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

The current property we are interested in has single glazed windows, no instant hot water, a fifty year old kitchen and bathroom, and a retaining wall falling down, yet they've priced it as if it's good to go. I agree with you I don't want to buy something that has been done up to someone's terrible taste, which is why we look at probate properties, but so many of them are not reflecting the costs of updating them. Most of the ones we viewed are still on the market two plus years later, slowly falling to bits.

Professional is a strong word to be using here... We had our house valued by 2 agents, one said they could sell for 95k and the other suggested 110k. We put it up with no agent for 130k and it got a flurry of viewings and sold within 6 weeks for full asking. Our own research told us the house was worth way more than both valuations, and clearly our buyers agreed. We've no idea why both agents got it so wrong but it's entirely possible OP is in the same boat as I was.

If there's no hot water and the retaining wall is falling down then that’s another issue of course and as should be priced accordingly or the work done before it’s put on the market

Other stuff I disagree re kitchen etc but only if they are in keeping with the original architecture. If not and they are 50years old then a small reduction is reasonable to expect. Not the price of a new kitchen though.

Single glazing is a difficult one . As long as the glass and frame are fine there’s no need imo to lower the price just because someone wants double glazing. If it’s original to the house then that’s fine as we all know double glazed plastic windows in older houses are devaluing them.

but then I live in a single glazed house so I suppose I’m used to it

We had huge reductions on ours because it needed major structural work, external work and a kitchen ( there wasnt one at all )

That’s fine to expect that and I would expect to offer it too

For those selling a structural nightmare at top ££ they will realise soon it won’t sell. They have every right to try though. Their house their choice

It doesn’t really matter what someone offers you. If the house is overpriced, and they’re getting a mortgage to purchase, the lender simply won’t lend enough to them.
That said, EA’s aren’t always right. You can look at comparable houses in the area using the land registry, but you have to do that without emotion. What your house is worth to you, isn’t the value of it on the open market.

They will all have overvalued a little for sure. Realistically you will probably only get offers under 600k.
By the end of 2026 probably offers around 550k the way things are looking :/

I'm not sure many would want to live with single glazing with the price of energy these days, or a fifty year old kitchen and bathroom. I see your point but I think these costs need to be factored in as 99% of buyers will want them changed (especially as we're not talking architecturally beautiful examples here, we're talking piss stained carpetted bathrooms with a hose in a stained bath for a shower and kitchen doors hanging off hinges).

I agree
When an EA couldn’t tell the difference between our solid oak original floor boards and laminate at our old house I really started to question is ability to act for us

No one could he tell us how they came about their valuations
None of the four who visited had done any £/m2 etc calculations for our area which had every property different

So agree I question the use of the word ‘professional’

Round here, dormitory village near Northampton, places that would have been snapped up in an instant a year ago are sticking.

Next door but one, a small semi around 220k went smartly but it's empty with no upper chain. Larger places, and we're in half million territory for anything beyond an estate 4 bed, have signs outside for weeks.

Round us, there are so few sold prices recently that I’m not sure that they are even much use as, with the few there are, you won’t be comparing like for like. It may be that the purchaser of that particular property was willing to compromise on a particular thing or fell in love with a particular aspect but wouldn’t have done so with yours. This actually means that the estate agents do have more knowledge of the market as they will know what offers people have put in on similar properties. For example, there’s one on the market near us which was £875k for the first couple of months and then dropped to £850k. The seller told us in outraged tones that they’d had an offer of £825k and another of £830k, both of which they’d rejected. That was a year ago and it’s still on the market for £850k. Those offers are useful information for showing what others would be prepared to pay. Unless you happen to know the seller or the people the seller has told, then the estate agents are going to be the only people who know that. Plus they’ll know it for all of the properties they’re currently marketing.
Bear in mind too, that, unless it’s a cash buyer, the buyer will need a mortgage and a valuation. Yes, they’re quite relaxed but, if all of the estate agents have said the same thing, a mortgage valuer might say a similar amount to. Which would leave your buyers - and therefore you - with a problem.

I have just got an estimated valuation on Zoopla for our house and am very sceptical. The house opposite us sold for £650k 3 years ago. It has an extra reception room, a double garage to our large single garage and absolutely fantastic views across the valley, whereas we back on to a railway line, albeit there is only one train an hour each way.

Ours has been valued at more than that.

Your bathrooms described are not what I was talking about though
Although I’d be removing that hose rather than pretending there’s a shower.
Wee stained carpets should warrant a reduction in price but again not the full amount to re carpet

I’ll disagree on the single glazed but we aren’t allowed to change ours anyway ( hence being used to wood burners etc ) .

If you are looking at probate property family will just sit it out and wait as much as they want to get the price they want. Often with multiple siblings disagreeing on how much

If they haven’t got probate there’s no council tax and if the probate valuation isn’t lower than the sale there’s no cgtax.

There is unfortunately a different mindset to probate properties than there was even 20 years ago when they mostly went below market value.

Inheritors often can’t even be bothered to remove the dead rats ( I’ve been there ) and clean up the stinking toilets ( I’ve been there) but want the same as the neighbours sold for.

If they are a stinking falling apart disgrace they should be lower

This is my experience they over value and will say we will market aggressively at like £750 K and then two to three weeks later say the market is dropping and suggest accepting £725 K then you find somewhere you like and they suggest dropping to £725 K and accepting 700 for a quick sale. They will also TELL people looking around it that you are looking for &725 K but if they put it an offer for 690 it might be considered but be prepared to get closer to 725. At the end of the day your estate agent should work for you but they don’t they work for themselves. Very little different between their commission between 750 and 700 K - hardly anything it’s you that takes the hit

@BrownTroutBluesAgain yeah in this instance probate was granted ages ago so they will be paying double council tax by now (about 400 a month) so it will be interesting to see how long they hold out. It does seem a very mixed bag with probate sales, some just get on with it and usually let one person decide it all, and others drag their heels over every little thing and hold out for that one pie in the sky figure. I guess that's human nature!

Ps just noticed @Fibrous you said no
‘instant’ hot water.

( I misread the first time and previously said this should warrant a reduction )

just as an aside I'm sure you know not all properties can have ‘instant’ hot water.
Ours can’t, we have to have a tank

Plus whilst the ability to have hot water is a must, to have it instantly isn’t. About 40/45% of U.K. properties have tanks and 20% of new builds still install tanks.

So instant hot water is still regarded as a luxury

I am an estate agent. The market has been slow due to the uncertainty over the budget. The early signs of the new year market are positive but that is that transactions will increase rather than value. Every agent wants to achieve the highest possible price as selling usually on a percentage fee basis. Also, if a house is pitched at a sensible level, you are more likely to generate competition and achieve the highest possible price. If you go on too high and ‘wait’ your property will just get a bad smell about it and you will ultimately damage the asset and end up achieving a lower value than you may have done starting at a sensible guide price. ‘Offers over’ is never a good idea as it simply means this exact situation has occurred and the seller believes their house is worth more than advised. Buyers hate it… £1 more or £100,000 more? If three agents have said the same level and evidenced comparable sales, what is the reason your property will achieve more? Whilst some say, just wait for the market to improve, what you plan to buy will also increase so the differential remains the same. You don’t have to accept an offer but a house is ultimately worth what someone is willing to pay and not necessarily what you want to achieve. If your aim is to move locations and it is important for the quality of life, the ability to afford to move is the most important factor. Best of luck with your sale x

You're right - my childhood home (in EA ideas, a dream family home in a leafy suburb with excellent transport links and loads of local beauty spots - a beautiful Victorian semi with 5 beds, 3 floors plus a 5 roomed basement, off-road parking, large gardens, 2 bathrooms plus ensuite, all original features and immaculate decorating - I only know all of this because after us, it was sold to a builder who I became friends with and he invited us round when we discovered he'd bought our old house, 10 years after we'd left) "sold" really quickly - since that sale, it was back up for sale 18 months later for the same price as the buyers had bought it for (I don't know their reasons, but they've obviously been desperate to sell) and the house has now been sat on Rightmove for absolutely ages and has SSTC at least twice and then ended up relisted again.

It's such a shame because I really genuinely feel for the current owners as there's obviously some reason they want to go and as stupid as it sounds, because we had such happy times there, it feels sad that the family are stuck in a house that they don't want and such a beautiful house isn't housing a family who love it as much as we did or as much as our friend did (he had to sell due to divorce), but the fact is, the larger houses don't appear to be moving at all and seem to be sitting on the market for a lot longer than they did a couple of years ago,

My husband wants to sell our current house (a lovely but modest 3 bed semi in a lovely and quiet area) but I keep putting him off and telling him that we need to wait. I'm hoping he'll change his mind as we clear the mortgage next November and I just want to settle and not keep "upgrading".

There may be regional variations in this, but the estate agents in my area are tend to keep asking prices high even when there's no interest, saying things like 'this is the right price for that property'. Last year I sold round here, I had to ask them to reduce the price by 10%, and we immediately got two asking prices offers. So in that case it was the EA wanting to keep the price higher, not the vendor.

You can advertise your house at any price, you don't have to take the EA's valuation as it is only a guide. Be mindful that if you overprice your house no one will view it and after 8 weeks it will be "stale" and then you are on the reduction ladder. Any offers will then be lower than your reduced price.

Best scenario is to look at recent sales of similar properties and compare yours to what is already under offer and price it just under as generally prices are falling. If the market starts to rise you could get higher offers from a low base.

What else is on the market in your area at that price and what's the demand like? Is there anything that makes your house stand out to make it worth a bit more?

We got 25k over our asking price with multiple offers at that price but that's because ours was one of the biggest on our estate and had amazing views and privacy compared to others. Also as much space and same views as the 4 bed detached houses on the next road but for 100k less in price so it was affordable and appealing to people who couldn't afford those.

If you price it too high at your aspirational price you risk sitting on the market too long, having to drop the price and then giving the appearance that there's something wrong with it.

If you're in no rush to sell get everything ready but don't go live until there's a wiff of the market moving and prices rising.

Prices are dropping. Agents will generally over value in order to win the business and then drop once it does not sell. Your house appears not to be worth 675k according to them.

Am I missing something?

If you're moving to a similar property elsewhere won't that also be cheaper? So you wouldn't actually lose anything if prices drop?

There is absolutely nothing shifting near me.

I’ve been watching the market with some interest.

Anything between 250-300k will sell anything over not budging.

There is a lovely house I have been watching started off at offers over 475k and has been dropped to 425k and it’s still vastly overpriced 🤷‍♀️ a similar house which was detached went for under 400k so why they think a semi is worth 425k I do not know

Exactly, banks are a lot more cautious now and global dynamics (Japan, Iran etc.) are pointing to borrowing rates staying higher or going up some more, houses above 500k are going to take a big hit for sure.

If you get a deluded seller though who doesn"t understand (or doesn"t want to understand) market dynamics then they may try to hold out and refuse your lower offer.

Very similar story here
Our house went on at £1.45M a year ago
One offer at £1.35M
We lost the house up the chain so we didnt proceed
Now a year later the EA is saying put it back on at £1.3M
So now if I do its obvious the significat price drop and poople will wonder whats wrong with it
Nothing, its really lovely and well maintained but it was just clearly overpriced
I totally get how incredibly off putting the stamp duty is too
I've slightly given up now!
I wonder who actually moves!