Has anyone any experience of Countrywide valuing your house for your buyers lender?

Gettingonabitnow · 2021-05-26T15:27:37+00:00

Hi I have literally given myself a migraine having read the reviews about this firm under-valuing. I believe ours was on for a fair price in line with similar houses nearby, and we accepted an asking price offer. But when you look at sold house prices on the Land Registry site there is nothing really comparable. This is the last part (our buyers mortgage) in a long chain that is ready to go. Stress! X

Mildura · 26/05/2021 16:38

Countrywide are a massive company, they probably value hundreds of houses each week.

I really wouldn't worry.

sst1234 · 26/05/2021 22:07

It’s less undervaluing and more that countrywide are generally useless. Very very slow, non comital on making a decision if there’s even a slight query on the house. Even mortgage advisors dealing with them tend to be a their wits end.

HLS1985 · 27/05/2021 00:49

Hi @Gettingonabitnow

My house was valued at £145,000 - £150,000 by the estate agents. Within a week I had eight offers but went with the second highest (£155,000) at the advice of the EA as the gentleman was in the best position.

When I got a call from Countrywide asking to book in for their mortgage valuation I did the exact same thing as you (reading the terrible reviews) and I literally drove myself mad. Similar houses on my street that have sold within the last year have been a maximum of £142,000 so as I am sure you can imagine, combined with the atrocious reviews, I was expecting the worst and made myself feel ill.

The surveyor was in my property for five minutes (at the very most) so this did not help my fears but luckily he came back with a valuation of £150,000.
The buyer couldn’t make the difference but we have managed to meet in the middle at £152,000.

So fingers crossed for you that you are, like myself, one of the lucky ones and Countrywide don’t let you down. Wishing you all the best x

Original poster

Gettingonabitnow · 27/05/2021 07:08

@HLS1985

Hi *@Gettingonabitnow*

My house was valued at £145,000 - £150,000 by the estate agents. Within a week I had eight offers but went with the second highest (£155,000) at the advice of the EA as the gentleman was in the best position.

When I got a call from Countrywide asking to book in for their mortgage valuation I did the exact same thing as you (reading the terrible reviews) and I literally drove myself mad. Similar houses on my street that have sold within the last year have been a maximum of £142,000 so as I am sure you can imagine, combined with the atrocious reviews, I was expecting the worst and made myself feel ill.

The surveyor was in my property for five minutes (at the very most) so this did not help my fears but luckily he came back with a valuation of £150,000.
The buyer couldn’t make the difference but we have managed to meet in the middle at £152,000.

So fingers crossed for you that you are, like myself, one of the lucky ones and Countrywide don’t let you down. Wishing you all the best x

Hi. This is what I’m afraid of - that he de values it by about 5k, and it derails the whole process that is almost at exchange and needs to go through by the end of June. Did it delay the process much for you? I’m honestly so stressed! X

OP posts:

maybeshesawomble · 27/05/2021 07:31

Yes, last week, they were here for about 5 minutes and told us as they left that they would be ‘signing off’ so we got immediate peace of mind.

Original poster

Gettingonabitnow · 27/05/2021 08:18

I wish they had given me reassurance! He was actually quite negative about a few points to do with the house, it wasn’t a nice experience with them.

OP posts:

user1471538283 · 29/05/2021 10:46

My seller used Countrywide and the valuation was fine. But I priced the house to sell and he wouldn't find one like it in that location for that price. It took 5 minutes.

HLS1985 · 01/06/2021 00:41

So sorry for the delayed reply, I didn’t get a notification that you had replied! Hope all went well with your valuation if it has already taken place.

My estate agent managed to speak to the buyers solicitor and we negotiated the buyer meeting in the middle (£152,500) so I think I was lucky in that it didn’t delay the process as it all happened very quickly after the valuation came through. But I felt physically sick waiting as I couldn’t face putting it back on the market but didn’t want to lose the £5000 at the same time!

They aren’t kidding when they say that selling a house is one of the most stressful things you can do though, it really is a rollercoaster of emotions!

Wishing you all the luck in the world that everything goes smoothly with your sale/move x

iamruth · 01/06/2021 11:52

Sold mine £10k over top asking price, countrywide valued happy to value it for the same. Absolutely no problems, not all bad stories although he did tell me as he left that he was happy with the valuation. He did live fairly locally though so obviously knew the area and the market quite well which may make a difference?

Eminybob · 01/06/2021 12:02

I’m a mortgage adviser whose employer uses countrywide.
Downvaluations are not as common as you might believe. I see maybe one or 2 a month max. (Usually with understandable reason)

TheFunBus · 01/06/2021 12:07

We used countrywide to do a proper building survey and I have to say it was excellent and we used it for many years as a reference for the work we needed done.

We're buying another house now and I tried to use them but can't as they only have space in mid/late July!

I do think it v much depends on the person who does the valuation - our buyers got a mortgage signed off at the selling price but then decided to try and get a better rate with a different bank and the surveyor they sent out was much tougher!