Huge difference in valuations

[DaffodilValley]

I realise I need to get more agents to look at our house, but I was wondering if anyone had experienced a situation where agents have given vastly different valuations with no obvious explanation?

I’ve had two valuations done so far, plus what the bank valued it on paper for mortgage purposes and one is £100k more than the other. The bank valuation is in the middle of the two, so if we believe the lower valuation, the bank have lent against a property that is worth considerably less than they thought.

I suspect the bank estimate isn’t too far from the truth, but I’m mystified how two professionals can look at the same house and come up with such different ideas of value.

Agents should be looking at nearby similar properties and their sold prices, to gauge a value. They should be able to show you properties they’ve recently sold that will verify their valuation.

You're right. £100k means that one of them must be wildly off the mark. We’re either or both, able to show you similar houses they’ve recently sold. I’d get at least one more valuation and see how that fits.

Well it depends on the value of the property. £100k difference is big for a £300k property and nothing if it's £3m. If you're looking to sell, do your own research, price it where you think it should be and go with the agent that you believe will get you the best price.

I think that is part of the problem - there just aren’t any similar properties nearby. We are very rural and only one house anywhere near us has sold in the past few years. That house was completely different from ours so not comparable.

The agent with the higher valuation was local and specialised in rural property, the lower one was a big chain that is based in a nearby city and is a bit “mass market”. Much cheaper fees than the specialist though.

I expected a variation, but £100k is huge, especially when you consider we are in an area where house prices are comparatively low.

We are definitely at the lower end - the upper quote was £315k and the lower quote was £215k.

For us to be able to afford to move and get something similar but smaller in a more expensive area we need to get something nearer £300k.

This happened when we were selling a unique, rural property (in Wales). The EA valuations were slightly over 500k and a bit less than 300k! We marketed at 450, reduced to 425 and accepted 400.

We were moving back home to a fairly expensive part of England and would have struggled to buy if we'd believed the lower valuation.

I'd expect the specialist EA to be more reliable, unless your house is likely to attract lots of interest from people currently living in the houses the "mass market" EA are selling.
I'd ask the "mass market" to explain their rationale.

I'd guess that the city EA was a FO quote. They don't want to be travelling out to the country to do viewings when their commission will be peanuts.

I"m always happy to pay extra for quality service and would probably advise against going cheap on the commission.

I hadn’t thought of that, but it makes sense. The other company’s fees are so high that it would affect what we could afford to buy though. I hope that there will be a compromise option, I’ll need to ring round a few more.

You can use the cheaper company and ask them to market it at the higher price.