance of the station. In that case I think it was over priced. It's been reduced in price and still not sold.