Disappointed with house valuation

[mumma24]

House valued at £625,000 to £650,000 by 3 agents but I think it will sell for more to the right buyer. We would consider listing for offers over £675,000.
and willing to wait for the right buyer but feel like agents are just looking for a quick sal. All our previous 4 homes have sold within 4 weeks. Dont really want to list privately but what else can we do

Precisely what I was about to say. EAs tend to over-value, IME. Why do you think your house is worth that much more, and do you think a mortgage valuation would match your expectations?

The agents are experts on the real value of houses in their area. They know what is selling and what is sitting around for months. You also need to consider that most people buying a house need a mortgage. The mortgage company may well refuse to give a mortgage at the value of the offer if its far higher than the actual value. My son and DIL were in a sealed bids situation in England. They were FTB and offered the top price. The mortgage valuation came in at £40,000 below what they had offered. The seller had to reduce the house accordingly .If he had refused to reduce the sale would have collapsed and he realised it would always collapse at the mortgage valuation stage so he took the sensible route. Just because you think its worth a lot more doesn't make it a fact and doesn't mean someone will actually be able to complete on the sale

As an estate agent in leafy Surrey, there's absolutely no way of telling what the housing market is going to do this year whilst we're still in the first half of January!

But, estate agents coming out with complete nonsense is always predictable! (Myself excluded, obvs 😆)

Great advice 👍

Unless you are downsizing then it's better to sell yours when the market is low and buy when the market is low, the step will be a bit less. Don't get hung up on what your achievements are; is the next house affordable? If you do want to downsize, you may want to wait to maximise the cash difference.

if the market is bad all over - and you find a house you like in the new area which is £25k less then expected you are not losing anything? Unless you are downsizing - if you are upsizing you will get better value.

How much did you pay for it and when?

When was this?

We sold our last house at the asking price within weeks, BUT it was over 20 years ago.

Came on to say this

@mumma24
How much do you want for it?
If you want £600k, then list it at around 675 - you may struggle for viewers tho...
If neighbouring/similar properties have sold at 625, expect to get offers between 550-575.

You will cut out the prospective buyers whose search criteria is up to £650K if you go higher. Houses here- SE are hanging around for months if not years. Some listed originally at £625 are now listed at £550. If you’re not that bothered about selling, wait a year or two and see what happens.

If you don't need to sell right now, don't. My house was bought 3 years ago and is worth less than we paid, even though it's a desirable area and houses always used to get snapped up quickly. Everything is slow and prices are falling. The agents will know this, and will assume they should price it to actually sell. The reality is even with that price they'll be factoring in another price drop (everything here is getting reduced after a few months), so they've probably gone 25k over what they actually think it will sell at. It's just a bad market and they'll be closer to that than you unfortunately. Wait around a bit and things will pick up hopefully.

If in central London I would get another couple of agents round to value. If I’d gone with the first 3 quotes I would probably would have sold for £50-75k less than we got. We got some further quotes (lots of estate agents happy to quote) and they were higher. There was >150k between top and bottom estate agent valuations on a house that sold for just over £600k. Worth putting more effort into choosing the estate agent and getting the right terms.

Obviously you might just need to adjust your expectations but you’ll probably find that easier if 3 more estate agents have the same valuations.

I hate to sound like my own parents but a house is only worth what people are willing to pay…
3 different agents have give you the same guide price, so it probably does accurately reflect the current market. You can put it on for more but no one is going to pay more than it’s currently worth.
If you’re not in a hurry to sell I would put it on for the price you want and wait to see what interest you have.
House prices around us have dropped after being eye watering last year, and nothing is really moving.

The agents have probably over valued to win business so maybe it's worth more like 600k. As pp have said, mortgage companies will likely down value even if you sold. Unless you find a cash buyer who has 675k in cash but is also not that savvy, which is probably unlikely!

House prices really have dropped in the past few months.... what with the cost of living and general world affairs not sure how quickly it will pick back up. You can put it on the market for whatever you want to ultimately but do be aware your tastes etc wont necessarily match those of the buyer.

Also be aware that putting it up at 675 and then then dropping after it being in the market for a while may also cause concerns to potential buyers. For example if you put it up for 675 for a few months, then drop the price and eventually end up 50k less like the agents suggested it could look like a potential issue.

Look at the price to change is always my take on it. In a slow market I'd go and look to see if there are any houses that I want to move to, and only then put it on my the price to sell.

You could wait another year till increases bring it to your valuation

Its not going to pick up any time soon, if anything it will get worse. Sell while you can, if you can.

The market is in decline. How important is it that you move? I would hold off if you can. If you can’t, accept a very realistic offer.

Good strategy. Buyers are in control so you can set the terms.

You could wait another year till increases bring it to your valuation

Not sure that this is a given- prices could go down!

I've taken such a big hit as i remember the crash of 2008. We lost a fortune hanging on.