EA valuations - wildly different

[itsmesooky]

Thinking about putting flat on the market - it's a conversion with some of the original features, wooden floors, garden (shared but split and separated between flats), and some other nice features. SE London. Bought for £520k three years ago. Had three valuations - varying from 575k, to 600k to 700k. Looking at the market, similar flats are going at 600k max (and they often are in private roads, with high-end kitchens etc). Have compared all features (leasehold vs share of freehold, floorspace and so on) and still don't see how ours would sell for 700k. Why would an agent (v experienced, national chain that yes, is known for overvaluing apparently) overvalue by so much, even after we told him of the other estimates? Contract would be 2 weeks rolling, and we are not a huge rush. Would we have anything to lose by going with the £££ on a trial basis (no sale no fee), private viewings only so no 'reduced' stigma anywhere as it wouldn't go on the property portals initially? Why would they come up with this price unless they believe they can achieve it, I'm struggling to understand the rationale behind it. Or could it be true, and it is achievable? Any insights would be greatly appreciated. All EAs were local, and a good mix of independent/national chain. Their fees are all similar.

The problem with the high valuation (I’ll guess Foxtons) is that they do this to lure you in, then they obviously can’t achieve it so advise to drop the price hoping you stay with them. It’s all such a waste of time and gives false hope to you the vendor.

But you have done your homework and can see that the £600k mark is realistically where your flat sits as also confirmed by two other agents. But bear in mind others potentially viewing can see this as well from other flats on the market and recent sold prices. Potential buyers will question why yours appears to be £100k higher if you were to proceed with the high agent. Then they will avoid viewing. Plus people put their maximum in rightmove search and won’t even see your flat if their budget is below.

Ask yourself do you really believe in 3 years your flat has increased by £180k?
Without a loft conversion I can’t see that being the case.

Your shout, but you can’t fathom that valuation so neither will others!

I think you do have something to lose by going with an overvaluation - which they do purely to win your business btw. You lose the initial excitement that a new property on the market generates and it would be better to put it on at a realistic price from the start and not bother with all this “private viewings” nonsense, just get it on Rightmove to reach the widest audience immediately. The longer the selling process takes the more it wears you down and in the end you’re just desperate to sell.

We got 2 valuations done on my Dads place in central London. Savills said 1.295k Dexters said 1.350k. I knew both valuations were very high as I was following sold prices in the area but Dexters was ridiculously so. We compromised on going with Savills but at 1.325k only because my partner was seduced by Dexters sky high valuation. That was a mistake as it was too high! We got loads of viewings but no offers at over 1.2k. The process dragged on for months and in hindsight I just wish we had gone with Savills initial valuation. Still on the high side to test the market but more in line with comparable sales in the area.

Just to add to the above, I would pick whichever agent you preferred out of 1 or 2 and if you want to put it in at 600k they would both do that even the one who valued it at 575k

All great advice, and confirmed my suspicions! I found this quite helpful too: www.hunters.com/about-us/news/asking-too-much-why-are-agents-overpricing-homes#:~:text=Overvaluing%20properties%20to%20get%20them,lower%20and%20more%20accurate%20valuations. This practice seems like such a waste of time - theirs and ours, and I still don't get it - of course we would cancel the contract if no interest after a couple of weeks, so what are they gaining...But I think we will indeed go with the agent we liked best and aim high (600k mark), but not silly £££. He was the one who valued lowest but seemed thorough and genuine. Thanks again!

My parents are putting their house on the market, like you they got three valuations all with £100k between them. They've gone for the middle priced agent as they felt this was most realistic. They thought the third agent was just throwing a high price at them in the hope they'd go with them, the house is in a great location but does need some work doing to it so felt optimistic.

We have a similar sounding flat to yours in SE London - and got 4 valuations between £650k and £725k (and yes, the agent with the highest valuation was Foxtons). We're putting it on the market somewhere in the middle, we felt the lowest valuation didn't really get the flat and their comparables weren't particularly comparable and the upper one wasn't realistic.

We'll see what happens - we have had a couple of offmarket viewings with more than one of the agents as we had a few things to do to the flat before it went on market and we've not had any feedback that it was overpriced so I'm fairly comfortable with the pricing.

I'd add that you also lose the interest of those "private viewers". The £££ agent offers them a viewing and they see it's over priced and decline - you have then missed the interest and excitement from those viewers when you inevitably hit Rightmove at a reduced price a month down the line, because they've seen your photos, they think you're unrealistic sellers etc

I’m more skeptical of the vendors if the house is up for way more than reasonable/ comparable. I’d worry that it’s a sign of greedy and unreasonable sellers. And then if it’s later reduced, and then put online, it would suggest to me that the seller was expecting a lot more for the house and therefore less likely to negotiate post-survey, and the process is more likely to a big waste of time. So if a similar house and similar price came up at the same time as the more expensive house was reduced, I’d look at the new one more favourably.

OP, I had the same experience as you in SE London. Victorian conversion 1st floor flat with private section of garden. We had 5 valuations, 3 of them landing at 625-650 and one at 585 (which is what we bought at 5 years ago) and one silly very low one at 525 who kept comparing ours to others which were not comparable at all. We decided to go with one of the agents with the higher valuation but told them to price it at 600 (which is what seemed realistically achievable). We picked them mainly because they tend to get a lot of the local business and since we are upsizing locally, we'd be given preference for viewings with them. We felt they managed to get us a lot of viewings in the 6 weeks we had the flat on the market (close to 30 viewings) and someone prepared to offer close to asking but we rejected it since there is nothing on the market for us to buy at present.

Thanks so much for all these insights - must admit, I had $$$ signs in my eyes when they mentioned the big number but it's just not realistic. Very good points @GiantSweetcorn and @Applesapple , hadn't even considered how an overpriced property is perceived by the potential buyers...

@Heath3 that's the worry - finding something we like... good to have a benchmark here in terms of what a good number of viewings would be - thank you, and good luck finding something eventually.

Good Luck I think you’re being sensible and you will hopefully get lots of interest at that price and the market will find it’s true current value