Surveyor's valuation is lower than the price we offered/agreed - what to do?

[poppetmum]

Would welcome views on what to do on this - has this happened to anyone else? We agreed a price for a property (quite a lot lower than the asking price). We've just had the survey for the mortgage back and the surveyor's valuation is quite a bit lower again (6% below what we've agreed).

Our estate agent said it's quite normal that they are being cautious in this market and not to worry . I imagine that's becaue they don't wnat the chain to break..... but we're not happy about paying more than something is worth, especially now (even though we do love the house).

We already had to go back to the seller once before to lower our offer (after our buyers lowered their offer on our property) so are nervous about doing that again. But surely we should not pay more than it is worth? Any views?

Well the market is dropping week by week.

How much do you want this house? If it is your dream house, then you may feel inclined to keep things moving and pay what you agreed.

Did the surveyor point out a specific fault or problem? If so, you could go back with a lower offer, naming that fault as the reason. Thing is, if your vendors refuse your lower offer, they have to start again, and prices drop week on week atm.

Well it depends what you are moving for
If it is because it is a long term family home and you love it then I wouldn't worry(assuming the mortgage covers the cost of the house of course, if it affects the LTV on your mortgage eg puts it above 75% ltv and is a condition of your mortgage that it is below that then you might have a prob)

Also depends on how much equity you have in your old property - a building society/bank will not usually lend more than the property is valued at - not too much of an issue if you have a big deposit from the sale of your current house but could be relevant if you were a first time buyer...

Thanks. It is a long term home and LTV/mortgage is fine. It is a renovation project, so plenty of faults to point out, but we knew that and it was already priced accordingly.

I think that is often the case with a renovation and surveyors will err on the side of caution atm. There is an element which is subjective in terms of value and as long as you are happy that you will be there long term and are not dependent on that 6% for finances then you could still plough ahead. You might want to make it known to the vendors though and ask if they would split the difference, but they in turn may be reliant on your price for their next one so a renoegotiation up the chain could prolong the process and still get nowhere.

LIZS thanks. The sale is a probate and it has already fallen through 2 times before us (with sellers who lost buyers) so we could try the vendors

i would try and get it for the surveyors valuation.

Hi Poppetmum, we had the same thing happen to us. Was valued by surveyor at £10,000 less than we had agreed. The mortgage company would only lend the reduced amount. We went to the vendor and asked them to reduce the price by the £10,000 which they refused so we compromised and they dropped by £5,000 and we had to find the other £5,000. This did mean new papers had to be drawn up but did not hold up the sale by much (I think a week at the most) You should definitely try and get the price reduced. Hope this helps