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Difference in survey valuations

5 replies

MrsT1983 · 20/09/2019 15:20

We put our house up for sale in July and had lots of interest- house prices near us have gone crazy recently and houses sold in nearby streets have been well above asking price. We accepted an offer of £30k (13% if thats relevant) over asking price in the end from FTB. We also had another offer at same price but they were in a chain so we went with the other offer. Everything has been going smoothly, if slowly, with the searches/contracts etc but now we’ve hit a problem.
The buyers had their home buyers survey done with the same company as the mortgage valuation, and the surveyor came out to do both reports at the same time.
The mortgage valuation came back fine and they’ve had their mortgage approved at the full offer price. However, the buyers have now come back and said that their survey has valued the house at £25k less than their offer price.
Has anyone else been in this situation with different values given in the reports? We could understand it if they were done by 2 different people, but it was the same guy that did them both!
They’ve also been advised to get further surveys done to check possible damp and condition of the cable wall ties, and we’d be happy to reduce price based on the cost of the remedial work, as we expected that due to it being an old house, but we expected our starting point to be the full offer price, not a lower figure that the surveyor seems to have plucked out of thin air! What would other people do in our situation? Would you refuse to lower the price to the survey valuation and pull out if the buyers wouldn’t pay that? Or do we just have to accept that we’ll have to drop the price? We’re so confused with it all!

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JoJoSM2 · 20/09/2019 15:48

If the mortgage valuation came back ok, they'll be able to proceed if they choose to. Whether to sell at a lower price depends on your other circumstances. If you aren't in a rush, it sounds like you'll be able to sell at the agreed price to someone else.

Africa2go · 20/09/2019 19:14

I would expect the market has completely changed since July and you may not get another buyer at the price you expect.

However, i'd be asking to see copies of both reports before agreeing any reduction.

MrsT1983 · 20/09/2019 22:12

@Africa2go I don’t think the market will have changed that much in 2 months but the people who put the other offers in will likely have found something else by now so we’d probably have to start again. We’re not in any rush to move though and we’re going into rented so it wouldn’t be the end of the world if it fell through for us. We know the buyers are desperate to move as they’re getting married early next year and want to move before then. Plus they put in offers on several of the others that sold near us and lost out with similar offers to the one we accepted so they should have more incentive to push forward than we do.
They’re currently refusing to let either us or the estate agent see the report so we’ve only got their word on the value, which is making me uneasy.

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Africa2go · 20/09/2019 23:23

Maybe not the market per se, but buyers' emotions. The political uncertainty since July is making people nervous.

If they were being upfront, they wouldnt mind sharing the report. No report = no negotiation.

MrsT1983 · 21/09/2019 07:46

Thanks @Africa2go that’s really helpful. I think that’s a good starting point, we’ll ask to see the report and go from there.

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