Mortgage valuation £25k below offer: worth paying for second valuation?

[StrawberryElephants]

We just put an offer on a house - over the bloody moon it was accepted. The house is chain free and vacant - we are first time buyers. The property was top end of budget at £350k but we honestly felt like after lots of looking around anyway- we had found a £370k house for an absolute steal.

However, the bank just did their valuation and listed it as £325k - £25k less than we offered. I am stunned. Estate agents are stunned. Bank obviously wont lend us the amount we requested because its not valued high enough.

The valuer said in their report that there wasn't enough evidence of similar properties selling for the same price nearby. It doesnt appear this way to us - but what do we know right!

I can pay £180 to have a second valuation done. The seller wont drop £25k off the asking (its inheritance for teenagers - sad situation, apparently they won't budge). Ive asked the estate agent to tell the sellers what happend and she suggested asking them to pay £90 (half each).

I guess what im actually asking is - any chance the valuer is wrong and have you had experience of having a property valued a second time round and getting a different awnser. Or - maybe it is what it is... Help 😪

No dont wait

I think there are people still waiting since 2008 for some massive house price crash, they must have paid millions, or hundreds of thousands in rent because they wont buy and are still waiting!

So is it only £7500 less not £25,000 as they will lend you £325,000 plus you have a £17,500 deposit on top. Or is the deposit included in the mortgage offer.

Why do you want to over pay? Seems
crazy to me. I wouldn't get another valuation. I'd sit on this one and watch the market

What savings will you have once you've bought, you might have to sacrice that

Sorry - please explain this to me like the idiot I am?! 😔

So they cant sell for less than £350k - even if 2 valuations price its value at £325k?

If HMRC check - surely the evidence is 2 valuations saying its worth no more than £325k?

For background - they actually sold the property once before in May-ish time in 2025 but the person purchasing it was in a long chain that fell apart several times. Therefore - the property had to be relisted and so thats when I came in and made my offer. So they've given it a fair shot surely? If they have to justify it from a legal stand point?

Apparently the beneficiaries are the brother thats selling and his sons - her teen nephews!? So its not a case of adult siblings all arguing and fighting over things.

If they relist - surely they then have to get a cash buyer or everyone else will have the same issue of mortgage valuers dragging the value down? Finding a cash buyer with no chain? Unicorn buyer?

Were putting in 18k and the mortgage offers £332 - total house price offer £350k

We'd have £9k or so - but im not throwing in even more cash and having no savings. If something went wrong I dont want to be in credit card debt

Santander is well known for doing this, unfortunately. They did it to me nearly 15 years ago. I just went to a different lender for my mortgage, who valued it at the sale price. My advice would be to ditch Santander completely.

I know what you mean - but I truly believe I am not over paying for what i have already viewed in the area and what ive been seeing on rightmove. Ive been looking almost daily for 18 months.

I think the valuer is undervaluing it being overly cautious or being lazy because hes not actually seen what other properties are out there locally for £325-350k ish.

I mean- the property was originally listed for £360-395 in 2025! So some estate agent thought it was worth a punt even above £350

Good to know - maybe Santander are ones to avoid! It would be shit to leave the mortgage deal because we have a cheaper rate agreed- as we locked in a few weeks ago before everything started going up.

No I didnt say they cant sell it

I said that behind the scenes, there will be lots of chat about whether they should take your lower offer or hold out and all sorts of opinions will be given about that among the beneficiaries

If they have a decent solicitor, they will also just be minded and cautioned not to sell below what is seen to be the value, thats all. It doesnt mean they wont in the end and doesnt mean that if they sold it now for 325 there would be any legal comeuppance, Im just explaining the world of the excutor and dealing with an estate.

I dont understand this, so you can plug the gap. What do you mean credit card debt?

Well we actually have £28k savings

• 18k deposit
• 2.5k stamp duty
• 2k legal fees and searches
• £600 to the Mortgage broker
• £500 moving
• £120 to service the current boiler
• £500 misc

Then we would actually have about £6,000 left (not even 9k). I want this 6k cash as a safety net amount incase my car needs an expensive part, my cat gets sick, something breaks etc...

Plus going from having an 18k deposit and a 28k deposit would reduce our payments by £90 a month (if memory serves) so I would much rather keep that amount of cash in the bank than spend it just pushing up the deposit.

Fair enough, but you then either hold out fo rthe seller to drop, or you lose the house

Or you change your mind about losing that 6k (if the seller can just drop a couple of grand then, you could make it)

Or you risk the 180 quid and see if a different valuer will be different.

I’d suck it up and pay the £180 if I really wanted the house. How disappointed would you be walking away now and accepting defeat? £25K is a lot to expect the sellers to drop especially if you have already offered lower. They sound like they are in a position to wait for the right buyer so £180 doesn’t sound too extreme in the grand scheme of things.

I think the issue here is the bank is valuating it. The estate agent has already valuated it and the bank has disagreed with the estate agent's figure and knocked some money off.

Banks are a rule unto themselves. But then again so are estate agents. Not at all helpful for everyone in the middle.

An EA 'value' is neither here nor there. It has no standing whatsoever, how naive that you would think so.

The bank is a law unto itself of course it is!!! It has to justify to itself why it is going to lend this person 300 odd grand against a property that may plummet in price

I think this is what im going to do! Im just already thinking in worse case scenario mode of the 2nd valuation will be no different.

Then back to square one - with everything going up in price, including housing and mortgage rates.

Thanks to everyone who has commented. My husbands still at work - really having a hard week, I can't tell him about this tonight so I needed this sounding board. 💜

Do you think he would want to hold out for the house, do you both absolutely love it or would you feel ok about losing it? That will be your tester, if the EA rang today and said its sold to someone else, what would you feel?

Interest rates rising tend to depress housing valuations just the same as when there are low interest rates, house prices go up.

You are only putting in 5% deposit at a time when interest rates are set to rise. Add to this that you are buying in a low transaction area, I’m not surprised the valuer has valued conservatively.

I’d be surprised if a 2nd valuer for Santander came back at a high valuer in this market right now.

Your problem is your deposit is smaller than the valuation gap.

I would feel gutted and extremely anxious that we would not find anywhere else for that price, in that condition, that size in our budget. It literally ticked all our boxes (and we had a lot 🤣). Especially being chain free, im so worried about getting into a chain, paying loads of money in fees and then being left hung out to dry by a chain collapse! 😔

If the estate agent says they have evidence of comparable sales then ask to see that and then decide if it’s worth going for another valuation.

And please don’t think the agent is being “brilliant” by the way. It’s literally their job to help ensure the sale goes through.

Seller may have to drop the price if the next person who comes along also cannot get a mortgage for the value or wait it out until a cash buyer comes along. Sounds like they are not desperate to sell at the moment, but they may find themselves in the future. 25k is a fairly substantial amount to be wrong on the valuation by- I imagine others will be similar.

If I were you, and thats easy to say, I would go hell for leather and make sure I got it then

Use every penny, get a second valuation just in case, fight your corner see if the seller will drop even 10k or so but be prepared to lose all your savings.

Eat cat food for the next 10 years, that sort of thing.

Its only about 8% isnt it, maths isnt my strong point

The next person may have a bigger deposit, OP has a very small deposit, its risky at that level